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,F'Z‘i
SOCIAL HISTORY
OF THE
RACES OF MANKIND.
95mm: ipresﬁ
BALLANTYNE, mmson AND co.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
SOCIAL HISTORY
OF THE
RACES OF MANKIND.
FIFTH DIVISION .-
ARAMIEANS.
' BY
J”
a)
A. ljEATHERMAN.
“Homo sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto.”—'1'erence.
LONDON:
TRUBNER & c0., LUDGATE HILL.
1881.
[All rzIg/zz‘s reserved]
CONTENTS.
PREFACE . . . . .
INTRODUCTION . . . . . .
ARAMzEAN STOCK—PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
SYRO-ARAMEANS—GENERAL CHARACTER .
PHCENICIANS
ASSYRIANS
BABYLONIANS
YEZEDEES
NESTORLANS . A
MARONITES
HEBREWS . . .
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAbT AND TALMUD JEWS OF POLAND
LIBYO-ARAMEANS—GENERAL CHARACTER
EGYPTO—LIBYANS
COPTs .
NUBAS .
BARABRAS
RERBERs . . . . . . .
ABADDE .
SIWAHS .
KABYLES
TUAREGS . . ‘ . . . .
GUANOHES . . . . . . .
ARABO—ARAMzEANS—GENERAL CHARACTER . . .
BEDOUIN ARARs . . . . . .
wAHABEEs . . . . . .
SEDENTARY ARARs OF THE HEDJAZ . . .
sOHTH ARARIAN ARABS . . . .
OMANITES . . . . . . .
SYRIAN ARAEs . . . . . . .
237%589
PAGE
vii
ix
I9
41
60
7O
79
123
I62
164
250
257
271
279
284
291
308
345
349
398
415
430
443
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
DRUSES . . . . . . . . 469
ANSEYREEYAH . . . . . . . . 493
MOORS OR NORTH AFRICAN ARABS . . . . 499
BARBARY BEDOUINS . . . . . . . 526
EGYPTIAN ARABS . . . . _ . . 5 3 3
ABYSSINIANS . . . . . . _ . 590
FALASHAS . . . . . . . . 63I
HASSANYEH ARABS . . . . . . . 636
LIBYAN BEDOUINS . . . . . . . 643
SAHARA ARABS . . . . . . . 647
INDEX . . . . . . . . 653
PREFACE.
WHY write a preface which no one will read, especially as we
have no excuses to make for writing the work of which we
present the ﬁrst volume to the public; and yet it is necessary
to make a few explanatory remarks to convince the reader
that no sacriﬁce of time and labour has been spared to make
the work as complete as possible. Ten years of constant appli-
cation have thus far been devoted to the collection of materials,
and this time has been passed in the best libraries of Europe
and America, where the most authentic authors who have
written in any of the languages of the civilised world have
been examined, either in the original or in translations. The
authorities have been thoroughly studied; the facts have been
selected with critical discernment, and no doubtful or incredible
statements are admitted in the text unless controverted in a
footnote.
As each volume is entirely independent of all the others,
and is perfect and complete in itself, we have selected the
Aramaeans as the ﬁrst volume for publication; for as the Semitic
nations and tribes, whose social history it describes, have
already attained a high degree of civilisation, the work will
present a high interest not only to scientiﬁc men but to the
general reader; while it furnishes valuable information as
regards the Semitic question which has recently been raised in
Hungary and Germany.
PARIS, February 188x.
INTRODUCTION.
THE primeval man did not spring from a single stock or from one
ancestral type. He arose under varying conditions in different
countries and at different geological periods. The initiatory forces of
nature which caused his primitive development existed in the same
degree in all the isothermal regions of the earth, and wherever the
favourable circumstances were capable of producing and fostering into
maturity the human animal, there he appeared, everywhere adapting
himself, in constitution and growth, to the local variations of the
environment. He was not even developed anywhere by a single
pair, but by thousands of pairs at the same time, for it is by long
continued organic interaction, through sexual and natural selection,
that the perfect typical form of the human species could have been
developed. The central tropical regions of the earth were the original
birthplace of primeval man; here, where forest trees of spontaneous
growth produce delicious fruits, where the swamps and marshes
abound in nutritious grains and succulent roots, where apes and monkeys,
whom he approached nearest in type, have their home; where the
climatic conditions are most favourable to a naked creature, dependent
for the means of self-preservation and self-defence on its own innate
energy with which it is endowed by nature.
In Africa, the oldest of all the continents, the equatorial regions of
Ethiopia were the cradleland of the Nigritian stock, which is the
earliest primitive type of human kind. The negro, with projecting
jaws, receding forehead, ﬁat nose, woolly hair, deeply coloured skin,
and a powerful set of teeth, approaches nearest the mammalian animal
in physical conformation. His intellectual faculties are of a low order,
developed in accordance with his instinct of self-preservation and his
passion for sexual enjoyment. He has originated neither art nor
H
x INTRODUCTION.
if“
ll
science, nor any social and humane principle, or moral or religious
system, which impart to society its reﬁnement and intellectual char-
acter. He has founded no stable government, has formed no organised
communities, has built no permanent towns nor cities. He has erected
no monuments and has written no history ; and his past, like that of
the brute animal world, is a blank space without landmarks to indicate
the successive steps of progressive advancement.1
His contact for the last four thousand years with the Egyptians,
the Abyssinians, the Persians, and the Arabians, has changed .his
original brutal nature, and has planted the germ of a higher civilisation
to which he is now slowly advancing, and whose progress has, in
recent times, been accelerated by the commercial intercourse with
European nations, which has of late assumed a philanthropic and
a missionary character. The Nigritian stock has branched out into
four distinct races, which differ from each other, not only in language,
but in peculiarities of physical characteristics and social customs.
1? 11? Eekreer METRE???‘.IsﬁlfﬁéllkilléigligiéillJigxibiamyrﬁ With-
Oﬁiii'ﬁ'eiih'ikture, and ‘without that modiﬁcation which the action of
external inﬂuences never fails to produce. The Sooaheli branch is a
mixed race which inhabits the sea-coast bordering on the Indian
Ocean, and is most exposed to the inroads of foreign adventurers.
The Koosa or Kaﬁir branch was originally developed in the highlands
of Africa. They descended from their mountain home and made
themselves masters of the most fertile portion of the southern regions
of the continent. The Hottentots or Baroas were the aboriginal tribes
of the territories near the equator, but were driven southward by the
invading Kai-‘ﬁrs, and were forced to retire to the barren strip of
country bordering on the Atlantic, of which they now hold posses-
sion, except the extreme’ southern portion, which is occupied by
Europeans.
The Melanesiagstock ﬁrst arose in Borneo and the adjacent lands,
then forming a continuous unbroken continent with the islands of
the Indian Archipelago, New Guinea, and Australia. Two different
branches, each distinguished by peculiar characteristics, have been
developed from the parent stock. The‘ Pappp-Alislgoralians are the
oldest and least changed representatives of the original type, whose

1 The negro of the present day does no longer represent the individual char-
acter of the primeval type. His physical, moral, and social progress has _not been
brought about by his own inherent power of action, but has been, so to say,
forced upon him against his natural inclination by contact with the Egyptian,
Persian, Oarthaginian, Arabian, and in later times with European civilisation.
IN TRODUOTION . I xi
social and intellectual capabilities are still of a low order, although the
Australians are distinguished by a more compact internal organisation
founded upon ﬁxed and irreversible customs.
The him-Pow branch has already made many steps in
advhance in its career of social development. It has formed compact
political communities, has invented organised governments, where the
partial interests of the few are rendered subordinate to the general
interests of the many. Customs received the solemn sanction of
religious inviolability. Religious notions are rendered comprehen-
sible to the intellect of the masses by assuming a palpable and concrete
form. The arts are still in their infancy, but they presented the fruit-
germs that gave promise of a higher order of development and a.
capacity for improvement. The mind of the Polynesian was too
active to be satisﬁed with a condition of repose, but he overleaped the
boundary-line of his native home, and, navigating the ocean in his
frail bark, he became a seafaring adventurer and a reckless pirate.
ThiMmmw do not form a separate branch, but are simply a
subdivision of Malayo-Polynesians, who are principally conﬁned to a
narrow range of islands of the Western Paciﬁc. Their social, religious,
and political organisation has already attained an artiﬁcial and com-
plicated structure. Agricultural operations are conducted with con-
siderable skill and judgment. The arts display some ingenuity and
reﬁnement, and commerce is no longer conﬁned to barter and exchange,
but consists of a regular well-sustained trafﬁc of commodities and
natural productions.
The Maranonian stock1 ﬁrst originated in the valley of the Amazon
and its tributaries in the tropical regions which now form a part of
Brazil. It is divided into three principal branches, of which an
inﬁnite number of tribes were scattered over a vast continent, extending
from the Arctic regions in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south.
The Gparagiianmvhich once occupied the whole of South America,
had scarcely yet emerged from the primitive state of a rude and
barbarous civilisation. Their social habits were simple and unculti_
vated; their government was patriarchal, weak, and inefficient; their
religion was a curious compound of nature-worship, frequently over-
shadowed by the most degrading superstitions. In art they had
accomplished nothing to exercise a reﬁning inﬂuence upon their social
condition. The lzeruvians form the only exception among this vast

1 This name, given to the American Indian stock, is derived from the
Maranon river, the name by which the Amazon river was formerly known to the
Indian tribes of those regions.
xii INTRODUCTION.
in
multitude of savage Guaranian tribes. They cultivated the arts, had
established a regularly organised government, and had adopted ‘a
regular system of religion and morals. _
The Aonean1 branch comprised all the northern tribes which led a
wandering life, and claimed as their hunting-grounds the vast range
of territory conﬁned between the Atlantic and Paciﬁc, and extending
from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. They were ﬁerce
warriors and expert huntsmen. Their intellect exhibited much energy
and force of character. Their customs were few and simple ; the
right of self-revenge was universally acknowledged to obtain satisfac-
tion for personal injuries and reparation of private wrongs. Their
government was of a primitive type ; they acknowledged the authority
of chiefs whose dignity was either elective or hereditary, and Who
exercised but little influence in regulating the internal relations 3 but,
aided by councils, they determined upon all questions of peace and
war, and ordered the preliminary arrangements for the celebration of
festivals. Their religion, originally founded upon nature-worship, was
of a highly rational character, but was more or less disﬁgured by puerile
superstitions. In art they had acquired all the proﬁciency in perfecting
the inartiﬁcial appliances adapted to the rude social condition of a people
who regard hunting and war as the most honourable occupations.
The (lliwnqbranch occupied the regions of Central America, and
took possession of Mexico. They were the most highly cultivated of
all the Maranonians. Their society was founded upon class division
and a system of ﬁxed laws 3 and their customs and manners had reached
a considerable degree of reﬁnement. Their government was aristo-
cratic, and the dignity of their ruler was hereditary in certain families.
The governing class enjoyed distinguished privileges, while the common
people were subject to numerous exactions and degrading servitude.
Their religion had already attained a highly artiﬁcial development 5 it’
was a combination of hero and nature worship ; it had its priests, its
temples, its cruel and bloody sacriﬁces. They had already devised a
mode of recording the most important events by picture-writing and
hieroglyphics; they had an elementary knowledge of astronomy, and
their architecture and decorative art were far in advance of the rude
contrivances of the inferior families of mankind that had preceded
them in the career of social development.
The Turanian stock ﬁrst took its rise in Siam, in the fertile valley,
extending from the banks of the Meinam to the Cambodian river.
The Dravidign branch spread westward to Hindostan, where its full

1 This is a poetic term applied by Mr. Schoolcraft to the Northern Indians.
INTRODUCTION. xiii
development was checked by more recent and more powerful races.
Being driven from their original home, its innumerable tribes and
nations still occupy the central mountain regions, the vast area of
territory of the Peninsula and the north of Ceylon. The Sh an
branch, comprising the Chinese and kindred nations, is already- dis-
tinguished for a high order of civilisation. The arts and sciences
have received a considerable impulse of development. They have
built large and populous cities 5 have established strong and powerful
governments 3 have carried on war upon a regular system 3 have
become cruel and ferocious conquerors and despotic rulers, and have
Written their bloody history with the keen edge of their swords.
Their languages, although primitive in form, nevertheless bear the
impress of an artiﬁcial and complicated state of society. Their
religion is not merely a skilfully woven tissue of deceptive credulity
and superstition, but it acts as a moral power and inculcates principles
and maxims highly conducive to public order and beneﬁcial to the
general welfare of society. _
The branch, which is its earliest offshoot, approaches nearest
the parent type in characteristic peculiarities. Though stolidly con-
servative in their domestic relations and internal affairs, yet, as they
are accustomed to act together with unanimity of sentiment, united
in large and powerful masses, they are often roused from their torpid
inaction by an ambitious Chieftain, and by this means they have
founded mighty empires, and their deeds of violence as well as
prowess have ﬁlled an important page in the world’s history.
The 'gaﬁtgpl branch exhibits a higher order of intellectual activity. It
is possessed of greater ingenuity, and is endowed with a more impul-
sive force of character. Less awed by the stern behests of authority,
less submissive to the arbitrary rule of a superior, they value the wild
sallies of personal freedom much higher than the quiet and effeminate
enjoyments of a cowardly sedentary life. Their roaming disposition
has a separating tendency, and, luckily for the 'peace of mankind,
prevents them from forming powerful consolidated nationalities whose
combined force would be irresistible. The Turkish nationalities are
simply a subdivision of the Tatar branch. Their proud independence,
their lofty bearing, and their intrepid valour in the heat of battle,
have won for them a high reputation as a conquering and a ruling
power. But they are haughty and overbearing in spirit, and cruel
and oppressive towards those who resist their arbitrary and despotic
government. Their most civilised modern representatives have much
of the Aramaean and Iranian blood in their composition, and they have
(‘3
xiv INTRODUCTION.
abandoned that stagnant and immovable conservative policy so
characteristic of the Turanian stock, and have aimed to follow the
progressive tendencies of modern ideas, forced upon them by their
contact with more powerful neighbours of a higher order of race
organisation. The Tshudic branch presents the most intellectual type
of the Turanians. The Fins and Hungarians have once shown a self-
developed poetical genius that gave promise of its future advance-
ment on the pathway of progress and social reﬁnement. It has, in
part, emerged from childish credulity and puerile superstition which
still bewilder the imagination of many of its original tribes, who cleave
to their ancestral idols and their ancient practices with a fervour and
ﬁdelity so characteristic of the conservatism of the original stock.
They lead a sedentary life 3 they are principally devoted to agricultural
and pastoral pursuits ; they are industrious in their habits and peaceful
in their disposition, honest in their social intercourse, and simple and
frugal in their domestic relations.
Thg Arameean stocli ﬁrst sprung into existence in the heart of .
Syria, and thus produced the ﬁrst extra-tropical races distinguished
for their hardihood, their energy, and their high intellectual powers.
They were originally conﬁned to a narrow strip of territory bounded
on all sides by seas, rivers, and mountains, which protected their
infancy from the encroachments of older and more powerful nationali-
ties. Having the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates on the east, the
Taurus mountains and the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea to the west, and the Sea of Arabia to the south,
they found no outlet for surplus population, and remained for a long
time armed pastoral tribes, each community defending its own territo—
rial possessions by the powerful arm and the indomitable courage of
shepherd-warriors, which fostered among them a spirit of exclusive
ness and intolerance.
At a later period, when they had multiplied in excessive numbers,
they overstepped their natural boundaries, wandered away into Africa,
and, as the Libyanbranch, they occupied the fertile lands at the foot
of the Atlas mountains, and gave to Egypt its signiﬁcance and im-
portance as the cradle of the art, the science, and the civilisation of
modern times.
The races of the Arab branch which had possessed themselves of
the Arabian peninsula were distinguished for boldness, independence,
and a spirit of freedom that rendered them formidable as an enemy,
and made them strong and irresistible against hostile invasion. They
had long remained faithful to the patriarchal simplicity of their
INTRODUCTION. xv
manners and the stern behests of their ancestral customs, until their
widely scattered tribes rallied under the banner of a great and inspired
leader, who bound them together by religious and political ties that
transformed them into a powerful nation, whose conquering legions
subdued half the civilised world.
The Syrian branch represents the type of the original stock. Still
warlike and distinguished by indomitable bravery, the Syro-Aramaeans
cultivated the peaceful arts. They were devoted to agriculture, to
navigation and commercial pursuits. They were devout worshippers
of the Inﬁnite and the Unknown, and they gave to the world a system
of religious belief which furnishes the elementary principles upon
which rest the fundamental doctrines and theology of Christianity and
Mohamedanism.
The Iranian stock became ﬁrst developed on the southern slope of
the Caucasusuwmountains, in the sunny land of Georgia and Lake
Erivan. Nature has concentrated in this last production of the
human race the highest expression of intellectual energy, of subtlety
of spirit endowed with a power of just discrimination, and capable of
distinguishing the slightest shades of difference in the multiplied and
delicate relations by which the system of the universe is maintained
and controlled.
The Iranians, during the infant state of their development, were no
less savage, ﬁerce, and cruel than the nations and races that belong to
the other great divisions of the human family that preceded them;
but a great portion of their numerical aggregate, after having passed
various stages of barbarism, have thrown oﬁ‘ the rude mechanism of
physical necessity, by which the life of society is conﬁned within
the narrow compass of human wants and human indulgences, and have
followed a higher order of natural laws, based upon moral accountabi-
lity and intellectual enjoyment; and have thus established a system
of social economy which, far from being perfect, has nevertheless
been productive of the greatest good to human society and to mankind
in general. '
The Iranian stock is divided into ﬁve great branches, of which the
Aryans approach nearest the primitive type. The :Ahryans wandered
away from their original home at the foot of the Caucasus’; traversed
the rather barren regions of Persia 3 crossed the Hindoo-Koosh moun-
tains, where they came in conﬂict with the Turanians, who already
occupied the country, whom they drove into the interior; and gra—
dually made themselves masters of the greater portion of Hindostan
and the adjoining islands. The Hindoos are the most noted and most
5
\. r‘
‘a
a».
if
a’
xvi
INTRODUCTION.
(‘7
(2;,
Ade-w
populous offshoot of this branch. While yet in a state of national
independence, they had reached a high order of civilisation. Their
language, which was the ancient idiomatic Sanscrit, was polished and
very expressive, organised upon a philosophical and scientiﬁc system.
They were acquainted with the art of alphabetic-writing; and their
literature, while it deals much in ﬁne-spun abstractions and specu-
lative reveries, is highly reﬁned and at the same time instructive.
Their social state was a ﬁxed, irreversible, hierarchical structure,
divided by strict lines of demarcation which none was permitted to
pass, which rendered the subordination of the lower to the higher
classes perpetual and absolute. Every man was born to a ﬁxed con-
dition in life, which he inherited from his ancestors and which he
transmitted to his children. A government founded upon such a
principle, having such a society as its objective counterpart, is not
only in the highest degree aristocratic, but constitutes a despotism of
the most odious-character. But it was probablypthe strongest govern-
ment that ever existed in the world, and best calculated to establish
order and law among rude barbarians scattered over a vast extent of
country. Their religion was as tyrannical and arbitrary as their
government. It required absolute obedience to the infallible authority
of the Brahminical caste; and to be under the ban of the sacerdotal
order was fraught with consequences the most bloody and terrible. .
They were skilled in the manufacturing arts.
were popular employments. Agriculture was carried to a high state
of perfection. They cultivated cotton, ﬂax, sugar, and rice, and silk
culture was a regular branch of industry.
The Cqraecqlliatini‘branch, though composed, even within the his-
toricwagge, of wild migratory tribes of an extremely rude social organi-
sation, became within a comparatively short period of time the most
reﬁned and the most civilised of all the nations of antiquity. It
exhibited the highest order of genius in the development of its lan-
guage, in the cultivation of the arts, in the intellectual pursuits of
philosophy and poetry, literature and science, and in devising rational
and effectivesyst'ems of religion, morals, law, and government. N o
nation exists now which representsthat branch in its original purity.
The modern Greeks and Italians, and the French and Spaniards in a
still higher degree, are much mixed with Celtic and German elements.
The Celtic branch'msurvives only in provincial communities, and as
an iiiipoiliﬁf‘aiéﬁiént in the character and individuality of some of
the most powerful of modern nations. Its original races were of a
gloomy disposition, credulous in the extreme, and submissive to supe-
Splnmng and weavmg
INTRODUCTION. xvii
riors. Their manners were simple, untainted by voluptuous vices or
ferocious cruelty. Their customs acquired the force of law, and estab-
lished social relations of a highly attractive character. They had
never reached a high degree of civilisation, yet the development of
their mental powers, their quick comprehension, their perceptive
faculties, and the ﬂight of their imagination evinced a capacity of
mind of no mean order.
Teutonicmbgaénpnh is the most wide-spread and most extensively
diﬁgusedimwThgﬂcivilisation of the Germanic nations is rather of a late
growth 3 but it is essentially Graeco-Latin, if not in its origin, at least
in its development. They are slow in their movements and conserva-
tive in their habits 3 and while, in their race of steady progress, they
take no precipitate step forward, the object they aim to accomplish is
never frustrated by reactionary and retrogressive checks. Their intel-
lectual faculties are capacious and far-reaching. They not only take
a comprehensive view of general principles, but their power of analysis
is no less marked and prominent.
The Slavonic branch is the youngest and least~civilised offshoot
of ‘tli‘e‘miideiiﬁl'illiiariﬁiis comprised within the comprehensive name of
Christendom. It is only a few centuries ago that the Slavo-Iranians
have emerged from the all-prevailing materialistic tendencies of the
grossest barbarism. They have thus far shown no extraordinary apti-
tude which entitles them to occupy a leading position in the contest
for supremacy in the intellectual domain of modern civilisation.
Their literature is still in its infancy, and their language is still unpo-
lished. The ﬁne arts are appreciated, but nothing original has been
produced. The sciences have been cultivated, but no new discoveries
have been made which can be attributed to the genius of the Slavonic
race. They have acquired renown in war, but even their victories
were only the result of the force of numbers. .
:‘
Fete“ e14 ‘LEA. (M <21. 0i 4 <1 Q...
CORRIGEN DA.
Page 4, lines 5 and 6 ; for “ separate and distinct divisions,” read “ a separate
and distinct division.” ‘
24, line I ; for “Assyrian ” read “Assyrians.”
26, line 3 from foot ; for “ ibec ” read “ibex.”
29, line 2 from foot ; for “ gate ” read “ gates.”
30, line 16 ;' for “ exists ” read “existed.”
34, line 14 ; for “ Zapanit” read “ Zarpanit.”
36, line 18 ; for “transgression” read “transgressions.”
43, line 2 from foot ; for “ deal” read “teal.”
52, line 2 ; for comma substitute semicolon ; line 3, for semicolon substitute
comma.
56, line 10 ; for “ on ” read “ or.”
61, line 2 ; for “ Arameeic ” read “ Arameean.”
116, line 6 ; for “ javelines ” read “ javelins.”
127, line 6 from foot ; for “ Chacham ” read “ Chachim.”
143, line 9 from foot ; for “ Bachi ” read “ Bashi.”
170, line 27 ; for “ Phtah ” read “ Phthah.”
207, line 13 ; for “ Toth” read “Thoth.” ‘*7
211, line 27 ; for “Toth ” read “Thoth.”
225, line 14 from foot; for “Ammun” read “Amun.”
THE
SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE ARAMIEANS.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
THE Aramaean stock 1 arose during the earliest dawn of the age of man.
It is the ﬁrst extra-tropical development of the human race ; but was
still conﬁned to high temperate latitudes where the sun warms the
blood with its genial heat, where the division lines which mark the
seasons are distinctly drawn, and where the winter frosts chill the
atmosphere and infuse fresh life and vigour into the renewed vegeta-
tion which the scorching winds of summer had parched and dried up.
There the inﬁectional form of language ﬁrst started into life. The
Semitic is the language of passion and of sentiment ; it acts, it moves,
it lends itself to the most sublime ﬂights of the imagination ; but its
action is but illy regulated by time, its motions do not follow the
strict order of logical sequence, its expressive idioms are highly meta-
phorical—word-paintings borrowed from objects of physical nature,
poetic conceptions derived from the most striking phenomena of the
external world. It does not possess the elements of purely abstract
metaphysical reasoning; it collected its materials by means of a vivid
sensual perception, and transformed them into a highly artiﬁcial sym-
bolism which can only be properly appreciated by a fervent imagina_
tion impressed with a delicate sense of the sublime and the beautiful.
The mind of the Aramaean corresponds with his language. Nature
made him a poet, a prophet, and a seer. He delighted to indulge in
reverie and in silent contemplation. He was prone to credulity ; faith
was a constituent principle of his soul; belief was the inherent attri-
bute of his being. He did not reach his conclusions by profound
logical reasoning, but he was struck with conviction by a kind of
intuitive inspiration, suggested by his fertile and ever-active fancy.
He originated the ﬁrst rational system of religion, and gave to his
devotions the character of nature-worship spiritualised and highly
reﬁned, to render it not only attractive but conducive to the develop-

1 In Works of philology Semitic is the most common term and has almost
been universally adopted, and, as far as it is applied to language exclusively, it is
perhaps the more expressive word. But with respect to races the term Aramaean
is preferable, because it refers to a locality and points out the early settlements
of the primitive stock, and is therefore more comprehensive in its signiﬁcation.
A.
2 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
ment of the moral feelings, and to give prominence to the emotional
part of human nature. He was not fettered and bound to service by
a superior master, and enslaved by the restraints of brutal force, but
he was free as his mind that viewed the boundless vistas of the
inﬁnite, ‘and as unconﬁned as his language that spurned the conven-
tional rules of artiﬁcial reason. But he was not only poetical in the
symbolic expressions of his thoughts, and eloquent in the glowing
fervour of his profound sentiments 3 but he was nature’s own artist,
and his work as well as his words were distinguished for elegance,
dignity, and grace. Even now the wild and roving Bedouin, however
poor and destitute, feels as proud as a king when he wraps his ragged
abba in graceful folds around his shoulders, which imparts to him the
noble outlines and the ideal beauty of a truly classic ﬁgure. He
moulds the plastic clay into delicate vases of the most artistic form,
which might serve as models to the modern sculptor.
But the reasoning powers of the Aramaean, although not voriginally
of a speculative cast, indicate the highest order of intellect. Govern—
ments of long duration flourished under beneﬁcent systems of laws
which have survived the wreck of time, and are still considered as
living monuments of profound philosophy and genius. Aramaean
nations reached a high degree of civilisation, by their own inherent
force of development, at periods in the world’s history when all other
races were still uncouth barbarians or cruel and vindictive savages.
The races of the Aramaean stock were the daring and adventurous
mariners, who ﬁrst navigated the ocean, engaged in commercial enter-
prises, visited the most civilised nations, and thus monopolised the
trafﬁc of the world. They were the inventors of alphabetic writing, as
well as numerical symbols, which places them in the ﬁrst rank as the
benefactors of mankind who have contributed the most essential ele—
ments for the diffusion and perpetuation of human knowledge. They
have founded mighty empires, and have extended their civilising
energies to vast regions of country, where they have exercised do-
minion, frequently as enlightened rulers and enterprising and skilful
colonists, but sometimes as execrable tyrants and cruel oppressors.
Their free and roving disposition and their indomitable spirit of inde-
pendence have developed a pernicious tendency to an exclusive
individualism which brooks no restraint, scorns all salutary discipline,
and is hostile to a powerful, consolidated, and well-regulated govern-
ment. Absolute democracy under a loose, patriarchal, theocratic, or
republican form, or the most cruel, arbitrary, and oppressive despo-
tism, stiﬂing every glimmering spark of freedom into remorseless
hatred, and crushing out all resistance to tyranny with relentless
severity, are the chief characteristics of the governments by which the
Aramaean nations have been controlled during the period of recent
historic times.
The narrow valley of Syria, watered by the Orontes, and extending
from the foot of the Lebanon mountains to the Euphrates and the
Syrian Desert on the east, with the Barada river to the south, is the
cradle-land of the Aramaean stock. The summer is semi-tropical, but
the atmosphere is cooled by refreshing breezes from the neighbouring
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 3
mountains, where the cedar, the cypress, and the ﬁr diffuse their
sombre hue over the landscape, which is remarkable for the sublimity
and grandeur of its scenery ;—where the river rolls over rugged rocks,
breaking through the perpendicular cliffs in its windings, while the
gurgling sounds of its waters are reverberating in the limestone‘ caverns
overgrown with ivy, the variegated hues and the deep green foliage
of the surrounding vegetation impart inexpressible beauty to the
charming simplicity of nature. The laurel and the bay, the wild vine
and the plane-tree, the sycamore and the dwarf oak, myrtles and
oleanders intermixed with box-trees and arbutus. shrubs, all combine
to make this favoured land the most enchanting, the most delightful,
and the most attractive spot on earth. The winters are extremely
moderate, copious rains replenish the thirsty earth with moisture, and
give to vegetation its vigour as well as its early maturity. Sometimes
the rains are interrupted by chilling frosts, which skim lightly over the
surface of calm waters, or shower down a thin layer of snow which
melts as soon as it has fallen. The spring months are balmy with
fragrant ﬂowers, the azure blue of the sky is serene, and the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere is delightful. The date-palm and the fig-tree
grow here to great perfection, and yielded to the primitive Aramaeans
the most luscious fruits. The olive, the pomegranate, and the pista-
chio nut, although cultivated, are of indigenous growth. The wild
rice ﬂourished in the marshes, and grapes were the natural productions
of the forest. This was the native home of the apricot; and the
orange, the citron, the almond, and the banana have been naturalised.
Apples, pears, quinces, and plums—fruits of more temperate climates
—are cultivated with great success. The soil is exuberant in fertility.
~Wheat and barley yield plentiful harvests 3 cotton, tobacco, and indigo
flourish, and might be made staple articles of great commercial value.
Mulberry trees of the best quality are planted here for the culture of
silk, and peaches of the most delicious ﬂavour are produced in great
profusion. The ash, the oak, and the poplar are scattered through the
plain, and willows and birch and lime trees are common near the
banks of the rivers. The lion once roamed through this valley, and
the bear found a shady retreat in the swampy lowlands. Hyenas,
jackals, leopards, and wolves still haimt the forests in small numbers.
The buffalo, the camel, and the horse, although now the domestic
slaves of man, were once the free denizens of these regions, and shared
the bounties of nature undisputed by the superior power of man.
The Aramzean stock ',is divided into three distinct branches. The
‘Syrian is the older, the Arabic the younger, and the Libyan branch is
of intermediate growth. They are closely related in physical as well
as mental characteristics. Although the most ancient Syrian races
' which have wandered away to distant lands have developed languages
in which the radicals of their mother tongue can no longer be traced,
yet they have preserved some afﬁnity of construction, but more espe-
cially the genius of the Aramzean mind.
4 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
SYRO-ARAMZEANS.
GENERAL CHARACTER.
THE Syro-Aramaeans are the oldest branch of the Arameean stock, who
maintained themselves for an indeﬁnite period of time as powerful,
independent nations, or as provincial tributaries in the aboriginal
home of their ancestors, in the land where their original progenitors
took root, increased, multiplied, and developed themselves into separate
and distinct divisions of the human race, differing from all others that.
preceded and followed them in characteristic physical outlines, in lan-
guage, manners, and religious impressions. They still represent the
fundamental type of the parent stock, much altered and modiﬁed by
the magic touch of time, which, while it polishes the rough angu-
larities of the exterior surface, penetrates, with its corroding processes,
the vital organism, and weakens the robust vigour and the indomitable
energies of the most powerful framework that serves as foundation
to empires and states to build up their lofty monuments of grandeur
and imperishable renown. Scattered remnants of these ancient
nationalities still fondly linger near the threshold of that consecrated
spot where the old family tree grew up, flourished, and spread out into
far-diffusing branches. Here they are decrepit, worn, and dilapidated,
shorn of their strength, sapped of their vitality, basking in the sun-
shine of a stern irresistible power, wielded with a rough and imperious
hand by arrogant and insolent strangers. Paroxysmal ﬂashes of
youthful energies have, from time to time, cast a bright gleam of
hope over the dark, dreary, desolate panorama of their decline and
downfall. They have ﬂed to the mountains to escape the pursuit of
their enemies ; they have been hunted down in their inaccessible
strongholds, like the beasts of the forest; and earnestly defending
their rights to life, happiness, and independence, they were made to
surrender, with arms in their hands, to the insidious foe raised in the
very bosom of their own mountain fortresses. They are now sub-
missive and subdued, and still they enjoy a kind of quasi-independ~
ence, regulating their own internal aﬁ'airs, under the supreme control
of their masters, whose religion they do not profess, and whose lan-
guage they do not speak. They have, however, forgotten their own
mother tongue, and have adopted the language of the neighbouring
races with whom they often lived on terms of amity and friendship.
The Syro-Arameeans once occupied, as a primeval and exclusive
possession inherited from their fathers, all the region of country
SYRO-AR-AMZEANS. 5
extending from the west coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the shores
of the Persian Gulf, protected on the north by the Taurus mountains,
on the east by the Red Sea, and on the south by the Sea of Arabia.
The Phoenicians were the original settlers of the Persian Gulf coast,
and ﬁshing, affording them the principal means of subsistence, became
their daily pursuit and gradually formed them into daring mariners
and adventurous seamen. Being driven from their homes by invading
conquerors, they took refuge in the narrow strip of land closed in by
the Lebanon mountains and the Mediterranean. Here they found a
wider ﬁeld for navigation, new avenues of communication were opened
to them ; their ﬁshing-boats and their coasting-vessels became enlarged,
they were made of strong and solid materials and were constructed
with ingenuity and skill, so as to be able to resist the chaﬁngs and
frettings of the agitated waves and the unruly violence of the tempest.
They ventured out into mid-ocean, visited foreign lands, established
commercial intercourse with foreign nations, and became the carriers
and factors of the world. But their opulence, their splendour, and
every trace of their civilisation have been engulfed by the stern and
pitiless vicissitudes of time, and the few relics of the ancient race
that still remain are hardly distinguishable from the mass of intrusive
races who displaced or absorbed all that was foreign to their native
instinct, or incongruous with their imperious nature and domineering
propensities.
The Maronites who occupy the eastern plateau and deﬁles of
Lebanon, are the remnants of the ancient Syrians, whose language,
though no longer spoken, still survives. The Yezidees who dwell in
the almost inaccessible heights of the Semien, and the N estorians who
inhabit the slopes and contracted valleys of the Koordish mountains,
are but scattered and dissevered links of those powerful nationalities
which once formed the great and ﬂourishing empires of Assyria and
Babylonia. Resisting with dauntless bravery the overwhelming forces
of the invading Arabs, the Persians, and the Turks, they retired from
the plains and found refuge and protection behind the impregnable
bulwarks of rocky cliffs and rugged crags of their mountain home.
The Jews are the most numerous as well‘ as the most prosperous of the
Syro-Aramaeans, who have survived the destruction of their nation-
ality, the loss of their independence, and the occupation of their
country by alien races. They are found in distinct religious com-
munities in every country of the civilised world, adopting the lan-
guage, customs, and manners of the people among whom they live and
by whom they are acknowledged as fellow-countrymen. Their rise
and progress, their downfall and dispersion, their persecutions and
their sufferings, their preservation and ﬁnal delivery from the accumu-
lated wrongs of ages, are marvels of history; isolated landmarks in
the chart of time full of mysterious meaning as yet unfathomed 3
hidden problems still unsolved and unexplained.
6 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
PH (ENICIANS.
ANCIENT Phoenicia was the narrow tract of territory constituting the
Mediterranean coast-line of Syria, and stretching in a north and south
direction, from the island town of Aradus beyond the river Eleu-
therus1 to the seaport of Gaza and the desert of Arabia. At a later
period the Israelites invaded the southern portion, known as the land
of Canaan ; exterminated or expelled the agricultural tribes who held
possession of the most fertile lands in the valley of the Jordan,- estab-
lished there a coterminous state, and formed an independent nation,
which long survived the ruin of the most opulent and most commer—
cial country of the ancient world.
The soil at the foot of the Lebanon, diversiﬁed by gently sloping
hills, and intersected by numerous small but rapid mountain streams,
was rich and fertile, and yielded abundant harvests, and afforded rich
pasturage for numerous herds and flocks. The genial and mild
climate ripened to perfection the grape, the olive, the pomegranate,
the pistachio nut and the ﬁg. The palm-tree ﬂourished near the sea-
shore, and the terebinth and the tamarisk grew with great luxuriance
in Palestine. The pine, ﬁr, and cypress covered the lower mountain
slopes of Lebanon ; the higher ridges formed a zone where the well-
known cedars grew, and the dwarf oak formed dense and almost
impenetrable forests in the uppermost regions near the summit. The
lion and the hyena haunted the gloomy recesses of these forest wilds ;
the bear and the wolf once found here a safe retreat to devour their
prey in security.
The geological formation is of a tertiary origin; no metalliferous
strata of any value are here met with 3 but the limestone is compact,
and constitutes a durable building material. Coal crops out in small
patches here and there; but its supply is too scanty, and its econo~
mical use is vitiated by being impregnated with sulphur. Iron ochre
exists in too small a proportion to make the extraction of the metal
proﬁtable.
In the southern districts the climate is mild and salubrious, the
highest summer heat does not exceed 90° E, and the average winter
temperature is not often below 50° F. A heavy fall of snow is of but
rare occurrence, except in the mountain regions and near the northern
frontier, where the air is chilled by the cold and freezing winds of the
Taurus. The orange and the date-palm, which are cultivated in the
gardens, are never touched by the winter’s frost, and the most delicate

1 It now bears the name of N ahr-el-Kebir.
PHCENICIANS. 7
ﬂowers unfold their blossoms in December and January. Heavy
showers of rain in November and December fertilise the earth and
prepare the land for the labours of the husbandman. Its agricultural
products are varied and valuable. Wheat and rye and barley are pro-
duced in great abundance. Cotton, tobacco, indigo, and sugar-cane are
cultivated with much success. The olive, the orange, the citron, the
banana, and other delicious fruits, thrive here in great luxuriance. The
grape vine, either tied to a stake or winding round the oak, furnishes
excellent red and white wines. Mulberry gardens are numerous, and
the culture of silk has acquired considerable importance.
The early history of the Phoenicians1 before the establishment of
the Hebrew commonwealth, is wrapped in impenetrable obscurity.
While the Israelites were still held in cruel bondage in Egypt, the
Phoenicians, as early as 1600 B.C., had already founded a ﬂourishing
state; had been engaged in extensive commercial enterprises, and
had planted prosperous colonies on the islands and shores of the .
Mediterranean and the Grecian Archipelago. A few historical names
of Phoenician kings have been recorded in the annals of contemporary
nations. Hiram, king of Tyre, supplied Solomon with handicraftsmen
as well as cedar wood and precious metals for the building of the
Temple at Jerusalem. He was succeeded by Baleazar his son, and
the line of succession was continued to the death of Pygmalion, the
brother of Dido, who was the reputed founder of Carthage. Sidon,
the most opulent maritime city of antiquity, was destroyed ‘by the
Babylonians. Having been rebuilt, it was conquered by the Persians.
Tyre, which rose to great magniﬁcence and splendour upon the ruins
of her sister. city, was taken by Alexander, and from that time it was
stripped by the rival port of Alexandria of its maritime traffic, and
consequently lost its commercial importance. Phoenicia was made a
tributary province of the Greeks and the Romans ; was occupied and
held in subjection by the Crusaders ; and was ﬁnally conquered by the
Turks, who still claim supremacy over its territorial domain.
The Phoenicians were the ﬁrst race of Syro~Aramaeans who attained
a high degree of culture, and whose advanced civilisation has con-
tributed much to shape the future destiny of mankind. By their skill
in navigation and their enterprising spirit, which established colonial
dependencies in foreign lands, they laid the foundation of that wide-
spread intercommunication of nations, and the consequent diffusion
of knowledge by which modern civilisation is so much distinguished.
They had built magniﬁcent cities, whose ediﬁces were lofty structures,
and whose sea-girt walls were strong and almost impregnable. Ivory
and ebony formed the artistic ornamentation of their furniture. Even
1" their rowers’ benches were of boxwood inlaid with ivory 3 2 their house-
“ hold vessels were of copper,3 and their drinking-cups of ﬁne glass.
Their garments were purple, blue, and embroidered mantlesfi Their
stuffs were precious and costly, for even their sails and streamers were

a 1 The aboriginal name of Phoenicia was Canaan, 1312;, which has the signiﬁca-
tion of depression or lowlands. '
2 Ezek. xxvii. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
8 THE ABAMEAN STOCK.
made of embroidered linen from Egypt.1 The gold of Thrace, the
silver of Spain, the carbuncles, rubies, and corals of Syria 2 were trans-
formed into ornamental devices by her skilful artisans. Balm, cassia,
gums, spices, and calamus constituted the aromatic ingredients with
which perfumed unguents and frankincense were compounded. The
wheat, the honey and oil of Judah and Israel,3 the wine of Damascus,4
the rams and goats of Arabia,5 supplied their table with all the luxuries
of a well-provided household establishment.
The Phoenicians being the most daring navigators and fearless
mariners of ancient times, their ships sailed through the Red Sea to
the Indian Ocean, they visited the coast of Spain and Britain, and
even extended their maritime adventures to the Black Sea. They
planted colonies in Cyprus, and founded there important cities.6
They took possession of Rhodes, and Cadmus introduced reﬁnement
and civilisation among its rude and uncultivated people ; and to make
them familiar with a higher order of religious worship, he built a
temple in honour of Neptune. Phoenician people had settled in
Crete, and brought with them their commercial spirit as well as their
religion. The Phoenicians discovered and worked the mines of Thasos
in Thrace, established colonies in Cilicia and Caria, and had early
settlements in Macedonia. Tartessus, Gades, and Malacca were
trading stations they had founded in Spain, and the island of Sar-
dinia was partly peopled by Phoenician colonists.7 To crown their
colonising spirit with the highest practical results, they formed a new
nationality on the west coast of Africa, and founded the renowned
commonwealth of Carthage, which became the rival and the victim of
the jealousy and the domineering power of Rome.
The commerce of the Phoenicians was widespread and extensive,
and effected an interchange of commodities between all the seaports and
commercial centres of the then known world. They were the carriers
and commercial agents of all the coast races and nations of Europe
and Africa, who had risen in art and social reﬁnement above the rude
animal propensities of savage life. Egypt and Assyria poured out
their treasures of art and the surplus of their natural productions to
ﬁll the storehouses of Sidon with merchandise, which the Phoenician
trading vessels carried to other lands and to remote islands.
In the beginning of the sixth century, before the Christian era,
Tyre was the commercial metropolis of the world. Her ships were
freighted with robes embroidered by the hands of Tyrian women, with
vessels of ﬁne glass manufactured in her workshops, with costly
purple-dyed stuffs woven in her looms, with artistically carved orna_
ments and drinking-cups of ivory, and jewels and gems of gold and
precious stones shaped into form by her artisans. They supplied
Greece with works of art as offerings for her temples, with ornamental
trinkets which captivated her maidens, and with unguents and per-
fumes which enhanced their personal attractions. They stocked the
markets of Athens and other Greek cities with ﬁne linen and alabaster
1 Ezek. xxvii. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid.
6 Diodorus Siculus. 7 Ibid.
PHCENICIANS. 9
from Egypt, with ivory and ebony from Ethiopia, with tunny ﬁsh
taken in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and brought back as
return cargo slaves kidnapped by Greek pirates on the shore of the
Euxine, or purchased from the mountain tribes of the Caucasus.
They exchanged the horses of Armenia, the pottery of Attica, the
cinnamon of Ceylon,1 and the myrrh and frankincense of Sabea at
Tartessus and Gades in Spain for the metallic riches of their mines——
silver, iron, and lead. The tin of Britain, the amber of the Baltic,
lions’ and panthers’ skins and elephants’ tusks from Africa, became
valuable articles of traﬂic with which the commercial enterprise of the
Phoenicians supplied the markets of the world.
The Phoenicians acquired their skill in navigation by the gradual
accumulation of knowledge drawn from the lessons of experience. In
the comparatively narrow and contracted waters of the Persian Gulf,
where they passed the infancy of their national life as coast traders
and ﬁshermen, they steered from island to island, or clung closely to
the shore-line, while embarked on frail rafts, exposed to the ruﬂied
waves of the sea and the rude inclemency of the weather. When
they arrived on the coast of Syria a wide and calm sea stretched its
smooth expanded surface to an unknown distance, and by degrees
their ingenuity in naval architecture became developed. Their
adventurous spirit urged them on to advance in continually pro-
gressive strides in order to explore the seemingly boundless sea,
until they might reach some antipodal land in the immeasurable space
of wave-currents everywhere presented to their acute but limited
vlsion.
The cypress and the cedar of the Lebanon furnished the ﬁttest and
most durable ship timber for the construction of merchant vessels and
war ﬂeets. The principal trading craft on which they undertook long
and distant voyages was the penteconter, of an elongated tapering
form, stoutly built, carrying masts and sails and provided with ﬁfty
oars, which enabled it to send with ease through the water in rapid
motion. The gauZos, or round ship, was clumsy but capacious, and
was well adapted for stowage and carrying bulky freight ; it was but
a slow sailer, and was probably used only for coasting purposes, or as
a tender placed in tow of other ships. Although the merchant navy
of Phoenicia was armed as a means of self-protection, yet the trz'remes
were, properly speaking, vessels of war with which they guarded the
coast and defended themselves from the hostile incursions of enemies.
The Phmnicians directed their course on the pathless ocean by the
unchangeable position of the north star. By long and careful obser-
vation of the heavens to discover a ﬁxed point by which the deviating
lines of direction in the diurnal circle described by the sun might be
determined, they accepted it as an established fact that the Cynosure,
the last star in the constellation of the Little Bear, nearly coincided
with a straight line drawn to the North Pole, from which the other

1 They gave currency to the fabulous report that cinnamon was obtained by
stratagem from the nests of birds on inaccessible crags, and frankincense from
trees guarded by winged serpents. Kenrick’s “Ancient Phoenicia,” p. 6 5 5.
10 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
cardinal points could be divided oﬂ' and accurately measured. They
were probably the ﬁrst people who practically applied the knowledge
of astronomy, aided by their skill in arithmetical calculation, to pur-
poses of navigation. As they passed through the pillars of Hercules
into the Atlantic Ocean they acquired the ﬁrst knowledge of the
periodical recurrence of oceanic tides ; and observation, as well as
reﬂection, soon taught them that the spring and neap tides were in a
measure controlled by the interactive inﬂuence of the moon. As they
were the earliest explorers of distant countries, and had visited many
foreign lands, they must have cultivated geography in its practical
relations with commerce and navigation.
They had acquired considerable proﬁciency in the science of num-
bers, and the system of their numerical notation was similar to that of
the Egyptians. The digits were indicated by simple strokes 3 ten was
marked by a horizontal line or a semicircle, twenty by a symbolic
ﬁgure resembling the letter V 3 a hundred was denoted by a speciﬁc
character, and its multiple was expressed by the addition of the
requisite unit lines. Their coinage, as well as weights and measure,
did not materially differ from the talent, the shekel, the cphah, and the
cubz't of the Hebrews.
In manufacturing industry the ancient Phoenicians were famous,
above all other nations, in the preparation of the costly Tyrian dyes
which were extracted from the buccinum and murex, two shell-ﬁsh
which the rocky coast of the country abundantly supplied, and which
yielded the most beautiful tints of red, purple, violet, or amethyst.
Sidon excelled in the manufacture of glass, where the art of blowing
into form the molten, plastic material had already attained a high
degree of perfection. The use of the lathe and the graver, for cutting,
burnishing, and ornamentation, was also known. They also under~
stood the method of casting mirrors, and must have rendered them
reﬂective by means of plates of polished metal. As the Egyptians,
with whom, from the earliest period, they had commercial intercourse,
were well acquainted with the art of colouring glass by means of
metallic oxides, the Phoenicians, if they were not themselves the
inventors, must have eagerly embraced the opportunity of making
themselves masters of the process, which had for its object the produc-
tion of an imitation of the precious stones diversiﬁed by the most
beautiful colouring. Their artisans had obtained celebrity for their
excellence in carving woodwork and ivory; for their artistic skill in
incrusting and inlaying walls with marble, ivory, and gold 3 and for
their ingenious combinations in preparing the most exquisite perfumes
from the lily and the alhenna. They are also the reputed masters
which gave elegance and ﬁnish to musical instruments. Their archi—
tecture was of a local and national character. They were geometrically
accurate in hewing stones which ﬁtted with the utmost exactness, so
as to retain their position without mortar or cement. The internal
decorations were of carved cedar and olive wood cut in ornamental
devices of pomegranate ﬂowers and gourds, embellished with incrus-
tations of precious stones, ivory, and gold. In Tyre there was a
temple dedicated to Hercules which “was adorned with a great variety
PH(ENICIANS. I I
of offerings, and in it were two pillars, one of ﬁne gold and the other
of emerald stone, both shining exceedingly at night.” 1
The mining operations of the Phoenicians were extensive and of a
very advanced order. Their colonial establishment at Thrace supplied
them with gold; they obtained calamine or carbonate of tin, as well
as copper, from Cyprus, which, by a combination in determinate pro-
portions, produced the valuable metals of bronze and brass. The
silver, lead, and iron mines of Spain were under their control, and
were worked on a large scale. The hardest strata were penetrated by
their implements and tools. The rich metallic deposits were laid open
to be severed from the rocky matrix by the laborious efforts of the
miner in capacious perpendicular shafts, horizontal adits, and chambered
galleries. Fresh air was supplied by ventilating shafts, and the water
was either drawn oﬂ by tunnels, or pumped up with the aid of an
Archimedes screw. The ore, after it was landed on the upper surface,
near the principal entrance of the mine, was conveyed to large furnaces
to be roasted, and to powerful machines to be crushed. It was then
washed in the current of running water, led through channels which
connected with reservoirs constructed for this purpose at a consider1
able height in the neighbouring mountains.
The art of writing in alphabetic characters was early cultivated by
the Phoenicians, and the nature of their pursuits made the practice of
that art highly useful, if not necessary. Their alphabet was composed
of twenty-two letters, which were delineated in the quadrate form of
the Hebrew type, but it originated with the Babylonians, from whom
it was borrowed by the Phoenicians. The form of the letters of the
Hebrew Bible, such as it has been transmitted to us, was not intro-
duced among the Hebrews till after the Babylonian captivity, which
then superseded an older form, probably derived from the Egyptian
hieratic, the only mode of writing that could have possibly been known
to Moses 3 for we have no reason to believe that the patriarchal ances-
tors of the Israelites possessed any written records, and the history of
their race prior to their advent in Egypt was simply chronicled in a
series of well-preserved oral traditions. If the Babylonians are the
inventors of alphabetic letters, the Phoenicians are entitled to the
gratitude of mankind for making the invaluable boon the common
heritage of the civilised world, by enriching Greece with this most
imperishable treasure ; and the Hebrews can claim the merit of having
perpetuated that original form in a literature which is itself immortal.
The language of the Phmnicia-ns formed a connecting link between
the Hebrew and Chaldee, but as its literature has entirely perished,
the nature of its internal construction, and the genius which deter-
mines its expression of human thought, can never be known with any
degree of certainty.
The population of the Phoenician state was divided into classes.
The nobility formed a kind of oligarchy, and constituted an integral
part of the government. The freemen were principally devoted to
commerce and manufactures, and formed the mass of the people who

1, Herodotus, ii. 44.
£-_, a‘ <.-- ‘we’
12 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
contributed most to the wealth and prosperity of the country. The
slaves, which were procured by kidnapping and purchase, were very
numerous.1 They were not only the personal attendants and domestic
servants of their masters, but they were devoted to the labours of the
ﬁeld and the workshop, and thus formed the strength and sinew of
the land.
The religious sentiments and practices of the Phoenicians are invested
with a halo of mystiﬁcation by the hazy mist of mythological ﬁction
and poetical allegories, invented by the glowing fervour of the eastern
imagination. Amidst so many dark and obscure shadows one gleam
of light appears, which reveals the fundamental principle that under-
lies the crude material idea of nature-worship, and from which the
higher conception of religious spiritualism is inevitably evolved.
It is not a personal divinity like that of the Hebrews which the
Phoenicians adored, but they revered the secret and inherent forces of
nature, those forces which, obeying deﬁnite and inexorable laws, are
developing and evolving new creations, are animating and preserving
that which exists, and are deteriorating and destroying, by constant
and inevitable changes, all material things. By the great results and
wonderful effects which they produce, they elicit the admiration, enlist
the love and submissive reverence, and become objects of the gratitude
of men. But, on the other hand, when they rage with blind fury and
exert their destructive power with overwhelming intensity and unre-
laxed persistence, the trembling worshipper is ﬁlled with awe and
terror, an indeﬁnable dread seizes upon his soul, and he crawls in the
dust—a thing of naught—in the presence of the mysterious inﬁnite and
the omnipotent unknown. These forces of nature were not deiﬁed in
their aggregate unity as the all-pervading abstract essence of things
that gives life and motion to matter; but they were regarded as
separate entities, acting each in its sphere with an independent will,
and manifesting their power under representative images peculiar to
their nature and character. They were supposed to exist as beings
endowed with sexual attributes—the only conceivable agency of
creation, production, and development. The male principle was the
instrument of the generating and fructifying power, it was the ﬁrst
cause of evolution, it was the strong will and the never-flagging energy
of man. The female principle was the passive receptive organism,
which developed the rude elements in accordance with the impressed
vitality it had received from without. Baal was the active, the
creative, the preserving, and the destroying element. Baaltis the
nourishing, the developing, and the perfecting source of existence.
The one was the author of intellectual, and the other of physical life.
According to another mythical system, the Phoenician divinities
revealed themselves to the ﬁrst races of mankind in human form to
teach them the arts and sciences, and to instruct them in the cere-
4,,/
1 Such was their number in Tyre, where, besides for purposes of luxury and
state, they were probably extensively employed in manufacture, that on one occa-
sion, of uncertain date, a servile insurrection took place, in which their masters
”and the free population were banished or put to death, and the succession was
changed. Kenrick’s “ Ancient Phoenicia,” p. 266.
PHGENIOIANS. 13
monies and practices of religious worship. This is the second, or
anthropological, stage of religious development, characterised by hero-
worship. The material visible types of nature are superseded by, or
superadded to, the abstract symbolism of an invisible spirit-world,
the pure creation of the human imagination.
The original cosmos of the Phoenicians was, like that of the Hebrews,
an undeﬁned, unlimited expanse of a wild and agitated a'e'riform pri-
mordial mass, in its pristine elemental unity, and veiled in impene-
trable darkness. Endowed with an inherent self-productive and
creative faculty, this quintessence of matter, urged by the irrepressible
innate impulse of self-multiplication, called Pothos, engendered a
compound substance of dense consistency known under the mystic
designation of Mot, a term indicating confusion and dispersion, which
is supposed to have been the origin of the ﬁrst earthly material in the
form of watery slime. This was the primitive germ from which the
universe became developed. The ﬁrst productions of living organisms
were of amorphous growth entirely destitute of sensation, but their
generative faculty manifested itself in a progressive series, and gave
rise to egg-form beings, endowed with vitality and intelligence, called
Zophasemine or beholder of the heavens. Mot, being self-illuminating,
gave forth the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets. Light was
thus diffused through the air ; and the earth and sea, becoming ﬁercely
heated by the inextinguishable ﬁres, violent winds were produced, and
heavy clouds were suspended in the upper regions of the sky. As
the cloud-masses accumulated, they fell in torrents in the form of rain
upon the parched and dried-up land. Showers convulsed the atmo-
sphere, and the streaky lightning, followed by the hollow roaring of
thunder, awoke all living intellectual forms from their motionless
apathy, and they exerted their yet feeble energies to initiate the ﬁrst
step of locomotion on land as well as in the waters. These primitive
living beings, whose infant minds were still dwarfed by the timidity of
inexperience, recognising a superior unknown power which brought
them into existence, gave expression to their vague and undeﬁned
faith by deifying the natural productions of the earth, offering sacri—
ﬁces and libations to these imaginary divinities. Mortals at last arose
as progenitors in the persons of ZEon and Protogonos from the union
of the breath of Khol-pia (the voice of the mouth of Jehovah) with
Boau (in?) or night. From these sprang the Genos or Genea, who
were the ﬁrst inhabitants of Phoenicia, and lived on the fruits of the
trees, the use of which, as food, was originally discovered by their
ancestral progenitors. ZEon and Protogonos ﬁrst gave birth to three
sons : Light, F ire, and Flame ; and by these the economical use of ﬁre
was discovered. They, in their turn, propagated their kind by pro_
ducing a giant race, whose names were perpetuated by Mount Cassius,
Libanus, Antilibanus, and Pratty. Memrumus and Hypsuranius,
worthy sons of the giants, were the originators of the arts. The last
established his abode on the island of Tyre, and constructed his dwell_
ing from reeds and rushes. At their death, those that survived them
erected piles‘ of wood and pillars of stone to their memory, and cele~
brated an anniversary festival as an act of worship to propitiate their
14 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
favour. Usous another descendant of the same race, taught
mankind how to prepare skins of wild beasts as a covering for the
naked body. He was the ﬁrst mariner who ﬂoated on the calm surface
of the sea, while seated on the frail craft composed of a tree stripped
of its branches. He introduced memorials of religious worship by
consecrating two rude stones and erecting pillars to the Wind and
to Fire, and pouring out in their honour libations of blood derived
from the victims he had slain. As this race of early heroic times
multiplied and increased, they introduced new means, and extended
the resources for procuring food. Fishing, the killing of birds, hunt-
ing with the aid of the dog, and the domestication and rearing of
animals, became useful occupations. They devised the art of metal-
lurgy, acquired skill in building rafts, and invented the process of
making bricks. They were versed in the secrets of incantation and
divination. Shipbuilding was brought to a high degree of perfection
by the Cabiri. Taiit invented the art of writing, and later genera-
tions acquired a competent knowledge of the medicinal virtues of
simples, and the antidotal effects of remedies counteracting the bite of
venomous serpents and other noxious animals.1
At its rise the Phoenician religion was distinctly Sabaean in its
ritualistic forms and principles. The heavenly bodies constituted the
‘chief objects of worship personiﬁed by male and female divinities,
which were endowed with attributes marked by sexual characteristics.
The sun, under the name of Baal or Baalshemi (DUDE/‘7323), or “lord of
the heavens,” was recognised as the supreme ruler of the universe.
He held the ﬁrst rank among the gods, and corresponded in dignity
with the Olympian Jupiter of the Greeks. The shady recesses of
groves planted in high places were consecrated to him. A numerous
retinue of priests 2 of great inﬂuence and power gave solemnity to his
mysterious worship. Not only bulls were sacriﬁced to his honour,
but his blood-stained altars were reeking with the gore of human
victims.3 To invoke his aid and propitiate his anger, or expiate some
grievous wrong, his fanatic votaries considered it the highest act of
devotion to lacerate their bodies and scarify their skins with sharp-
edged cutting instruments. Baal, as the initiatory, preserving, and
destroying power, corresponds with three seasons of the year and the
three principal divisions of the day. As Adonis (fl'll‘f) or “lord,” he
represents the morning hour and the genial sun of springtime, the
season of reviving nature. As Baal-Chamman or the planet Mars, he
typiﬁes noontide and the hot summer sun, the season of maturity. As
Baal Chewan or the planet Saturn, he represents the evening and the

1 The remaining part of this crude mythology, which is neither polished by
poetical fancies nor rendered attractive by symbols expressive of philosophical
ideas, is simply an attempt to trace the origin of the Phoenician nation to ancestral
heroes who are raised to the dignity of gods. The whole presents a confused mass
of incongruities and anachronisms, in which Greek and Phoenician divinities are
oddly intermixed. This account of Phoenician mythology is credited to Sancho-
:niathon, the Phoenician historian, and is found in the book of Eusebius, but is
believed by many to be a forgery of Philo-Byblius.
2 Jezebel maintained four hundred and ﬁfty priests of Baal. I Kings xviii. 22.
3 J er. xix. 5. -
PHCENICIANS. . 1;
winter sun, the season of destruction. As Adonis, Baal was prin-
cipally worshipped in Byblos, and in some places on the Lebanon
mountains. Byblos was called the holy city of Adonis. He was
considered as the god of agriculture, for in his capacity as sun-god he
bestowed the fruits of the orchard and the grains of the ﬁeld as his
special gift. The Phallus, the type of the generative principle, was
also sacred to him. As a nature-god, he combined the abstract con~
ception of all other divinities, and on this account he was represented
under an androgymous form. .
El, Bel, or Belitan, who corresponds to Chronos or Saturn, repre
sents the old typical conception of Baal, and as such he was greatly
venerated. He has always the ﬁrst rank assigned to him when he is
named in connection with other gods. He is reported to have been
the leader of the minor divinities (QmlJN), who are said to have
received their names from him. As the ﬁrst male divinity, he is
associated with the oldest female goddesses: Astarte, Baaltis, and
Rhea. In the division of time, named after the seven planets, Saturn
was always placed at the head of the system. He is supposed to have
been the founder of Byblos and Berytus. Erom Phoenicia he wan-
dered through the whole world, which he conquered, and conferred
'the countries and cities as feudatory possessions upon the vassal gods.
He is the demiurgus endowed with creative power, the architect of the
universe, which he called forth from chaos with the assistance of the
goddess of knowledge and wisdom. He was thought to be a holy and
just being, abhorring injustice and sin, which could only be atoned
for by sacriﬁcing that which was loveliest and dearest, and on this
account children were offered upon his altars.
Baal, as Mars and Sol, assumes the character of Moloch, which con-
‘nects him with ﬁre—worship. He is known as Malcander (77$, or ﬁre-king, whose child is puriﬁed from the dross by the agency of
ﬁre. Children were consecrated to him by passing them through the
‘ﬁre, or they were thrown into the sacriﬁcial ﬁre to be consumed.
Astarte (names), the great female deity of the Phoenicians, was the
-personiﬁcation of the moon. Her feminine attributes as the queen
of heaven indicated her close relation with Baal, and for this reason
she was known under the name of Baalith, which the Greeks cor-
irupted into Beltes (Bnwng). ‘She was held in high honour as the
patron divinity of Sidon, and the heifer, whose horns were bent in
‘crescent curves, was the sacred symbol of» her divinity. Her worship
was widely diffused in Phoenicia, and in the country bordering on the
Jordan. The women of the land poured out libations and offered up
incense and cakes as tokens of reverence, and to this goddess they
ascribed the prosperity which rejoiced their heart and crowned their
national life.
Mylitta was a favourite goddess whom the Phoenicians worshipped
in common with the Babylonians. She was the prototype of the
Venus of Paphos and Cytherea, and the original root-word “ Yiled,”
‘1:21, parz'o, from which her name is supposed to have been derived,
sufficiently indicates the characteristic attributes that were ascribed to
her. Like the Venus of the Greeks, she was the deiﬁed personiﬁca-
16 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
tion of voluptuousness and the pleasures of love. She had a temple
dedicated to her at ZEgira, to which no male worshipper was admitted.
A stone, in its natural form, bearing not'even a rude resemblance to
the human ﬁgure, was the earliest symbolic representation, and the
consecrated object of her mystic rites, and received divine adoration.
Melkarth, whose name signiﬁes “king of the city” “king of the land”), was the tu'telary deity of Tyre. His worship
dates back to the remotest antiquity, and in his attributes and power
this god was probably, in its original conception, another form of the
supreme divinity identical with Baal. He had a temple at Gades in
Spain, where he was represented under the symbol of perpetual ﬁre;
but no image carved in the typical form of this god was worshipped.
The Greeks recognised in this god the original type of their own
Hercules. A goddess to whom the Greeks attributed the character of
Athene, and who probably presided over the art of war, received divine
reverence among the Phoenicians. Poseidon was a marine god, the ruler
of the ocean wave and the sea, who had a temple at Berytus; and a
marine Jupiter was worshipped at Sidon. The tutelar deities who
protected the mariner, and were the originators and patrons of navi-
gation, were the Cabiri, who, in the original conception of nature~
worship, appeared under the symbolic representation of a visible
ﬂame, the result of the combined action of air and ﬁre. They were
the reputed sons of a Phoenician Vulcan, and were the labouring
Corybanthes devoted to the artistic smith-work of the forges. They
were adored as the guardian genii of ships, and their images, under-
the name of Pateeci, formed the ﬁgureheads on the prows of the
Phoenician sailing craft. Esculapius, who possessed the power of'
preserving and restoring life, was the reputed brother of the Cabiri.
Air, the source of life and health, was the element which was personi~
ﬁed in the form of this god.
Among the subordinate divinities Taiit or Hermes is symbolised by
a serpent seizing its tail with its mouth in the form of a circle. He
is the god of the intellect, and as such he is associated with the
goddess of wisdom, and acts as counsellor of E1 or Saturn. He is the‘
inventor of science and art, and especially of alphabetic writing. He-
is the reputedeuthor of the sacred books which contained the natural
theology that constituted the learning of the priests. The Agademon
or Surmubel was represented by a living dragon—the type of intel-
lectual power and rapidity of motion. He was supposed to be the
commentator of the sacred books. Thuro (TT'DFI), Doto Chusartis, or
Harmonia, were symbolic representatives of the law.
Very little is known of the internal economy that prevailed in the
ecclesiastical system of the Phoenicians. Byblos and the isle of Tyre
had in most ancient times a theocratic government. The god Mel-
karth was the ruling authority of these cities, and for this reason the
high priest was second only to the king, whose brother he generally
was, and bore a title as such. He and his subordinates were the
beneﬁciaries of rich revenues, which were principally derived from the
most extensive landed estates, in addition to a tenth part of the net-
income of every inhabitant of the city and its dependent colonies.
PH(ENICIANS. I7
The priesthood connected with the worship of Astarte occupied the
next highest rank, and the high priest was always a near relation of
the reigning monarch. The common priests were distinguished from
the rest of the people by having their head shaven, and by wearing
garments of white linen. They constituted a separate and distinct
class, and enjoyed many privileges. ‘No woman was allowed to exer-
cise sacerdotal functions. Each principal god had one or more temples
entirely dedicated to his service. Certain stones were regarded as
sacred objects, as representative symbols of the gods, the secret abodes
of a living, acting power, and the oracular shrines of prophetic visions.
The Phoenicians practised circumcision, and held swines’ ﬂesh in utter
abhorrence.1 -
The government of Phoenicia was an hereditary monarchy, but
the kingly power was limited by an inﬂuential aristocracy, who
formed a body of nobles without whose advisory control no law
could be executed and no important enterprise could be undertaken.
They were organised into a senate, of which ten members (princ-z'pcs)
of the highest rank constituted, so to say, the Upper House, while
the more numerous council was made up of thirty members who
acted upon the report of the Supreme Council. In later times no
new king, on his accession to the throne, could exercise royal
authority unless his right had been previously conﬁrmed by the
express sanction of the people; and whenever the line of dynastic
succession became extinct, the vacancy was ﬁlled by a popular
election. When the throne at Tyre became vacant, the executive
authority was provisionally exercised by two elective magistrates
called suﬁ’ctes (@192?!) or judges, but they were not invested with
hereditary rights or other royal prerogatives. The royal dignity was
marked by certain insignia and badges, of which the royal robe of
purple was the most signiﬁcant and most honourable. The monarch
showed his superiority by replenishing his well-peopled harem with the
daughters of the nobles, and his ivory palace was sumptuously ﬁtted up
with regal luxury and magniﬁcence. The revenues of the king were
principally derived from the proceeds of the public domains ; and as the
king was the chief of merchant princes, he ﬁlled his treasury from the
immense gains realised by engaging largely in external commerce.

1 The Carthaginians, who were the descendants of the Phoenicians that estab-
lished a prosperous colony on the coast of Africa, practised religious rites similar
to those of the mother country, modiﬁed, however, by their contact withthe
Romans. It was an established ritual of the Carthaginians to sacriﬁce every year
a youthful victim who was chosen by lot. Infants were burned alive, and their
sacriﬁce had a special signiﬁcance. The most acceptable offering of all was that
of an only child. The image of Saturn, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus, was
of brass; the stretched-out hands were hollow, turned upwards so as to receive
the body of the child, which thence slipped down into the ﬁery receptacle below.
Mothers brought their infants in their arms, and as any manifestation of reluc-
tance would have made the sacriﬁce unacceptable to the god, they stilled them by
their caresses till the moment they were thrown into the ﬂames. Human sacri-
ﬁces were not offered to one god only, nor to one specially answering to the Saturn
of the Greeks and Romans ; but as he was reputed to have devoured his children,
it was natural in witnessing the sacriﬁce of infants they should call him Saturn.
Kenrick’s “Ancient Phoenicia,” p. 319.
B
18 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
m“)
Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus, the three principal cities of Phoenicia,
were each governed by a king who, in all local affairs, exercised
independent power, and they only concentrated their energies by
united action to protect themselves against foreign enemies and to
promote the common interests. The supreme control and the prepon-
derating inﬂuence in the state was frequently conceded to the most
powerful of the three cities 5 and the representatives of the three
sovereignties often met as a deliberative assembly in the city of
Tripoli, where all matters of the highest importance were decided.
Notwithstanding that a commercial spirit of an absorbing interest
universally prevailed in Phoenicia, the military order of the people
was rather fostered than crushed out by the imperious necessity of
accumulating wealth to obtain rank and respectable standing in
society by means of successful trafﬁc. During the earlier period of
their national life, the Phoenicians were frequently engaged in
piratical expeditions, which had for their object the kidnapping, on
foreign shores, of persons who were enticed to come on board their
ships, or were carried off by violence, that they might be sold as slaves.
When Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia became great military
nations, the Phoenicians were compelled to arm themselves in self-
defence, to provide an efﬁcient navy for the security of their coast,
to fortify their maritime cities, and to increase the strength of their
army. They enlisted mercenary troops which were principally drawn
from Carthage, a rising state, which was thus educated for a higher
order of civilisation by rendering her people warlike and enterprising,
and subsequently giving rise to her commercial prosperity.
The relations in which the Phoenician colonies stood to the mother
country were not of a ﬁxed and well-deﬁned character. Their union
was rather based on a friendly alliance, and the pious sentiment
fostered by religious unity, than by a sense of legal obligation. The
Carthaginians acknowledged no allegiance to the Phoenician govern-
ment 3 but of their own free will they made themselves tributary to
Melkarth, the patron deity of Tyre, and contributed one-tenth of
their public revenues as an offering to his temple. A vessel laden
with the ﬁrstrfruits of the year came annually from Gades as a
consecrated gift to the temple of Hercules, and the Tyrian colonists of
Byzantium honoured the same god with sacriﬁcial offerings of victims
and odoriferous gums.
AUTHORITIES.
Ancient Phoenicia. By John Kenrick. I8 57.
Sanchoniathon’s Phoenician History. Translated from the First Book
of Eusebius. By Rev. R. Cumberland.
Biblical Geography of Phoenicia. By E. F. C. Rosenmiiller. 1841.
De l’Economie Publique et Rurale des Pe'rses et des Phéniciens. Par L.
Reynier. 1819.
Carthage and Her Remains. By N. Davies.
8(lgas phonizische Alterthum). Die Phoenizier. Von Dr. F. C. Movers.
I 5 .
Diodorus Siculus. Herodotus. English Version of the Bible.
ASSYRIANS. 1.9
ASSYRIANS.
AFTER Egypt and Phoenicia, Assyria was the most ancient organised
state of Aramaean nationalities that sprang into existence in the
remote past, and became, partly by conquest and partly by assimi-
lation, a well-compacted and well-governed empire. The Assyrians
were one of the earliest offshoots of Syro-Aramaeans who left their
cradle-land, the home of their ancestors, to seek independence and a
- wider ﬁeld of action in the alluvial valley closed in by the Euphrates
and the Tigris, and in the higher tablelands of Mesopotamia. They
were principally devoted to hunting the wild game of the forest, to
agricultural pursuits and the rearing of domestic cattle ; for they had
already tamed the buffalo, which they found scattered in extensive
herds in the woody lowlands and the almost impenetrable swamps
whichstill covered the long strip of alluvial soil conﬁned between
the two great historic rivers. Their occupation being of a sedentary
character, involving the right of possession in the lands which they
cultivated, they early formed a political community, submissive
to well-deﬁned and established laws, peaceable in their disposition,
but ready to take up arms for mutual protection and defence against
the encroachments and plundering excursions of wild nomadic tribes.
The history of the Assyrians, which is shrouded in great obscurity,
does not rest upon any written records, except the meagre accounts
preserved by Hebrew and Greek writers. Recently the cuneiform
characters impressed upon the tiles and bricks of the monumental
relics have- been partially deciphered, and a key has thus been fur-
nished that unlocks the mystery of the internal economy of the
Assyrian empire. But even the events brought to light by the aid
of this monumental writing are of comparatively recent date. The
historical record of Assyria begins with Shalmaneser I.,1 and does not
claim any higher antiquity than 1290 years before the Christian
era. This monarch is chieﬂy known as the founder of Calah
\(Nimrud), which was situated in a region of country of great fer-
tility between the Tigris and the torrent of Shor-De'rreh. His son
and successor, Tiglathi-Nin, invaded the neighbouring kingdom of
Babylonia, and although he did not succeed to bring it into sub-
jection and destroy its national independence, yet he arrogated the
title of conqueror of Babylon. Asshur-ris-ilim, who is supposed to
have reigned between 1130 and 1150 13.0., is styled “the powerful

I In the mode of writing the names of the Assyrian kings the text follows Mr.
Rawlinson; but Mr. Oppert writes them quite differently, and frequently the
name is changed altogether.
> —_ ~Wn-wn-l'‘
(
20 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
king, the subduer of rebellious countries, he who has reduced all
the accursed.” He successfully defended himself against the attack
of N ebuchadnezzar, with whom he had been engaged in war. Judging
from the pompous titles assigned to Tiglath-Pileser I., who ascended
the throne in r 130 13.0., he must have been one of the most remarkable
of Assyrian kings. He is described as “the powerful king of kings,
king of the people of various tongues 3 the king of the four regions 3
king of all kings, lord of lords; the supreme monarch of monarchs 3
the illustrious chief who, under the auspices of the sun-god, being
armed with the sceptre and girt with the girdle of power, rules over
all the people of Bel.” His warlike enterprises were bold and exten—
sive. He enriched his empire with the treasures of foreign nations.
He ravaged the temples, devastated the lands, plundered the inhabi-
. tants, carried off their cattle and goods, and returned to his own
country crowned with triumph and laden with foreign spoils. He
crossed the Euphrates on boats covered with skins, and invaded Syria,
where he burned and pillaged six cities. He increased not only the
political power, the territorial extent and population of Assyria, but-
he erected several temples 3 constructed works of irrigation, and thus.
promoted the interest of agriculture; naturalised foreign breeds of
cattle, as well as beasts of chase 3 and introduced exotic vegetable pro-
ductions for the advancement of the well~being of his people. But
the prosperity of the empire was established upon a more permanent
foundation by Asshur-idanni-pal, who wielded the reins of authority
with ﬁrmness and energy during a period of twenty-ﬁve years, from
884-8 59 B. c. He enlarged the boundaries of Assyria, and added strength
and security to his government, and by his warlike exploits his
inﬂuence became paramount 3 and his power was respected among
neighbouring tribes and foreign nations, whom he rendered tributary
or with whom he entered into friendly alliance. His dominions
extended “from the upper passage of the Tigris to Lebanon and the
Great Sea, having reduced under his authority all the countries from
the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.” . He was as
bold as a hunter, as he was brave as a warrior. He maintained a.
pleasure park near Nineveh, in which were enclosed many curious and
strange animals. His character was sufﬁciently reﬁned to appreciate
the ﬁne arts. He erected lofty and magniﬁcent ediﬁces, which were
distinguished for tasteful decoration and artistic embellishment. He
left the throne to his son Shalmaneser II., who was no less renowned
than his father for his warlike and enterprising spirit. His military
expeditions were numerous and extensive. He waged war with varying
success against Babylonia, Media, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and
Damascus. The seat of. his government was at Calah, where he built
a sumptuous palace and erected an obelisk to perpetuate his memory.
He was succeeded by Iva-lush in 8ro no. This monarch led his
army into Syria, and effected the conquest of Damascus, which had
long resisted the repeated attacks of his predecessors. He also claimed
as tributary allies Tyre, Sidon, Samaria, Philistia, and Idumaea, and
he even exacted homage from Babylonia. Sargon was one of'the
most powerful and most successful Assyrian princes. Susiana, Syria,
ASSYRIANS. 2 I
the borders of Egypt, Southern Armenia, Koordistan, and Media were
the theatres of his military exploits. He made himself master of
Babylonia, and was its acknowledged king for the last ﬁve years of his
reign. He waged a devastating war against Samaria, and reduced it
to subjection; he carried away the Israelites as captives, transplanted
them as colonists in Babylonia, ‘and established on their forfeited
lands a colonial dependency, peopled with his own subjects from
Babylon, Catha, and Suspara. During his reign much taste was
exhibited in the cultivation of the arts. The furniture was more
elegant in form, and of much more elaborate ﬁnish; vases, goblets,
and boats were tasteful in outline; in sculpture, animal ﬁgures were
delineated with greater symmetry and justness of proportion. Trans-
parent glass now became an article of luxury ; intaglios were out upon
hard stone, and the enamelling of tiles and bricks was carried to the
highest degree of perfection. After a glorious reign of seventeen years
he left the government of the empire to his son Sennacherib, who
ascended the throne in 704 B. o. , and was one of the most renowned
of the Assyrian monarchs. He made an unsuccessful attack upon
Sidon; organised an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judah;
invaded Egypt under an Ethiopian Pharaoh, whose armies he defeated
with great slaughter, and reduced Egypt to a tributary nation. In
his second invasion of Palestine his army was utterly destroyed in a
' well-planned night attack, the success of which is ascribed to miracu-
lous interposition.1 He also met with a terrible disaster on the borders
of Egypt, and Babylon ceased to acknowledge his supreme authority.
He strengthened the fortiﬁcations at Nineveh by erecting lofty towers
as works of defence to protect the entrance gates. He erected a temple
in honour of N ergal in Tarbisi, and constructed a great palace which
was most remarkable for its splendour and magniﬁcence. The labour
for the construction of public works was supplied by the host of
captives taken in his numerous wars which he waged against foreign
countries. His two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, formed _'a con—
spiracy against him to secure to themselves the dynastic succession,
and to accomplish this end more speedily they murdered him while
worshipping in the. temple. They also despatched N ergilus, who
claimed the title of king and exercised supreme authority for a short
period. But Esar-haddon defeated their nefarious designs, and would
have revenged their atrocities had they not ﬂed to Armenia. This
monarch was acknowledged by the whole nation as the rightful
sovereign about 680 B.G. He assumed the title of “King of Assyria,
Babylon, Egypt, Meroe, and Ethiopia.” He was, perhaps, the only
great prince' Assyria can boast. He established his supremacy in
Egypt, not only at Sais and Memphis, but at Thebes. He penetrated
with his victorious armies the outermost boundaries of Asia Minor,
reduced Armenia to a tributary nation, and annexed Susiana as an
integral part of his empire. He delighted in deeds of daring, and
lion-hunting was his favourite amusement. He was the patron of
literature and learning. Astronomy, history, and science ﬂourished

1 2 Kings xix. 3 5.
22 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
under his fostering care. Architecture was distinguished for a high
order of artistic beauty. The great palace constructed by Esar-haddon
was elaborate in design and complex in ornamentation. The courts
were paved with slabs of stone arranged in elegant patterns. Some
of the doorways were arched and embellished with garlands of rosettes
representing the lotus ﬂower. The chambers and corridors were lined
with slabs of alabaster cut in reliefs, which were executed with great
delicacy and taste and with extraordinary minuteness of detail. Esar-
haddon was succeeded by his son, Asshur-bani-pal. It was during the
reign of Saracus that the Scythians or Mongols made an incursion into
Assyria 3 but their occupation of the country was only temporary, and
they were soon forced to retreat beyond the boundaries of the Assyrian
empire. At a later period, however, Cyaxarus, king of Media, joining
his forces with those of N abopolassar, the Assyrian general, who
betrayed the trust conﬁded to him by his master, laid siege to Nineveh 3
and Saracus, having exhausted his means of defence, and unable to
resist the power of his formidable fees, as the last act of despair, set
ﬁre to his palace, which became his funeral pile as well as his tomb.
1: The geographical outlines of Assyria are not accurately deﬁned,
since conquest and various political changes extended or diminished,
from time to time, its territorial limits. Its eastern boundary, which
was marked out by the lofty mountain chain of Zagros, was permanent
and fixed. On the west, at the early period of its rise and develop-
ment, its dominions did not extend beyond the Tigris, but in after
time it stretched across Mesopotamia and reached the banks of the
Euphrates. On the north, Mount Marsius formed the natural boundary
line; but these limits were gradually widened so as to include the
course of the Tigris from Diarbekr to Til, as far as the Armenian
mountain chain. On the south it was separated from Babylonia by the
upper and slightly-elevated plain and the alluvium of the lower valley.
The soil on the eastern or left bank of the Tigris is rich and fertile.
The country consists of a semi-alluvial plain, intersected by ranges of
hills, which connect with the Zagros mountains, and is watered by
numerous brooks and rivers that wind their course through the ﬂat
lowlands and empty their waters into the Tigris. The western slope
of the hills, which is exposed to the heated rays of the mid-day sun,
is parched, barren, and devoid of vegetation 3 while the eastern side
is scantily covered with dwarf oak and stunted brushwood. The vast
tract of land, from sixty to seventy miles in width, situated between
Mount Marsius and the Singar range, is an undulating plain, of which
great portions are deﬁcient in water, which accounts for the want of the
fertility of the soil, and renders cultivation extremely diﬂcicult if not
unproﬁtable. The soil is not only intimatelyintermixed with gypsum,
but in many places the surface is encrusted with salt and nitre, which
are destructive of vegetation and reduce vast tracts of land into a
desolate waste. IVestern Assyria is divided into two plains by the
Singar range, which is composed of white, soft fossiliferous limestone,
and is skirted by ravines from which issue forth brooks and streams
whose waters are rendered useful for purposes of irrigation.
Assyria is much diversiﬁed in temperature and other phenomenal
ASSYRIANS. 23
changes incident to climatic inﬂuences. In Southern Assyria, which
borders on Babylonia, the heat of summer is excessive3 while the
winters, though moderate, are chilly and disagreeable. In the eastern
districts, the scorching heat of the summer months is rendered more
endurable by the cool breezes which ﬂow in refreshing currents from
the snow-capped ridges of the Zagros mountains 3 and the heavy night
dews supply sufﬁcient moisture to support vegetation. The winters
are moderately cold, and an occasional fall of snow is a common occur-
rence ; yet the rains are much more abundant, which continue till late
in the spring, andv saturate the soil with the necessary elements of
fertility. In West Assyria, which is divided by the Singar range,
the spring is the most delightful season, though the delicious calm is
at times interrupted by the most violent tempests 3 the howling of
the wind is frightful, and thunder and lightning agitate the atmosphere
with excessive commotion. Hails remarkable for extraordinary size
and intensity of force, are not unfrequent. The summer heat, from
noon till sunset is exceedingly oppressive, though the nights are com—
paratively cool and much morehmoderate. The autumn is a pleasant
and enjoyable season 3 but the winter, if not intensely cold, is ren-
dered highly disagreeable by the frequent alternations of snow and rain.
During early spring the grass sprouted up with great luxuriance,
and decked the naked soil with a richparpet of green, intermingled with
clusters of beautiful ﬂowers. Olives were but sparsely cultivated, and
they were rather of an inferior quality 3 but the Assyrian Citron-tree
_ was greatly appreciated for the delicious odour of its ﬂowers and the
exquisite beauty of its fruit, which was considered an unfailing anti-
dote against poison. The cereals yielded plentiful harvests, and silk
was one of the great staple products of the country.
Fruit trees of great variety have been introduced in more modern
times. Dates, lemons, oranges, and apricots ﬂourish in the south
The ﬁg and the vine are grown with much success in the Singar 3 and
the slopes of the Zagros are covered with olive-trees, pistachio nuts,
ﬁlberts, and walnuts. The orchards produce excellent apples, pears,
plums, cherries, and quinces 3 and the vegetable gardens are planted
with melons, peas, beans, onions, spinach, cucumbers, and lentils.
Trufﬂes and capers grow wild in the ﬁelds and the lowlands. The
sycamore, the oriental plane-tree, and the oak supply the most valu-
able timber 3 the silver poplar attains its perfect growth near water-
courses, and the Carob-tree (Ccmz‘onia silz'guosa) is here and there met
with. Of shrubs, the sumac is most abundant on the banks of the
Euphrates 3 wormwood and tamarisks are most common in the plains,
and 'glossy-leaved myrtles and rose-blossomed oleanders fringe the
banks of smaller streams.
The mineral productions of Assyria are of great utility and import-
ance. Limestone and sandstone furnish substantial building mate-
rials 3 basalt and conglomerate constitute a part of the geological
formation. Iron, copper, and lead exist in great abundance 3 silver
and antimony are found in the mountains of Koordistan 3 and bitumen,
naphtha, petroleum, alum, and salt are also supplied in sufﬁcient
quantity for all industrial and economical purposes.
24 THE ARAMJEAN sroox.
The physiognomy of the Assyrian was characteristically Aramaean.
Their large and almond—shaped eye, their full eyebrows, their straight
forehead, their aquiline nose, with the end unduly depressed 3 their
ﬁrm mouth, with somewhat thick lips, and their well—formed chin,
give them a peculiarity of personal appearance, which was rendered
still more striking by the abundance of dark hair and a well-trimmed
bushy beard. They were well-formed, of robust frame, with muscular
' limbs. Like all the races of Arameean origin, their religious tempera-
ment was highly developed 3 they were credulous and submissive.
In addition to personal bravery, they were trained and disciplined to
patient endurance and the hardships of war. Their courage was
tinged with ferocity 3 and treachery forms a prominent feature of their
character. In private life they were addicted to pleasure, and their
moral conduct was debased by luxuriousness and sensuality.
In private stations the Assyrians did not display much ostentation
in dress, but their ordinary costume was simple and unadorned. A
short-sleeved tunic, hardly reaching to the knee and conﬁned round
the waist with a broad girdle, was universally worn by the common
people. The higher classes not only wore the tunic, which was
generally fringed, but they were clad in closely-ﬁtting trousers, to
which an outer garment, in the form of a philibeg, was added 3 and
their feet were protected by boots or sandals. Men of rank or ofﬁcial
position were distinguished by a long-fringed robe, which was almost
sleeveless, as it barely covered the shoulders, and it was gathered
round the waist by an elaborately-patterned belt. He who, by virtue
of his official dignity, was entitled to carry a sword, had it suspended
from his left shoulder by means of a belt, which was sometimes of
great elegance. The head-covering, which afforded sufficient protec-
. tion against sun and rain, was simply the natural hair, which was
gathered on the back of the head in three or four rows of stiff and
heavy curls. A band or ﬁllet frequently kept the luxuriant locks
in position. Their beard was carefully platted, and their eyebrows
were dyed black. Musicians wore a stiff cap shaped like a ﬁsh’s
tail, or they substituted in place of this a tiara of feathers 3 while
the head-dress of the priests was in the form of a truncated cone.
Armlets and bracelets were badges of high ofﬁcial position or elevated
, social rank 3 and earrings indicated some peculiar professional pursuits,
being principally conﬁned to soldiers, musicians, and huntsmen’s
attendants.
The women of the lower orders were dressed in a gown not quite
extending to the ankle, over which an outer cloak was worn. The
head was covered with a hood, from which the hair was only visible
as it descended in a single curl. Their feet were bare and unprotected.
The ladies of the higher classes were an ample gown provided with
sleeves, which was made of striped or patterned stuff, and was orna-
mented with fringes. Over this a short cloak was sometimes thrown,
which was open in front but covered the arms as far as the elbows.
The breast was adorned with a fringed cross-belt, which was diagonally
suspended from the left shoulder. The hair was artistically arranged,
either in crisp curls or in waved bunches, which formed long ringlets
ASSYRIANS. 25
on the back of the head, or terminated in loose dangling locks. The
head ornamentation was sometimes completed by encircling the hair
with a ﬁllet. Earrings of gold inlaid with pearls, bead necklaces,
bracelets which were sometimes of brass, and combs of iron or lapis
lazuli, were the chief ornamental articles that satisﬁed the vanity of
the Assyrian ladies. .
The Assyrians were not far advanced in the culinary art. Their
bread consisted of loaves or cakes made of wheat or millet ﬂour. Meat
was but sparingly served up, and boiled or fried mutton was the most
favourite dish. Fish was a common article of food; and locusts,
lightly roasted over a ﬁre, were eaten as a relish. Olive and sesame
oil furnished the principal seasoning material. Dates were highly
esteemed, and formed an important article of consumption; honey
was much relished, and wine was drunk in great profusion.
Their banquets were merely drinking-bouts, and no viands of any
kind were served up. The guests sat on high stools around a table
but partially covered with a cloth. A huge bowl ﬁlled with wine
stood in the middle of the hall, from which the attendants ﬁlled the
wine-cups and carried them round to the guests, who held them up
high on a level with their heads—a practice which was probably
designed as a pledge of friendship or as a token of respect. The
banqueting-hall was decorated with ﬂowers, and musical entertainments
gave life and spirit to the festivities. Hired dancing girls were present
to amuse the guests; and on important festive occasions, when the
greatest magniﬁcence was displayed, the wives and daughters of the
host often so far laid aside their modesty as to dance naked before
the assembled nobles and high dignitaries of state.
The houses of the Assyrians, generally constructed of unbaked
bricks, were small structures, unprovided with windows, with single
or folding doors turning on pivots, ﬁtted to a square or arched door-
way. _ The roof was either ﬂat, or surmounted by a dome or a high
conic cupola. Every dwelling stood isolated and alone, and was
unconnected with any other building.
Their ordinary furniture was neither elaborate nor highly artistic.
The tables were cross-legged, the lower ends terminating in the paws
of the lion or the hoof of the bull. Square, ﬂat-topped, and straight
legged tables were less common, but occasionally they formed a part of
the outﬁt of private dwellings. The stools were either carved of a
single square block or shaped like a chevron. The chairs, which were
only found‘in palaces and the houses of the wealthy, were of elaborate
workmanship. The sides, the back, and the arms were ornamented
with carved ﬁgures of rams, the lower extremities of the legs were
formed of the characteristic pine-burr device. Their back was fre-
quently covered with a fringed cloth, richly embroidered, which hung
down to the ﬂoor. The couches stood on legs, generally plain, but
sometimes embellished with the pine ornament; they were ﬁtted up
with a mattress, the upper part of which rested on a curved elevation
to serve as a substitute for a pillow. Jugs, provided with a long neck,
angular handles, and pointed bottoms, were in common use 3 they hung
suspended on a pole from a nail or hook. Dishes of stone, alabaster,
26 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
or bronze were carried by means of movable or ﬁxed handles. The
drinking-cups were of elegant form, their foot being moulded into a
lion’s head, from which they rose in a graceful curve. Caldrons, jars,
ladles, and funnels of bronze were ordinary household utensils. Small
bronze bells with iron tongues were also in use.
The Assyrians were an agricultural people. The alluvial lands were
naturally fertile, and the higher grounds were rendered productive by
judicious irrigation. They constructed subterranean conduits, which
were connected with wells dug at convenient places, from which the
water was distributed, by means of a rope and bucket, to saturate the
soil and bring the growing crops to maturity. Sometimes a reser~
voir or tank was excavated on a high bank bordering on a river, into
which the water was lifted by mechanical contrivances 3 or the water
was conducted through ingeniously devised aqueducts to the top of a
high hill, and the ﬁelds and orchards were irrigated through narrow
channels which intersected the cultivated land in every direction.
Canals were constructed in the swampy lowlands of the Tigris to
regulate the irrigating operations by a ﬁxed and permanent system.
The plough, which was of a primitive character, was the only agri—
cultural implement employed in the tillage of the soil. It was drawn
by two oxen hitched in front of each other. The wheat and barley
harvests were exceedingly rich and productive. Millet was exten-
sively sown, and sesame was cultivated for the extraction of oil.
Dates, pomegranates, and ﬁgs were planted in the orchards, inter-
mixed with vines which stretched their spreading branches unimpeded
over the ground; or they were trained to twine around the stems of
trees, from which their fruit clusters were suspended in long festoons.
Aromatic plants, opium, indigo, and sugar-cane, as well as cotton and
ﬂax, were among the rarer productions of the soil. Domestic animals
were successfully reared. Among the most useful were the ox, the
horse, the mule, the camel, the broad-tailed sheep, and the spiral-
horned goat.
Pleasure gardens (paradises or parks) were ﬁrst known among the
Assyrians. Lofty trees, alternating with others of a smaller growth,
were planted in regular rows, and the shady grounds were intersected
by straight walks cutting each other at right angles. Artiﬁcial canals
or aqueducts furnished a supply of water. “Hanging gardens” en-
circled the reservoirs on the jutting banks of streams, or they were
supported on pillars on the ﬂat roofs of large and substantial buildings.
Hunting was a favourite recreation 3 the pleasures of the chase
were even indulged in by the king and his courtiers. The Assyrian
monarchs delighted in the daring feat of pursuing the lion, either in
a chariot or on foot, armed with a bow and arrow, a spear and two
daggers. They also attacked the wild bull, in which they were
assisted by trained horsemen. Dogs were used in hunting the wild
ass 3 or herds of this animal were followed by skilful horsemen, and
many of them were caught alive by means of two ropes interlaced in
the form of a noose. Deer, gazelles, the ibec, and the hare were
driven in by dogs or beaters placed at regular stations, and when the
game came within bowshot it was despatched by the huntsmen. If
ASSYRIANS. 27
the royal hunting expedition was successful, the king and his retinue
returned in a grand procession, accompanied by men who carried the
animals slain on their shoulders; and when arrived at the appointed
place the beasts were deposited on the ground with their heads turned
in one direction, while the king, amidst the clashing sounds of musical
instruments, after having touched the cup with his own lips, poured
out a libation in honour of the gods. -
Fishing was prosecuted rather as a means of support than as an
amusement. The ﬁsherman knew no other contrivance to facilitate
the exercise of his trade than the hook and line, which was unprovided
with a rod and destitute of a ﬂoat. \Vhile engaged in his daily occu—
pation, the angler stood or sat squatted on the banks of a river or a
pond with a ﬁsh-basket made of rushes strapped to his back, or he was
placed astride in mid-stream on an inﬂated skin, or was ﬂoating on the
calm and placid waters embarked on a frail raft.
The external commerce of the Assyrians was very limited 3 they had
no access to the sea-coast, and their navigation was conﬁned to the inland
rivers. Their boats were of an inferior construction. Rafts served the
purpose for crossing rivers with the object of transporting to the oppo-
site banks chariots, military stores, and war engines. Their earliest
boats were of a circular form, made of wickerwork covered with skins,
and rendered watertight by means of bitumen. They were propelled
by two rowers who faced each other, one operating his short-handled
oars by pulling, and the other by pushing. Their more substantial
vessels were constructed of planks 3 they were long and narrow, with a
ﬂat bottom, and rounded at the stem and stern. They had neither
masts nor sails, but were manned by a certain number of oarsmen.
At a later period the longboat assumed a more graceful form, it was
light, its curve-lines were well marked, and the ends were but slightly
rounded off, projecting above the level of the sides and terminating
in carved ﬁgures, such as a lion’s head or a ﬁsh’s tail. Cars with
rounded blades were pulled by the oarsmen, who faced all in one
direction. The biremc was the war-galley which carried thirty rowers,
seated in upper and lower tiers, while in the centre there was a deck-
like contrivance which was occupied by the official dignitaries who
had the management and command of the craft.
Judging from their instruments of, labour, the Assyrians seemed to
have acquired some proﬁciency in the practice of the mechanic arts.
The mechanical power of the lever, the wedge, and the pulley was
well known to them. They moved huge masses of stone or statuary
over a considerable space of ground, and lifted them to elevated posi—
tions from thirty to eighty feet high. The transport was effected by
means of a wooden sledge with curved front and rear ends, gliding
along on rollers, and a number of men who pulled four stout cables
applied the propelling power, assisted by others behind who slightly
raised the sledge by the skilful manipulation of levers and the use of
wooden wedges as a fulcrum. They were acquainted with the use of
the saw, which had two horizontal handles and was operated by two
workmen. The hatchet was formed with a double head, while the
blade of the pickaxe presented but a single cutting edge. Sn1all_hand-
28‘ THE ARAMJEAN s'roox.
carts, open at the front and rear ends, but framed at the sides, whose
rolling gear were two-spoked wheels, were drawn by two men by means
of a pole. The covered carriage was somewhat more elaborate, but it
was low and clumsy; its parts were disproportioned, and its wheels
were so small that the body was only elevated one foot from the
ground. The coaehman stood in front in the driver’s box, which was
enclosed in trellis work.
In metallurgy they made some advances, but did not reach a high
degree of proﬁciency. Their castings, which represented lions and
other animal forms, the human ﬁgure and grifﬁns, were principally
open work, and served as objects of ornamentation to set off the furni-
ture of persons of rank and dignity. Their embossed devices were far
more artistic 3 they were generally of bronze composed of one part of
tin and ten parts of copper, hammered into shape upon a model of clay '
mixed with bitumen, or ingeniously cast over an inner core of iron.
The most useful imitative forms copied were the heads and feet of
animals ; sometimes, however, the labour of the artist brought into full
relief the whole body of the lion or the entire human ﬁgure.
An art peculiar to the Assyrians was that of coating bricks with a
shining enamel, an art which they carried to a high degree of per-
fection. The surface of the bricks . was impressed with cuneiform
characters or artistic devices, consisting of guilloches, rosettes, bands,
scrolls varied with circles and polygonal ﬁgures. The designs were
drawn with as much distinctness as if they had been sculptured with a
chisel, but the ﬁgures were less prominent, although the outlines were
always clearly marked, and were generally delineated in some striking
colour which differed from the picture tracing of the object. The pig-
ments were all prepared from mineral oxides. Oxide of tin furnished
the white colouring, antimoniate of lead the yellow, oxide of copper the
blue, iron the brown, and suboxide of copper the red. The bricks, after
having been subjected to the preparatory manipulations, were exposed
for a short time to the action of ﬁre, and when sufficiently baked they
were withdrawn from the kiln 3 and after having been properly painted,
they were dipped in a glazing mixture composed of silicate of soda, to
which a small proportion of oxide of lead was added; they were then
again placed in the kiln, where they acquired the requisite hardness,
and the enamelling process was rendered complete and durable.
Their terra-cotta vessels—some glazed, others unglazed—were formed
of ﬁne materials, though they present no originality of shape. Among a
numerous variety of vases, lamps, jars, amphoras, jugs, and saucers, the
funeral urns were perhaps the most elegant. They were oval in outline,
with a small opening at the top, resting on a scanty pedestal, and orna-
mented by two raised rings, one on each side, which served as handles.
The Assyrians understood the art of cutting\ and engraving hard
stones, such as serpentine, jasper, chalcedony, cornelian, agate, syenite,
quartz, loadstone, lapis lazuli, and amazone stone. They were usually
hollowed out into a cylinder with its sides slightly convex or concave.
The intaglios were generally of rude workmanship, but some delicate
cuttings are occasionally met with. .
They showed much skill and considerable taste in gold and silver
ASSYRIANS. 29
Work used for purposes of ornamentation. The bracelets were fre
quently joined by a clasp in the shape of a bull’s or ram’s head ; the
earrings were sometimes in the form of a cross, and the necklaces and
armlets were no less elaborate in design and ﬁnish.
Their embroidery was distinguished for elegance of design and the
judicious arrangement of colours. The royal robes were adorned with
ﬂowers and scroll-work ; they were frequently ornamented with groups
of animals and the human ﬁgure ; and hunting and battle scenes were
often depicted with much spirit, while the borders were trimmed with
rows of tassels and fringes.
The sculpture of the Assyrians had already passed the rudimentary
outlines of infant art, and yet, while it approached a correct anatomical
delineation of animal ﬁgures, it was coarse and formal in design, and
the side view of statues was deﬁcient in amplitude and just proportion
of parts. The most common sculptured animal forms were the winged
lion and the winged bull; and grey and yellow limestone were the
ordinary materials used for this purpose. The obelisk, which was
generally of black marble, was more of an ornamental record than a
masterpiece of statuary art. Their clay ﬁgures, which represented
gods or genii, were rudely fashioned and were somewhat grotesque
in appearance. Their has-reliefs exhibited the highest efforts of their
artistic genius. They gave expression to the various conditions of
public and private life. They symbolised their religious conceptions,
commemorated the glorious deeds of their kings and heroes, and
portrayed the domestic scenes which passed in the seclusion of family
retirement. Representations of landscapes, of architectural monuments,
and mechanic devices were thus preserved as isolated fragments of
their national history.
Their ornamental paintings were highly pleasing, if not elegant.
Their combination and contrasts of colours were both tasteful and
agreeable to the eye. Pale blue, olive, green, and pale yellow were
the most predominant tints in the early sculpture and architecture;
in those of a later period purple, violet, and rich brown were not
uncommon. WVhite was extensively used, and black formed the
strong outline in Assyrian paintings. The honeysuckle device and
the guilloche or intertwining bands were favourite ornaments among
the Assyrians long before they were known to the Greeks. The
sacred tree, which was a purely national symbol much employed in
religious decoration, displayed much taste as well as elegance of form.
The Assyrian architecture received its highest expression of artistic
development in the construction of the royal palaces, to which the
temples were, so to say, mere accessories, and were much more simple
and less magniﬁcent. The palaces occupied an elevated platform
constructed of earth, brick, or stone, which was sometimes divided
into an anterior and posterior terrace, connected by a ﬂight of steps or
an inclined plane.
The colossal winged bulls with a human head, which were charac—
teristic sculptured ﬁgures, often adorned the propylaea or arched
entrance gate of the palaces. The interior arrangement was on a
magniﬁcent scale. Two or four courts, paved with bricks or slabs
,___
30 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
of stone, were either encircled with buildings, or were connected with
the platform and enclosed with a stone parapet. The grand halls
were three or ﬁve times longer than wide, and ﬁlled a vast place in
the royal mansions. The walls were either painted, or the plaster
was shaped into half pillars or reedings, separated from one another
by pilasters with square sunk panels3 or they were decorated with
sculptured has-reliefs representing the monarch, his officers and guards 3
or the king as engaged in warlike pursuits, as he is standing in his
chariot, is laying siege to a fortiﬁed town, is reviewing the throng of
captives, or is witnessing the reception of the spoil. The smaller
chambers, which were rectangular or oblong in form, were distributed
in groups, and were generally connected by doorways with the larger
halls. They were sometimes richly decorated, but more often they
were simply lined with stone slabs, or covered with plaster, and
occasionally the crude brick was exposed to. view, and they were
entirely left unadorned. There exists no symmetry, no judicious
arrangement of parts. There were but few corridors, the doorways
never corresponded, and most of the rooms opened one into the other.
As there were no windows, light could only have penetrated through
the entrance gate, or was probably admitted through the roof. The
ornamental decoration of the temples resembled those of the palaces.
Colossal bulls or lions stood before the gateway; enamelled bricks
often covered the external walls, and the interior was ornamented
with sculptured slabs representing religious subjects.
Music was one of the ﬁne arts to which the Assyrians were passion-
ately devoted. Vocal music was principally conﬁned to women and
boys, but instrumental performances were far more common. The
harp gave solemnity to religious worship, the lyre imparted gaiety
to public festivals, and the cymbal, the tambourine, and the rattle
were well adapted for processional occasions to stir up the enthusiasm
of the multitude.
The early as well as the later harp was triangular in form, and the
strings passed diagonally from the horizontal board to the upright bar,
from which the ends hung down like a fringe or terminated in a
tassel. They could be tightened or slackened by means of pegs, and
as they were all of the same thickness the variety of sound was produced
by the difference of their length. The antique harp was played by
means of a quill or plectrum 3 the later instrument was played with
both hands. The lyre was either triangular or square, or it was pro-
vided with curved arms. The number of its strings, which were of
different lengths, varied from four to eight. A number of strings
stretched over a hollow case formed an instrument similar to the
modern scant/anal The sounding-board of the guitar was small, and
was out of proportion with the length of the handle. The double
pipe, which was about ten or twelve inches long, was the only wind
instrument in common use. The tambourine was composed of a
circular frame stretched with a skin, and was struck with the ﬁngers.

1 The santur is a Turkish lute of triangular form, stretched with brass or iron
wire chords. It is played by means of quills or with sticks of hard wood.
ASSYRIANS. 31
The cymbals were two metal, hemispheres tapering to an elongated
point which served as handle. Drums beaten with both hands
generally formed a part of band music.
The Assyrian language, of which the Babylonian or Chaldaeic is but
a dialect, belongs to the Semitic branch of languages, and is united
by close affinity with the Hebrew, the Syriac, and even the Arabic
and the Ghez, as well as the Lydian and the Elema'l‘c. It was spoken
from the twenty-third to the ﬁrst century before the Christian era. From
the beginning of the ﬁfth century it was gradually superseded by the
Aramaean, which predominated during the ﬁrst century, but was in turn
superseded by the Arabic. The Assyrian language has no article 3
and the inﬂection of nouns is conﬁned to the process of mimmation
which gives to them a deﬁnite signiﬁcation, am being used for the
nominative and am for the oblique cases. It has a masculine and a
feminine gender 3 a singular, a plural, and a dual number, the last
being restricted to objects that form a natural pair. The plural is
either simple or emphatic, but the last form is not often employed.
All feminine adjectives are formed from the masculine by the sufﬁx
ath ; as too, “good,” feminine tovath, “ good.” But feminine adjectives
derived from a defective root generally terminate in ith ,- as masculine
rabu, “great,” feminine mln'th, “ great.” The possessive pronouns are
formed by a suffix added to the substantive: as sham, “ name 3 ” shumz'o,
“ my name 3 ” shumz'cho, “thy name ;” shumshu, “his name.” The per—
sonal pronouns are anachu, “ I 3 ” matha, “ thou,” feminine athz',
“ thou 3 ” shuc, “ he or him 3 ” shz'e, “ she or her.” Plural cmacham “we 3” masculine athzm, “you,” feminine athz'n, “you 3 ” masculine
shun and shunuth, “ they,” feminine shin and shinath, “they.” The
language has, besides, an indeﬁnite and interrogative pronoun, a demon-
strative pronoun, indicated by a single letter, which also represents
the relative. The names of the numerals probably resemble those of
the Hebrew, but their phonetic character has not been as yet clearly
established.
The majority of verbal radicals are triliteral 3 they are either com-
plete or defective, and the ﬁrst and second persons have both a
masculine and a feminine form. Five principal and four secondary
voices render the conjugation1 of the verb somewhat complex, but
this apparent complexity is compensated by the absence of real tense
forms, for the tenses do not imply the idea of time 3 they simply
indicate relation, and do not mark the precise time when an action
occurs. The verb only conveys the idea of the relation in which the
action stands to the actor or the object, clearly pointing out whether
it has only just been begun, whether it is in the course of being acted,
or whether it is completed, without the least reference to time in
general. The ﬁve principal voices are the had or simple voice 3 the pacl,
formed by redoubling the middle letter of the radical; the shap/zel,
formed by the initial sh ,- the aphcl, indicated by the preﬁx a ,- and the

1 Conjugation z—Sachar, “to remember; ” S. I. aschur, 2. thas-chur 3 2. f.
thaschuri, 3. ischur 3 3. f. thaschur. P. I. nas-chur, 2. thaschuru (n) 3 2. f. thas-
ohuro (n), 3. ischura (n) 3 3. f. ischuro (n).
-_
32 THE ARAMEAN sroox.
m'phaZ, characterised by the initial n. The pael, the shaphel, and
the aphel have an active signiﬁcation, but the m'phel is generally a
passive form. By the interpolation of a ﬁt between the ﬁrst and second
letters of the radical, other voices are formed which imply a passive
and intransitive idea. The language has two primary tenses, one of
them answering to the perfect and the other to the imperfect of the
Hebrew. The ﬁrst is sometimes called the permansive, and the im—
perfect is divided into a variety of different forms. The subjective
aorist in a has generally the force of a perfect or a pluperfect. It is
mostly employed in a relative or conditional clause aftersa, whetherused
as a pronoun or an adverb. The aorist of motion, or conditional aorist,
is distinguished by the old accusative termination a acting as augment
of motion without being a verbal suﬂcix. The energetic aorist conﬁnes
its action to the expression of energy and decision. The construct
or simple aorist occurs most frequently in historical narration. The
subdivisions of the aorist form a single whole, and the special mean—
ings which use and age have set apart for each of these various forms
may be considered as so many conventional distinctions. Inﬂuenced
by the Accadian, a present tense was in later times introduced, which
was carried through all the conjugations. The moods are the
indicative 3 the subjunctive, which is hardly a distinct mood 3 and the
precative, which is used mostly in the third person, and only excep-
tionally in the ﬁrst and second, and is generally expressed in English
by the auxiliary “may.” For the second person of the precative, the
imperative is employed. Verbs have a singular, dual, and plural
form.
Two methods of writing were in use in Assyria and Babylon. The
cursive form was strictly alphabetical, and the characters resembled
the Phoenician and Hebrew letters, and were undoubtedly of Phoeni-
cian or Babylonian origin. The cuneiform system was exclusively
employed as a monumental record of public events impressed or
stamped upon prepared bricks or clay cylinders, and was more closely
allied to hieroglyphic writing. The characters, of which three hun-
dred and sixty-six combinations have been discovered, consist of
wedge-headed or arrow-headed lines, which express syllabic sounds 3 and
as they are written from left to right, they were probably introduced
from Media, a neighbouring country which had been early occupied
by a branch of the Aryan race.1 Many of the syllabic signs are
interchangeable, and the same word is often designated by combina-
tions entirely different in form and phonetic powers. Certain groups

1 It is contended by Mr. Rawlinson, Oppert, Lenormant, and other no less
famous Assyriologists, that the original inhabitants of Babylonia, who used the
cuneiform character, and who probably came from Hindostan, were of Turanian
origin, now known by the name of Accadians. But as the decipherment of the
cuneiform character has been eﬁected by the study of the trilingual record
of the column of Persepolis, one of the languages being the Iranian, it is far
more probable that an Aryan race has invented the cuneiform writing, that the
Iranian is the original, and the Assyrian and Accadian are only translations. It
is pretended that the Accaclians belonged to the Finish branch of Turanians 3 but
it is certain that none of the Finish tribes or nations have ever reduced their
language to writing either in hieroglyphic or alphabetic form.
ASSYRIANS. 33
{country of Asshur, and their enemies were his enemies.
numerous titles which corresponded with his dignity and power. He
' heat of battle.
of wedges have been called ideographs or monograms, and they are
representative symbols of gods, of countries and cities, and are not
expressive of sounds but of ideas. .
The religion of the Assyrians, although expressed by types and
symbols of an idolatrous character, was essentially based upon the pre-
dominant idea of a Supreme National God known by the name of
Asshur, in whom they recognised the patron and protector of the
nation, who exercised special guardianship over their national life, and
who was the tutelary deity of their country and their king. They
considered themselves the servants of Asshur, their country was the
He bore
was styled “ the great lord,” “the king of all gods,” “he who rules
supreme over the gods,” and sometimes the speciﬁc attribute as “the
father of the gods ” was assigned to him. He occupied the ﬁrst rank
in the serial order of invocations, and was universally worshipped
throughout the land, although no famous temple or shrine of local
reputation was constructed in his honour. He extended his protect-
ing hand and his providential care over the monarchs ; it was he who
seated them upon the throne, who secured the succession to their
descendants, who watched over them in their wars and rendered
them victorious against their enemies, who imparted wisdom to them
in conducting the affairs of the government, who established their
power during a long, happy, and prosperous reign, who fulﬁlled all
their wishes and gave success to all their enterprises. They addressed
him with a feeling of reverence and awe as “Asshur, my lord.” In
his name and under his guidance they engaged in battle, massacred
their enemies, desolated their lands, and despoiled them of their pos-
sessions ; and, as conquerors, they never failed to force the vanquished
to adopt the laws and worship of their patron divinity. The heavenly
consort of Asshur was Sheruah.
Asshur was represented under the emblem of the winged circle
or globe, drawn in a variety of forms. This device was frequently
crowned with a horned cap, from which issued the ﬁgure of a man,
holding a bow in his hand, or despatching an arrow against Assyrian
enemies ; or he was merely extending one or both hands, with a ring or
chaplet suspended from his left. The ﬁgure was often entirely absent,
or a pair of hands was substituted in its place. The winged circle
was present with the monarch in every relation and condition of life.
It was embroidered on his robe, engraven on his cylinders, was carved
on the rock tablets over his image, was an object of his religious devo-
tion, and inspired him with unwavering trust and conﬁdence in the
The sacred tree was also a symbolical device which
was probably connected with the worship of Asshur. The most
antique and simplest form consisted of a pillar resting on a pair of
ram’s horns, and was surmounted by a capital composed of two pairs
of ram’s horns which were separated from each other by one, two, or
three bands, terminating in a scroll and a ﬂower. The later form was
only distinguished from this by an additional capital in the middle of
the pillar, and by the smaller blossoms which sprang from the top
C
&.~%_______/
, "34 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
ﬂower as well as from branching sides of the stem, which were some-
times replaced by pine cones and pomegranates.
Deities of the second order and of a subordinate dignity were
numerous. The Assyrian pantheon enshrined no less than four thou-
sand major and minor gods, who represented forces of nature or
natural objects, around which hangs a halo of mystery which the
human mind is not able to penetrate. The creative or productive
principle was typiﬁed in the sexual counterpart which was associated
with each principal god. 3 _
Among the greater gods Anu held the second rank, but nothing
is known of his attributes. He was introduced into Assyria from
Babylon, and had only a few temples. He was worshipped under the
title of “lord of the mountains, or of foreign countries.” Bel, who
was also of Babylonian origin, was in high repute, and several temples
were dedicated to his honour. Ea or Hea was a god of secondary
importance only. It is said he bestowed the senses of hearing, seeing,
and understanding upon the gods of heaven and earth, who, in return,
transferred them to himself. Sennacherib paid divine worship to him,
and presented him on his return from a successful expedition with an
offering of a golden boat and a golden coffer. Mylitta or Beltis, who
also bore the titles of “ great mother” and “queen of the land,” was
the female deity associated with Bel as his sexual counterpart and
divinely-espoused wife. She was the type of fecundity and fertility,
and her divine power was invoked at Nineveh and at Asshur. Sin,
or the moon-god, was worshipped in Assyria from the remotest anti-
quity 3 and “ from the origin of the god Sin,” was an idiomatic expres-
sion to denote a distant period of time. He was represented by the
emblematic device of the crescent, which was associated with the
other sacred symbols inscribed over the effigies of the king. He
had a temple at Calah (Nimrud) dedicated to his exclusive service,
and one at Bit Sargina (Khorsabad) in which he was worshipped
in conjunction with the sun. Shamesh, the sun-god, was held
in high honour, second only to the moon, and was a universal
object of worship. His emblem was the four-rayed orb which, con-
joined with that of the moon, was one of the most venerated sacred
symbols, and was worn by the king upon his neck. He had only one
temple at Khorsabad, but it is probable that a shrine was consecrated
to him in other temples dedicated to other gods. Gula, the sun-
goddess, was considered the consort of the sun-god, and was repre-
sented by the eight-raycd disk 3 and although she was a deity of
inferior rank, she had a temple at Calah, and was enshrined with ten
other deities in a temple at Asshur. Vul, or Iva, was one of the
primitive gods of the Assyrian nation. He was worshipped at Asshur,
the ancient capital, where two temples were erected in his honour,
besides the temple at Calah, where he received divine adoration,
associated with Shalah, his reputed wife. The double or triple belt
was the symbol of his divinity. N inip, or N in, held the highest rank
among the secondary gods. He was most devoutly adored as a
divinity peculiarly national 3 for he marks the beginning of the Assyrian
monarchy, and the kings traced their descent to 111m, and from him
ASSYRIANS. ~ 35
the city of Nineveh derived its name. The winged bull, an heraldic
ﬁgure peculiarly Assyrian, was the sacred emblem representing his
divinity. His temples at Calah were the principal sanctuaries dedi-
cated to his worship. Although divine honours were paid to Mero—
dach at a late period of the monarchy, yet he had no temple in Assyria.
N ergal was one of the most venerated of the minor national deities.
Like N in, with whom he was associated when representing the gods
of war and hunting, he was one of the ancestral divinities who gave
birth to the race of kings that ruled over Assyria, and watched over
it with the protecting care of a tutelary god. The winged lion was
his sacred emblem, but he had only one temple, erected by Sennacherib,
at Tarbisi (Sherif Khan), and he was the reputed “ resident god ” of
Calah. Ishtar was the most renowned of the female deities, and the
Assyrian monarchs frequently addressed to her their invocations,
calling her “their lady,” and sometimes placed her side by side with
Asshur. She received not only divine adoration from an early date——
for she had a temple at Asshur—but she maintained her inﬂuence to
a late period, as a temple was constructed in her honour at Nineveh
and another at Arbela. Sargon made her, in connection with Ann,
the protecting divinity of the western gates of his royal city. Con-
jointly with Asshur, Sennacherib considered her the guardian genius of
his race, and Asshur-bani-pal, who was passionately devoted to hunting,
recognised her as the goddess of the chase. Her divinity was only of
a local character, and the attributes ascribed to her were different in
the different temples in which she was invoked. N ebo was an ancient
god 3 he was, however, but little worshipped until Iva-lush III. dedi-
cated a temple to him at Calah which he adorned with two statues of
the deity. Esar-haddon ranked him above Merodach, and Asshur-
bani-pal reverenced him highly, and associated with him WVarmita,
his wife, as the patron deity of his literary labours. Among the many
inferior deities the best known are Martu, the son of Ann, who was “ the
minister of the deep,” corresponding to the Greek Erebus; Idak, the
“ god of the Tigris 3” Suplat, the “lord of the Euphrates 3 ” and II or
R5, of Babylonian origin, of but humble pretensions. The hawk’s—
headed ﬁgure was probably symbolical of the good genius, as well as
the winged human ﬁgure wearing the horned cap, while the monster
half-lion and half-eagle must have been regarded as the type of the
spirit of evil.
The Assyrian temples were consecrated by the supposed presence
of the gods with whose images they were adorned, and which received
all the reverence due to the divinity. The ﬁgures were of small size,
formed of baked clay, hewn stone, or cast metal. Their outline was
formal and inexpressive, and the workmanship rude and inartiﬁcial.
The Assyrians carried off as trophies of war the idols of their enemies
and deposited them in their temples as memorials of their victories.
Besides the invocations addressed to the deities their favour was pro-
pitiated by sacriﬁces and free-will offerings. The bull was the usual
sacriﬁcial victim most acceptable to the gods. The king, who was
the high pontiff, poured out the libations, and the attendant priests,
_ dressed in long-robes and a mitre-like head-covering, ministered at
» .. . ,.,_ A”; . ,_, , m.“ .'.- -;-_-..._..-—
36 THE ARAI'LEAN STOCK.
._ '.~" ‘
_.=‘._-,_:;;,_r_a- -
2 . .~._¢
"*Wrg-r- 7
a.‘ -'W~I».I-')k’v-h :-.--.._v-._.~
‘s’ Cwman. ,__
the altar, where a select portion of the sacriﬁce was burnt, while the»
remainder was reserved as the perquisite of the priestly order officiating
in the temple. Their worship consisted principally in showy ceremo~-
nials, magniﬁcent processions, and the offering up of victims. The-
vestments of the priests were richly embroidered with winged'circles,
cones, pomegranates, the sacred tree, and the human-headed lion.
Those who performed the sacred functions in the temples wore brace‘
lets, armlets, and necklaces, and their head was entwined with a ﬁllet,
or it was covered with a high cap of imposing appearance. On
festivals, which were proclaimed at the will of the king, a vast-
concourse of people assembled, numerous sacriﬁces were offered, and
many of the worshippers were lodged in the king’s palace and enter-
tained at the royal table. The Assyrian fasts were most solemn and
impressive. All business was suspended. The people, and even the
domestic animals, were wrapped in sackcloth, and as a sign of'
mourning they strewed ashes upon their heads.1 During the con-
tinuance of the fast they abstained from food, and offered up their‘
prayers to Asshur, the supreme god, to pardon their transgression and
vouchsafe to them his blessings.
The government of Assyria was an absolute despotism, the sovereign
power being vested in a king, who was the chief of the civil and
military administration as well as the head of the religious establish--
ment. The monarch exercised unlimited power over the lives and
property of his subjects, who regarded him with awe and reverence
as the representative of the national gods directly commissioned to-
govern and exact obedience from his people, and divine honours were-
paid to him after his death. The Assyrian empire was simply a con--
federacy of tributary states, which were governed by their own native‘
rulers in accordance with their local laws, being in all respects inde--
pendent of the central power, except that they were bound to pay
annually a stated tribute, and furnish their stipulated contingent of'
troops in time of war.
The monarch was not only the temporal ruler of his people, but he-
Was the high priest who ofﬁciated in the temple 3 he was the oracle of
the gods, and winged priests were his attendants. His sacerdotal.
dress was a long robe fringed in double rows, and was closely gathered,
round the waist by a girdle or knotted cord. In his left hand he
carried the sacred mace 3 the sacred collar composed of the crescent,
the rayed globe or the sun, the trident and the cross adorned his
breast 3 three daggers were thrust in his belt, necklaces were suspended
from his neck, bracelets encircled his arms, and a tiara of lofty form
constituted his head-dress, above which were visible the sacred symbols
of religious worship—the winged globe, the crescent, the six-rayed
disk, the trident, and the horned cap.
When the king was engaged in civil pursuits he wore a long ﬂowing
robe, elaborately embroidered and fringed and adorned with rosettes,
with a broad belt drawn close around the waist. Over this was thrown
an open cloak, in the form of a chasuble, both ﬂaps being generally

1 Jonah iii. 5.
ASSYRIANS. 37
rounded at the bottom and edged with tassels. The high tiara, which
was gracefully curved, terminated in a rounded top, from which issued
a tapering projection round or square at the upper end. It was orna
mented with embroidered devices, which alternated with a succession
of white, red, and yellow bands. His feet were protected by sandals
or by clumsy shoes, rounded at the toes, and ornamented with rosettes
.and crescents. His necklaces were strings of lozenge-shaped beads;
his armlets and bracelets were plain or ribbed metal bars with overlap-
ping ends, often modelled into a ram’s, horse’s, or duck’s head. His
earrings were frequently long drops, delicately chased, or representing
:an incomplete Maltese cross.
Eunuchs attended the king as parasol and fan bearers. The circular
top of the parasol was embroidered with rosettes and fringed with
‘tassels, and was provided with a silk curtain attached to the edge as a
protection from the rays of the sun. The fan consisted mostly of
feathers gracefully curved, and was held by an ornamented handle
generally terminating in the head of an animal. Most of the official
positions were ﬁlled by eunuchs, who rose to the highest rank. They
were not only grooms, cooks, musicians, huntsmen, and scribes, but
they occupied the foremost position in the army; they were the com-
manding officers in time of war, and fought both in chariots and on
horseback; they were the king’s arm-bearers, and when engaged in
battle they carried the bow and spear, and they were armed with
sword and dagger even in time of peace.
1= The wars of the Assyrians were characterised by much pomp and
ostentatious display. The king and his nobles were invariably present
with the army, and were accompanied by their wives, their concubines,
.and their children. They were attended by a great retinue of attendants
and servants. Their tents were of the most costly materials and were
often adorned with precious stones. Not only their vessels but their
couches were of silver and gold. A crowd of sutlers and grooms, with
a large supply of provisions and live-stock, followed in their train,
.and a band of musicians swelled the concourse of their triumphal
march on their return from a successful expedition. The monarch,
when invading a neighbouring country, rode forth in his chariot
arrayed in his regal robes, preceded and followed by spearmen of the
royal guards and a detachment of horse-archers. The Assyrian troops
were composed of charioteers, horsemen, and footsoldiers. They were
‘divided into active and reserve forces; they advanced and retreated
in unbroken rank, and were suﬁiciently disciplined to enable them to
perform certain evolutions. The war chariots were often highly orna-
mented, they were panelled at the sides and open in the rear; they
were drawn, by means of a yoke fastened to the pole, by two or three '
horses, whose trappings consisted of a head-stall, a collar, a fringed
‘breast ornament, and a tassel hanging down on each side. The body
of the chariot was supported on the axle. of two wheels with broad
wooden felloes and six or eight thin delicate spokes. It was wide
enough to hold the warrior and the charioteer ; and in the chariot of
the king one or two guards were added to protect him with their
shields.
l
_..__l..n.-<-.M.._-.._~_- .. ‘m
/r1>I-4‘I<i”—‘ﬂ
---~.- ,._.._.-_.u.\ I” "
38, THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
,.__.M__-,_..M.. -~'-_-,c-___,‘._,_.__.____‘ I ‘I w A
W -. __ _,_ v __
The warr'ior’si dress was a tunic girded round the waist with a belt,
and over this was sometimes worn a coat of mail coated with metal
scales. His ordinary weapon was the bow, which he discharged from
the standing-board of his chariot, but frequently he alighted to enable
him to take surer aim, when he was protected by a shield held in
front of him by an attendant, who was prepared to repel any close
assailant with the spear which he held in his right hand 3 a sword
was suspended by a strap at the left side of the warrior, which he
used in a hand-to-hand encounter. The cavalry soldiers were an em-
broidered tunic conﬁned by a belt to which a sword was attached, and
their head was protected by a pointed helmet 3 their feet and legs
were bare, and when mounted they drew them up on a level with the
back of the horse, for, as the use of the saddle was unknown to them,
they kept themselves securely in their seats by gently pressing the
animal’s neck with their knees. The bow was their principal offensive
weapon. In battle they were accompanied by an attendant who held
and guided the horse while the archers discharged their arrows. At
a later period saddles, in the form of a simple cloth or ﬂap of leather,
or a leopard skin, were introduced, and the attendance of grooms was
dispensed with. In addition to the fringed, close-ﬁtting tunic, the
horsemen wore trousers and laced boots which reached to the middle
of the calf or even as high as the knee.
The foot-soldiers constituted the most numerous division of the
army. They were either swordsmen, being armed with a small
straight sword or a dagger, encased in an ornamented sheath, and
were provided with a convex, oblong, orv square shield of wickerwork 3
or they were spearmen who also carried shields, and were armed with
a pike or javelin not exceeding ﬁve feet in length. The infantry
was also partly composed of heavy-armed archers, dressed in a long
richly-fringed robe, nearly descending to their feet, and they were
protected by a coat of mail, a helmet, and sandals. Their offensive
arms were rounded bows about four feet long, and arrows a little more
than three feet in length. The quivers, which were tastefully orna-
mented, were slung by a strap across their shoulders. The light
archers of a later period had a much lighter costume, which, conﬁned
to a scanty tunic fastened by a broad belt, descended half-way
down the thigh, and left all the parts of their body above the waist
exposed.
The defensive and offensive armour of the Assyrians was well
adapted for the purpose for which it was designed, and was of
substantial workmanship. The pointed metal helmet was in the form
of a conical casque. The crest was generally curved, and was either
plain or terminated in a tuft of hair. Sometimes a curtain of movable
metallic scales for the protection of the chin was appended to it 3 but
generally it was simply provided with metal lappets, which served
as a covering to the checks. The coat of mail either covered the body
as far as the waist or extended to the knees, and at a later period
it even reached down to the feet. Large wickerwork shields, which
equalled in. height the warriors who bore them, were either oblong
or square, often terminating at the top with a projection placed at right
ASSYRIANS. 39
angles, or curving inwards and‘tapering to a point. The small round
metal shields were not more than two or two and a half feet in
diameter, with the rim bent inward, and a handle in the centre by
which they were held. The bows were either curved and tapering to
the extremities, or angular, and of the same thickness throughout. The
string was fastened to a knob or button often carved into the form of
a duck’s head. The shaft of the arrow was either of reed or tough
wood, and the head was diamond-shaped, either of bronze or iron.
The quiver was often elaborately ornamented with rosettes and bands,
or carved with wild bulls, grifﬁns, and other mystic ﬁgures. The
wooden shaft of the spear varied in length according to the service for
which it was used. The infantry spear was from ﬁve to six feet long,
the length of the cavalry spear was from nine to ten feet, and the
spear heads were of bronze or iron. The mace was but rarely used
in battle, except occasionally by footarchers. Its head was of an
ornamental pattern, and it was often elaborately decorated. A strap
was ﬁxed to the lower end of the handle, so that it could be wielded
with greater force.
The war policy of the Assyrians was marked by repeated invasions
of the neighbouring countries to reduce them to absolute Obedience
and, submission by an overpowering force 3 and to accomplish this
object more readily they cruelly massacred the inhabitants or carried
them off as prisoners of war, devastated their lands, burned their cities,
and took possession of their movable wealth. On entering an enemy’s
territory all military movements were directed with a view of com-
pelling the opposing army to engage in a pitched battle. Their
practices of war were pitiless and ferocious, no quarter was given, and
as the head of an enemy was a token of prowess and an honourable
trophy, even the wounded, the defenceless, and the unresisting were
beheaded on the ﬁeld of battle, and the heads were carried to the
rear, where the royal scribe registered the name of the valiant soldier
and noted down the number of the slain. The less fortunate soldiers,
who were unable to secure a foeman’s head, contented themselves
with gathering as spoils the bows, quivers, and helmets of the brave
warriors who had been killed on the battleﬁeld, or of those who had
thrown away their weapons and taken to ﬂight to save themselves
from captivity or death.
Siege operations against fortiﬁed towns were conducted upon a
regular system. Scaling ladders were used in attacking the circuit
walls, while bowmen and slingers from below, protected by their
wicker shields, hurled‘ a shower of missiles against the defenders
of the ramparts. The battering-ram, as well as the ballista, were also
brought into play as engines of destruction, and companies of sappers
approached the foot of the wall, and with the sword, the spear, the
crowbar, or the pickaxe, disjointed the stones to enable them to force
an entrance through the breach; or they endeavoured to break open
the gates, with their axes, for the same purpose. Places which were
taken by storm or stratagem were set on ﬁre, and burnt level to the
ground, the houses were pillaged, the temples were despoiled of their
treasures, and the gods were carried off in triumph. The leading
40 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
rebels were seized, their hands were tied behind their backs, fetters
were sometimes forged round their ankles, and rings were passed
through their lips. They were then ushered into the presence of. the.
monarch, who immediately ordered them to execution by empalement,
by beating in their skull with a mace, or by having them ﬂayed alive,
or he inﬂicted the more lenient punishment of consigning them to
perpetual slavery. A few were favoured with the royal’ pardon 3 and
the great mass of- the inhabitants—men, women, and children—were
carried into captivity far away from their homes, to colonise vast
tracts of land as agricultural labourers, or to be employed as artisans
or workmen in the construction of public works; while the young
women were torn from their relatives and natural protectors to be
given as wives to the victorious soldiers. '
AUTHORITIES.
The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World. By George '
Rawlinson. I862.
Nineveh and its Remains. By Austin H. Layard. 1853.
Discoveries of Nineveh and Babylon. By Austin H. Layard. 1853.
Mesopotamia and Assyria. By John Bailie Fraser. 1847 .
Elements de la Grammaire Assyrienne. Par Jules Oppert. 18.60.
Lectures upon the Assyrian Language. By H. H. Sayce. I877.
BABYLONIANS. 41
BABYLONIANS.
THE Babyloniansvand Chaldees1 were one and the same people, they
spoke the same language, and occupied provincial divisions of the same
country. They were originally a tribe of Assyrians who maintained a
separate and distinct nationality, independent of the sovereign rulers
that established their seat of power at Asshur, at Calah, and at Nineveh.
But the two nations, closely related as they were by common ancestry,
by afﬁnity of language, manners, and religion, could not live in close
contact in adjoining territories without exciting jealous rivalries, and
fostering the ambitious design of the more powerful sovereign to annex
the smaller territory to his own dominions, and assume supreme con-
trol over the political affairs of its inhabitants. ‘
The Babylonian kingdom, like Egypt, was invaded by hordes of Arab
warriors, who held possession of it from I 500 to the year 1270 B.c.,
when the Assyrian monarch, Tiglathi-N in I., drove out the strangers
and governed the country as a provincial dependency. But this poli-
tical unity of Babylonia with Assyria was of short duration, and to
keep the turbulent spirits of the conquered province in check, it was
necessary to commit the government into the hands of an Assyrian
dynasty, who virtually exercised independent powers, and only nomi-
nally acknowledged the sovereign supremacy of the central government.
Nebuchadnezzar, known as the ﬁrst in the new line of dynastic suc—
cession, was contemporary with Asshur-ris~ilim. The Babylonians thus
controlled the administration of their internal as well as external poli-
tical affairs at pleasure for a period of two centuries ; but henceforth
they were continually subject to the invasions of the warlike Assyrians,
and were frequently made a tributary dependency of their more
powerful neighbour. The revolt of Nabopolassar, with the aid of the
Median forces, ﬁnally put an end to the Assyrian pretensions of sove-
reignty over Babylonia in 625 B. 0. But a new enemy soon arose to
reduce her to subjection in the person of N echo, king of Egypt, who
conquered a great portion of her territory, which, however, N ebuchad-
nezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, again recovered by defeating the‘
Egyptian army.
The Babylonian empire, which lasted only eighty years, owed its
renown and splendid achievements principally to N ebuchadnezzar the
Great, who occupied the throne of Babylonia for forty years. He
compelled the tributary kingdom of Palestine, which he invaded with
a large army, to submit to his sovereign authority, and put to death its

' 1 The term Chaldee, used to designate a nation or country, is of comparatively
modern origin. . ,
42 3 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
king, J ehoiakim, placing his brother Zedekiah upon the throne.1 IVhen
Zedekiah attempted to make himself independent by forming an alli-
ance with the Egyptian king, N ebuchadnezzar routed the Egyptian
army, and took Jerusalem after an investment of one and a half years.
He laid siege to Tyre for a period of fourteen years, and made himself
master of the city. He is said to have built the great wall of Babylon,
his capital, which he adorned with numerous magniﬁcent palaces. He
constructed many public works as well as monuments of art. He
beautiﬁed and greatly improved the temple of Belus; he devised the
celebrated “ hanging gardens ” to gratify the taste of his wife, Amyntis.
The great reservoir near Sippara, which was a hundred and forty miles
in circumference, and a hundred and eighty feet deep, and which by
means of ﬂoodgates subserved the purpose of irrigation, owed its exist-
ence to his energy and genius. He connected the Euphrates and Tigris
by a broad and deep canal called the Royal River. He protected the
shores of the Persian Gulf by substantial quays and breakwaters.
During his reign the commercial prosperity of Babylon was greatly
increased, and “she became a land of traffic and a city of merchants.”
He expired in 561 13.0., and twenty-two years after his death Babylon
was taken by Cyrus, in the reign of N abonadus, which terminated the
Babylonian empire. During the Persian supremacy Babylon retained
much of its former splendour and power. After the defeat of Darius
by Alexander, it became the capital of the newly-conquered empire,
and it still continued to ﬂourish until Seleucus founded Seleucia on
the banks of the Tigris, and transferred his capital to that city in
322 13.0.
Babylonia was conﬁned within a narrow tract of land bounded on
the east by the Tigris, with the Arabian Desert as its western boun-
dary. On the south it bordered on the Persian Gulf, and its northern
limits were traced by a line which separated Lower from Upper
Mesopotamia.
The aspect of the country is extremely monotonous, characterised by
a ﬂat level surface composed of alluvial soil, which is only interrupted
by the rivers which during the rainy season swell into mighty and
impetuous streams and cover the lowlands with their overﬂowing
waters. The Euphrates and the Tigris are rivers of the ﬁrst import-
ance 3 they rise in the same mountain range in the Taurus, and winding
their course in a southerly direction they converge in South Babylonia
and empty in the Persian Gulf. Both are navigable for a considerable
distance above their mouth.2

1 2 Kings xxiv. 12-20.
2 “The Tigris and Euphrates rise from opposite sides of'the same mountain
chain. This is the ancient range of Niphates. The Euphrates ﬂows westward
from its source, while the Tigris from Diarbekr goes eastward to Assyria. After
passing respectively Serut‘and El Khitr, the two streams converge rapidly. The
estimated length of the Tigris, including main win dings, is I 146 miles 3 that of the
Euphrates is 1780 miles. The Euphrates is navigable from Sumeisat (Sa-mosata)
1200 miles above its mouth. The Tigris is often 2 50 yards wide at Diarbekr, not
100 miles from its source, and is navigable from there in ﬂood time to Mosul, and‘
from which place it is descended at all seasons to Bagdad, and thence to the sea.”
-—Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchz'es, vol. i. p. 4.
BABYLONIANS. 43
The climate of Babylonia is less subject to variations than that of
more northern regions. Its summer temperature is quite tropical, the
heat is extremely oppressive, and the thermometer frequently rises to
120° F. in the shade. The winters are mild, slight frosts sometimes
whiten the ground with an efflorescent congelation; ice is but rarely
formed in the marshes, and snow is unknown. The north winds are, at
times, keen and piercing 3 but the thermometer never descends below
30°. Heavy showers fall in November and December, and up to the
month of May the rains are abundant, but during the summer months
the sky is hardly ever overcast by a cloud.
Babylonia is renowned for the fertility of its soil and the abundance
and excellent quality of its natural products. Wheat is said to have
been an indigenous plant, and yielded, by proper cultivation, from
ﬁfty to two hundred fold. Its growth was so luxuriant that its leaves
spread in width to the size of the palm of the hand, and it was neces-
sary to mow it down twice while young, or to pasture the cattle on it
for a time, in order to render it productive of cars. The date-palm
ﬂourished with equal vigour on both banks of the Euphrates, and
yielded fruit in great abundance, which was eaten both fresh and dry.
The palm-tree was not only highly ornamental, but it supplied the
inhabitants with wine which was trickling forth from its stem, and
with honey which was procured from its sap. Its nutritious pith
served as a substitute for bread, its leaf-ﬁbres were transformed into
ropes, and its tall and straight trunk was used as timber for the con-
structionv of houses and the manufacture of furniture. It was propa-
gated from the seed or by suckers or offshoots, which sprouted up from
the old stem. While wheat and dates constituted the staff of life in
Babylonia, other agricultural products were not neglected. Barley,
millet, sesame, vetches, and fruit trees of every variety received much
attention and were successfully grown. Tamarisks, pomegranates,
and acacias now fringe the banks of streams with their shade-diffusing
foliage. Oranges, apples, pears, and vines ﬂourish in the gardens and
orchards.
In mineral productions Babylonia was altogether deﬁcient. Plastic‘
clay of an excellent quality for the manufacture of bricks existed in
inexhaustible abundance, and furnished the building material for the
construction of dwellings, as well as palaces and other monuments.
N aphtha and bitumen, which were obtained from the waters of springs,
furnished a valuable cement, prepared by a process of boiling.
Wild animals of the carnivorous kind were numerous. The lion
frequented the secret retreats of the bush-entangled marshes 3 leopards
and jackals wandered about in troops in search of prey 3 wolves,
hyenas, and wild cats were more rare, but more ferocious in their
instincts. Stags, gazelles, and jerboas abounded in the plains. Buffa-
loes and wild boars found security and refuge in the swampy lowlands.
Badgers, porcupines, and hares glided noiselessly through the bushy
underwood.
Of the great variety of birds the most common were falcons, vultures,
kites, crows, francolins, pelicans, wild geese, ducks, deal, herons, king-
ﬁshers, cranes, and pigeons. The eagle, the sand-grouse, and the bee‘
44 THE ARAMZE AN STOCK.
eater were of much rarer occurrence. Of ﬁsh the barbel and the carp
were most esteemed, and were found in great abundance in the rivers
and marshes. The ordinary domestic animals were the camel, the
horse, the buffalo, the cow, the ox, the goat, .the sheep, and the
dog.
The physiognomy of the Babylonians was of the Aramaean type.
They were distinguished by a straight though not very high forehead,
a well-formed though somewhat depressed nose, thick lips, and a well-
marked, rounded chin.
In their moral characteristics they resembled the Assyrians. Their
religious feelings were well developed, they were credulous and inclined
to superstition. They were fond of pomp and parade, and their osten-
tatious display of dress often bordered on effeminacy. Their extrava-
gance and licentiousness engendered the passion for accumulating
wealth, and rendered them greedy and avaricious. Their bravery on
the ﬁeld of battle was of a high order, and their skilful management
of warlike enterprises acquired for them renown as the ﬁrst nation of
the Eastern World. In intellectual abilities they occupied a high
position among contemporary nations3 they successfully cultivated
the sciences, engaged in vast commercial enterprises, and ventured to
navigate the ocean in ships.
The houses of the Babylonians were built of sun-dried or burned
bricks, partly cemented with mud and partly with bitumen. The
doors were sometimes arched, and no openings or windows have been
discovered in the walls for the admission of light. The inner ﬂoors
were paved with burned bricks laid in bitumen. The roof was supported
on rafters of date-wood, and was either ﬂat or arched. The internal
walls were often coated with plaster or enamel, and ornamented with
inscriptions or painted in colours, consisting either of a series of red,
black, and white bands, or of animal or human ﬁgures. The chambers
were long and narrow, and were entered by the outer door, and square
dentated recesses were sometimes symetrically arranged around the
rooms. .
The costume of the common people, especially during the earlier
period, was very simple. They wore a tunic, which was gathered
round the waist, was fastened by a belt, and reached down to the knees.
The head was covered with a skull cap, or bound with a camel’s-hair
cord. Their feet and legs were unprotected by sandals or shoes. The
better classes wore a long striped or ﬂowered robe, which was often
fringed, and extended down to the feet. It was suspended from one
shoulder, by passing an arm through a slit or hole made on one side of
it, and it hung down loosely without being conﬁned round the waist.
Sometimes the body-dress was a kind of jacket of a white colour, which
was worn over a linen shirt that fell down to the ankles. The head cover-
ing was either a high mitre or a low cap, ornamented with two curved
horns. The hair was gathered into a bunch, or it hung loosely down
the temples and back in spiral ringlets. Their beard was neither platted
nor curled, but straight and long. At a later period the under-garment
of the rich was a long linen gown, over which they wore a woollen
tunic 3 and a short white cloak or mantle, elaborately ornamented, was
BABYLON IANS. 43
thrown across the shoulders.
a gentleman’s fashionable outﬁt.
Shoes or slippers formed then a part of
Their long hair was encircled with a
head-band or entwined with a turban. They anointed their bodies
with sesamum oil, and were lavish in the use of perfumes. A seal
ring adorned one of their ﬁngers, and they carried in their hand a staff
or sceptre with its handle artistically carved, representing a charac-
teristic badge or ﬁgure, such as an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or
some other animal form.1 The women were fond of ornamental
trinkets, and even the men did not neglect this expedient of improv-
ing their personal appearance. Their bangles, armlets, and bracelets
were of gold, agate-beads, bronze, or iron. Earrings and rings for the
toes were not uncommon ornaments.
The king was dressed in a long robe extending down to the ankles,
embroidered with ﬁgured patterns and elegantly fringed. This was
covered as far down as the knees by a closely-ﬁtting sleeved vest,
edged at the lower end with heavy tassels. A richly-embroidered belt
encircled the waist, from which a heavy tassel was suspended in front
by a cord. His head-dress was a high tiara, cylindrical in form,
somewhat enlarged near the crown, which was ornamented with a row
of feathers, while the remaining surface was covered with rosettes,
sacred trees, and mythological ﬁgures. His arms were enclasped with
bracelets; but neither necklaces nor earrings formed a part of his
personal adornment.
The dress of the women was principally conﬁned to a long and
scanty robe extending to the ankles, and trimmed with a fringe at the
bottom and the edges. It was open in front, and was suspended from
one shoulder only. Their hair was gathered in the back part of the
head, and was tied by a band or conﬁned by a ﬁllet.
The food of the poorer classes was scanty; dates and goat’s milk
constituted the principal articles of consumption, to which squashes,
melons, and cucumbers were added when in season. “Pickled bats”
were eaten as a delicacy, and the meat of the wild boar was much
esteemed. In the marshes the inhabitants subsisted almost exclusively
on ﬁsh, which, after being dried in the sun, poimded into powder, and
strained through a sieve, were converted into cakes, and were used as" ' '
a substitute for bread. Palm wine was the usual beverage, but was only
sparingly supplied. The style of living of the rich Babylonians fully
corresponded with the means at their command. "Wheat bread was in
common use, and their table was supplied with meats of various kinds,
ﬁsh, game, and luscious fruits, as well as foreign wines.
The pleasures of home life were principally indulged in at their
banquets, which were generally magniﬁcent. The hall was adorned
with beautiful carpets and exquisitely-ﬁgured hangings. The air was
scented with the most delicious perfumes. _ The guests were arrayed
in sumptuous apparel, and the tables were glittering with a display of
gold and silver plate. The throng of attendants were busy to serve the
guests, and musical performances added interest to the entertainment
and gave it a festive air. The wine-cup passed freely, and the old

,1‘ Herodotus, i. 19 5.
46 THE ARAMAEAN STOCK.
I ~_..__~,__ __\
NM .1...”
' ﬁne wool and lapis lazuli.
1-. great celebrity.
and the young quaffed the precious liquor without stint or measure,
for inebriation brought no disgrace.
Agriculture was one of the most important industrial pursuits of the
Babylonians. The alluvial soil, which was excessively fertile, was
judiciously cultivated, and yielded abundant harvests of grain and an
adequate supply of dates and other fruits. The water was distributed
over the cultivated ﬁelds by a regular system of irrigation. The banks
of the Euphrates were strengthened, and the impetuous current was
conﬁned within its bed by dykes of great height, while the lateral
pressure was relieved by numerous canals which served as outlets, by
turning the river out of a straight line and imparting to it an inﬁnite
number of curves and windings. The plough used for breaking up the
soil was of light construction 3 it was provided with two handles, by
means of which it was guided by the ploughman, and was drawn by
two oxen hitched one before the other.
The commerce of Babylonia was of great importance, and was prin-
cipally concentrated in Babylon, its great capital. The Euphrates and
Tigris afforded great facilities for carrying on the inland trade, and
their connection with the Persian Gulf opened up convenient channels
for ocean navigation and the pursuit of foreign commerce. Their com-
mercial intercourse with Armenia was maintained by means of rafts,
which were ﬂoated down the Euphrates on inﬂated skins; or they
navigated the river by circular boats constructed of a framework of
osiers covered with hides, and propelled by two oarsmen standing up-
right, one of whom drew his spar in and the other thrust his out.1
These vessels were principally freighted with palm wine and other pro-
duce, and the cargo, as well as the framework of the boats, was sold in
Babylon by public auction 3 while the owners returned to their own
country by land with the skin loaded upon asses, which they had brought
with them for this purpose. They imported from Arabia frankincense,
which was largely consumed in the temples in the performance of reli-
gious ceremonies. Cotton, pearls, and wood used for staffs were brought
from the islands and shores of the Persian Gulf. From Phoenicia, by
way of Palmyra and 'I‘hapsacus, came tin and copper 3 and from Media,
But their traffic with India, which was
partly carried on by Phoenicians, was the most extensive. The most
valuable articles obtained were cinnamon, ivory, ebony, fragrant woods,
precious stones, gum-lac, robes, gold, and Indian dogs.
The Babylonians had made considerable progress in manufacturing
industry. They produced a variety of textile fabrics 3 they were
skilled in the weaving of ﬁne carpets, which were dyed in various
colours representing griﬂins and other fanciful ﬁgures. Their
muslins were of the ﬁnest cotton thread, most exquisitely dyed,
and were in great repute as dress materials. Their linen and
woollen cloth, their gorgeous draperies and embroideries, acquired
Their lapidaries had attained great proﬁciency in
engraving the hardest stones with delicate ﬁgures and well-traced
characters with a minuteness of detail that is really astonishing.

1 Herodotus, i. 194.
BABYLONIANS. 47
During the early period their pottery did not exhibit much artistic
skill, for their vases were roughly moulded by the hand. Iron was
as yet unknown, knives were made of ﬂint 3 stone was fashioned
into hatchets, hammers, and adzes 3 but these were also made of
bronze, as well as spears, arrow-heads, nails, sickles, ﬁsh-hooks,
bowls, and articles of ornamentation. At a later period glass was
in use, and the art of cutting it into certain shapes and staining it
with various colours was well known. Their pottery, which was an
excellent terra-cotta, was of a ﬁne cast. The cups, jars, and vases
were tastefully ornamented, and their form was often elegant 3 their
colour was a light red, or yellow with a tinge of green.
In the working of metals they displayed considerable ingenuity
and skill. Gold, silver, bronze, and iron were not only transformed
into elegant ornaments, but they were often used for statues, furni-
ture, and utensils 3 and bronze gates and iron images were not un-
common.
Music was cultivated by the Babylonians as a diversion, as well as
a devotional exercise to give solemnity to religious worship. The
instruments in common use were the harp and psaltery, the pipe, the
horn, and an instrument called the symphonia, which is supposed by
some to have resembled a bagpipe, and is believed by others to have
been somewhat of an organ. ‘
Of all the nations of antiquity, the Babylonians made the greatest
advances in the science of astronomy. Their astronomical observa-
tions date back as early as 22 34 years no. and were recorded on
tablets of baked clay, which were copied by the Greeks.1 They had
already observed the motions of the seven planets, in which they
included the sun and the moon, and these they distinguished ‘from
the ﬁxed stars, which they grouped into constellations. They pointed
out in the heavens a system of asterisms forming a kind of a zodiac,
which they called the “Houses of the Sun,” composed of the ram,
the bull, the scorpion, the serpent, the dog, the arrow, the eagle, and
the vulture. Other groups situated in a different direction they
‘designated as the “Houses of the Moon.” The motions and changes
of the moon early’attracted their attention. They noted down its
periodical eclipses, and by long experience they were enabled to
calculate, in advance, the precise period of their recurrence 3 for they
~ had already ascertained that the two hundred and twenty-three
lunations which took place during a cycle of eighteen years and ten
days, formed a regular successive series which was continually
repeated in precisely the same order. They kept a regular record
of the occultation of the planets. They divided the day into hours,
and -measured time with approximate accuracy by means of the
gnomon and the polos, two kinds of sundials which they invented.

1 Simplicius reports after Porphyry that Oalisthenes, who accompanied
Alexander to Babylon, sent to Aristotle a series of astronomical observations
which he found preserved there, extending back to a period of 31,000 years
before Alexander. The Chaldeans instructed Thales, Pythagoras, Eudoxus, and
Aristotle. Ptolemy in the second century still had recourse to Chaldean calcula-
tions. Layard’s “Nineveh and its Remains,” vol. p. 443.
48 THE ,ARAMHAN STOCK.
The period of the synodic revolution of the moon was determined
by them with almost mathematical correctness, and they divided the
solar year into three hundred and sixty-ﬁve and a fourth days. They
considered the comets as heavenly bodies, revolving like the planets
in large but regular orbits. Their power of observation was so acute
and discerning that it enabled them to discover the cause which
produced the eclipses of the sun, a phenomenon which they justly
ascribed to the interposition of the moon. In judging of the relative
distance of the planets, they placed the moon. nearest to the earth,
they assigned the next position to Mercury, then to Venus, followed
in regular order by the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They
believed that the earth was hollow within, and that the planets, the
sun and the moon, were revolving around it. They regarded the
universe as self-existent, and taught that the world was eternal,
without beginning and without end.
While astronomy was cultivated as a pure science, a large class of
the priestly order were devoted to astrology, for the purpose of dis-
covering the mysterious inﬂuence of the heavenly bodies upon the
change of the seasons, and the fortune and vicissitudes which give
force and direction to human action. The astrologers cast the horo-
scope to ascertain under what particular star a person was born 3 and
viewing at the same time the whole aspect of the heavens, they
deduced from the particular combinations that presented themselves
unmistakable indications of the future destiny and course of life of
the individual submitted to the close scrutiny of their far-reaching
sagacity. The planets were called interpreters, as manifesting by their
motions and general appearance the will of the gods. Their import-
ance and rank was determined by the inﬂuence which they exercised
in shaping the destiny of man. Saturn occupied the ﬁrst place 3 next
came the Sun, followed by Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter.
Thirty stars were marked out as counselling gods, of which ﬁfteen
controlled the affairs of the lower world, and the other ﬁfteen presided
over the events that transpired on the earth and in the heavens 3 and
the superior and inferior stars occasionally interchanged messengers, to
keep up a correspondence and to be supplied with information of
mutual interest to the upper and lower regions. Twelve of these
deities were selected, of whom one was assigned to each month of the ‘
year. The twenty-four inferior stars, of which they placed twelve
towards the north pole and twelve towards the south pole, were looked
upon as the mysterious agencies who wielded an invisible power over
the fortunes of men. Their predictions even extended to the changes
of the weather and the occurrence of other natural phenomena. They
foretold the approach of storms, of eclipses, and of earthquakes. To
inspire men with the hope of success in their enterprises, they pub-
lished a list- of lucky and unlucky days 3 and to give timely warning
or encouragement to governments, they marked down upon tables the
general aspect of the heavens which portended good or evil to any
particular country.
They were not far advanced in medical science 3 for the sick, instead
of being subjected to a regular treatment by a professional physician,
BABYLON IANS. 49
were simply exposed in public places, that the passing stranger might
communicate to the patient the curative means from which he derived
advantage when afflicted with a similar disease.
Women were treated with much consideration, and enjoyed great
freedom from restraint. They possessed the privilege of visiting the
temples and shrines of the gods, and offering up their invocations.
They even joined in processions ; and priestesses, clad in simple petti-
coats, with the upper part of the body exposed, ofﬁciated in temples
of female deities. Every married woman was under the obligation of
offering her charms at the portals of the temple to the ﬁrst stranger
who might solicit the pleasure of their companionship. Marriageable
girls were sold at public auction ; 1 and as polygamy was a prevalent
practice, a rich man might by purchase increase the number of his
wives at pleasure.
The Babylonians honoured their dead by consigning them to tombs
constructed of durable materials. Their burial-vaults were composed
of sun-dried bricks, with an arched ceiling and paved ﬂoor. The body
was laid on a reed matting resting on the left side, while the ﬁngers
of the right hand were placed in contact with the edge of a copper
bowl, held in the palm of the left hand. A sun-dried brick served as
a pillow, on which the head reposed. Ornaments, jars, vases, dishes,
and drinking-cups formed a part of the interior decorations, and food
was probably added as an offering to the manes of the deceased.
Another kind of vault was constructed by extending a vaulted covering
of-burned clay over a platform of sun-dried bricks. Frequently
the jar coffin was used for interment, which consisted of two large
open-mouthed earthenware jars, jointed together by means of a cement
of bitumen after the corpse had been introduced with all the usual
accessories of ornamental and useful articles. These jar coffins were
arranged in regular order in artiﬁcial mounds provided with shafts of
baked clay to subserve the purpose of drainage.
The religion of the Babylonians was in its nature and origin essen_
tially polytheistic. In its spirit it was anthropological, and its funda-
mental ideas were based upon hero-worship. As the Babylonians came

1 Once in every year the following course was pursued in every village z—IVhat-
ever maidens were of marriageable age they used to collect together and bring in
a body to one place ; around them stood a crowd of men. Then a crier, having
made them stand up one by one, offered them for sale, beginning with the most
beautiful; and when she had been sold for a large sum, he put up another who
was next in beauty.‘ They were sold on condition that they should be married.
Such men among the Babylonians who were rich and desirous of marrying used
to bid against one'another, and purchase the handsomest of the maidens. He
made the ugliest stand up, or one that was a cripple, and put her up to auction
for the person who would marry her for the least sum, until she was adjudged to
the man who agreed to take the smallest sum. This money was obtained from
the sale of the handsome maidens, and thus the beautiful ones portioned out the
ugly and the crippled. A father was not allowed to give his daughter in mar-
riage to whom he pleased, neither might a purchaser carry off a maiden without
security ; but he was obliged to give security that he would certainly marry her,
and then he might take her away. If they did not agree, a law was enacted that
the money should be repaid. It was also lawful for any one to come from another
village to purchase. Herodotus, i. 196.
' D
50 THE .ARAMEAN STOCK.
in contact with the‘ Syro-Aramaean nations, who worshipped the host
of heaven, their religion partook in form of the character of Sabeeanism.
The hero divinities became star-gods without losing their national
identity or changing their attributes. Fifteen or sixteen superior gods
were universally recognised as equal in rank and power. Besides
numerous minor divinities, the Babylonians awarded honour andi paid
special reverence to many local gods and genii, who were regarded as
the tutelary patrons of towns and villages. The most ancient of the
hero divinities, whose history has almost passed into oblivion, is
Ilu or Ra. His name being the equivalent of God (El), he must have
held a high rank as a superior deity; but his worship had fallen much
in disuse during historical times. The other principal divinities were
generally represented in triads, and were associated with female subor-
dinates. At the head of the ﬁrst triad stood Anu, who closely corre-
sponded to the Pluto of the Greeks. His titles indicated his antiquity.
He was addressed as the “old Anu,” the “ ﬁrst-born,” the “ ancient,”
the “father of the gods,” the “god of spirits and demons.” When
he ﬁlls the ofﬁce which places his seat of power in the lower regions,
he was called the “lord of darkness and death,” “king of the lower
world,” the “ruler of the far city.” As the personiﬁcation of the
chaotic state, he was formerly the absolute ruler of the universe before
it assumed its ﬁnal form 3 he is also the god of time and the ruler of
the starry sky. Erech, the chief burying-city of the Babylonians,
was placed under his protection. As the god of riches, he was the
“layer up of treasures,” the “lord of the earth and the mountains”
—-—the depositories of the precious metals. A temple was erected to
his honour at Kileh Sherghat in 18 50 B. 0. His consort was supposed
to be Anata, who possessed no personal attributes, but was simply the '
reﬂective image of her husband, and as such she bore all his titles.
Bin, the god of the atmosphere, and Martu, the god of darkness or of
the v\Vest, are the best known of her numerous progeny.
Bel or Enu was the second person of the ﬁrst triad, who in many of
his attributes resembled the Grecian Jupiter. He was revered as the
“supreme father of the gods,” the “procreator,” the “lord,” the
“ king of all the spirits,” the “lord of the world,” the “lord of all
the countries.” He was the maker of the heavenly world, who
watches over the motions and revolutions of the heavenly bodies. As
the supposed founder of Babylon, he was known under the name of
Bil-Nipru or Bel-Nimrod, which would render him identical with the
Belus of the Greeks. His temple at N iffer was distinguished for its
antiquity, its rich treasures and sumptuous magniﬁcence, and his potent
divinity was almost universally recognised; he was worshipped with
intense veneration, and fervent invocations were addressed to him.
The inner shrine of his temple was furnished with a splendid couch
and a golden table, an apartment specially reserved for the priestesses
who passed there the night on certain occasions. On the annual
festival celebrated in Babylon in honour of Bel, numerous victims
were offered up as a propitiatory sacriﬁce, and a thousand talents’
weight of frankincense was burned on his great altar. Beltis was
assigned to him as his wife. Her Babylonian name was Mylitta or
BABYLONIANS. 5 I
Euntis, signifying “lady,” and she was a deity of great importance,
bearing the favourite title of the “mother of‘ the great gods.” The
other epithets under which she was invoked were no less exalted.
She was called the “lady of Bit-Anu,”'the “lady of Nipur,” the
“queen of the land,” the “great lady,” the “goddess of war and
battle,” the “queen of fecundity 3 ” and the divine powers attributed
to her corresponded with these titles. She had numerous temples,
and her worship was widely diffused. Every Babylonian woman was
under a religious obligation to present herself once in her life before
the shrine of this goddess, and remain within the enclosure of the
sanctuary until she won favour with a passing stranger, who cast
money in her lap, by which he gained command over her person, of
which he availed himself in a place of retirement. Many women of
the wealthier sort, who were too proud to mix with the other, drove
in covered carriages to the precinct, followed by a goodly train of
attendants, and then took their station; but the larger number seated
themselves within the holy enclosure with wreaths of corn about their
heads; and there was always a great crowd, some coming and others
going. Lines of cord marked out the paths in every direction among
the women, and the strangers passed along to make their choice. A
woman who had once taken her seat was not allowed to go home
till one of the strangers threw a silver coin in her lap, and took her
with him beyond the holy ground When he threw the coin he said
these words, “The goddess Mylitta (Beltis) prosper thee.” The silver
coin might be of any size; it could not be refused, for that was for.
bidden by law, since once thrown it was sacred. The woman went
with the ﬁrst who threw her money, and rejected no one. When she
had thus gone with him and satisﬁed the goddess, she returned home,
and from that time forth no gift, however great, would prevail with
her. Such as were tall and beautiful were soon released, but such as
were ugly had to stay a long time before they could fulﬁl the law.
‘Some had even waited three or four years in the precinct.1
Ea or Hea is the third person in the ﬁrst triad. Although he was
styled “lord of the earth,” he came from the sea, and imparted
knowledge to the Babylonians 3 but the empire of the sea was not
assigned to him,2 and his title of “lord of the abyss or the great
deep” had no connection with the watery realm. As Divine Wisdom,
he animates matter and makes it fruitful; he pervades all things,
imparts life and serves as guidance. He was reverenced as the god of
science and knowledge, and in this capacity he corresponds to Oannes.
He was called the “intelligent guide,” the “teacher of mankind,”
‘the “ lord of understanding.” The wedge or arrow-head was the
emblem sacred to him, which points to his invention or introduction
of the cuneiform character. The serpent, the symbolic representation
of superhuman knowledge, was also an emblematic device expressive

1 Herodotus, i. 199. The text cites the precise language of the father of history,
only substituting'the past for the present tense. .
2 According to M. Lenormant, Ea “is the ruler of the sea, the spirit that hovers
‘over the waters.”
52 THE .ARAMZEAN STOCK.
of one of his attributes. He was also worshipped as the “god of
life,” as the “god of glory,” and as the great giver of good gifts to
men 3 he was the “god of giving.” As a stellar divinity he bore the
name of Kinnut, and his seat of power was placed in the constellation
of Draco. His wife was Dav-Kinna, who had no distinct personality
as a goddess, and her divinity was entirely merged into that of her
husband.
Sin or Hurki was the moon-god, and occupied the ﬁrst rank in the
second triad. He bears numerous titles, but they did not indicate
either his power or his attributes. He was styled “ the chief,” “the
powerful,” “the lord of spirits,” “ he who dwells in the great heavens 3 ”
and in a hyperbolical sense he was called the “ chief of the gods of
heaven and earth,” the .“ king of the gods,” and the “ god of gods.”
As the light that illuminates the nightly heavens, he was “ the bright,
the shining,” the “lord of the month.” He was the patron and pre—
siding genius of architecture and buildings, and as such he was invoked
as the “supporting architect,” the “ strengthener of fortiﬁcations,” the-
“lord of buildings.” His emblematic device, which was the crescent,
was stamped upon bricks which were placed under his protection.
He was the tutelary god of Hur (Mugheir), where a temple had been
erected and dedicated to his worship, and shrines were consecrated to his
service at Babylon and Borsippa. He was one of the favourite deities
of the Babylonian kings, and was reverenced with earnest and con-
stant devotion. His divine consort, the moon-goddess, was known as
the “great lady 3” and her shrine, which occupied a portion of the
temple of the moon-god, and was called the “lesser light,” shared with
him the honours of divine adoration.
San or Samas was the sun-god, who was as much distinguished by
his moral power and the spiritual inﬂuence which he exercised, as by
the physical characteristics by which he manifested himself in the
material world. When he was at times referred to as the “lord of
ﬁre,” the “light of the gods,” the “ruler of the day,” and “ he who
illumines the expanse of heaven and earth,” he was more ordinarily
spoken of as “the regent of all things,” and the “ establisher of heaven
and earth.” He was particularly the patron divinity of the monarch
and the tutelar genius of the nation. He was the “supreme ruler-
who casts a favourable eye on expeditions,” “the vanquisher of the-
king’s enemies,” “the breaker up of opposition.” He “ casts his
motive inﬂuence over the monarch,” and causes him “to assemble his
chariots and his warriors.” He accompanies him and watches over
his armies in battle, breaks the strength of his enemies, weakens their-
resistance, lends his might and power to the conquering host, and,
crowned with victory, he brings the king back to his own country,
where in time of peace he aids him to wield the sceptre of authority
with a ﬁrm hand, inspiring his subjects with a spirit of loyalty and
submission. The sun-god was symbolically represented by the circle,
the quartered disk, or the four-rayed orb. His next famous temple,
which was called Bit Parra, was at Larsa or Elassor. The female
divinity associated as a distinct personality with the sun-god was
Ai-Gula or Anunit. She was conjointly worshipped with the sun in
BABYLONIANS. 53
the same temple, and her oﬂice was to preside over life and fecundity.
Her sacred emblem was the eight-rayed disk or orb, or an eight or
six-rayed star.
Bin or Ramanu1 was the god of the atmosphere; he was the “lord
of the whirlwind and the tempest,” and the “ wielder of the thunder-
bolt.” The titles characteristic of his divinity are “the minister of
heaven and earth,” “the lord of the air,” “ he who maketh the
tempest to rage.” As the winds do his bidding, the destruction of
the crops, the rooting up of trees, and the scattering of the harvest
are attributed to him ; and their natural consequences—scarcity, famine,
and pestilence—were supposed to be the messengers of evil sent forth
by him for the punishment of mankind. The ﬂaming sword, in the
form of a double or triple bolt, was his representative emblem; and
the ﬂaming sword was considered his instrument of destruction, which
spread ruin and desolation over the land. On the other hand, he was
regarded as a highly beneﬁcent divinity; for he bestowed the early and
latter rains ; he was the “ careful and beneﬁcent chief,” the “ giver of
abundance,” the “ lord of fecundity,” and, as the god who unlocked
and closed up the fountains of heaven, he was the “lord of canals”
and the “ establisher of works of irrigation.”
Bar Nin, Ninip, or Adar, was one of the national and ancestral
gods. In his general character he answered to Hercules, and in the
planetary hierarchy he represented Saturn. He was regarded as the
god of “strength and courage,” the “lord of the brave,” the “ champion
- and warrior who subdues foes ” “ he who strengthens the heart of his
9 ‘O
followers,” the “ destroyer of enemies,” the “ reducer of the disobedient,”
the “exterminator of rebels,” “ he whose sword is god.” He was the
god of battle and the chase, and was the protecting genius of the king,
and gave success to his war and hunting expeditions. As the “ﬁsh-
god,” he bore the title of the “god of the sea,” “he who dwells in the
deep,” the “opener of the aqueducts.” As a national deity, he was
“ the powerful chief, the supreme,” the “ﬁrst of the gods,” the “chief
of spirits.” He was also called the “light of heaven and earth,” he
who, like the sun, “ as the light of the gods irradiates the nations.”
Bel Merodach was a god of great antiquity, and was considered
identical with the planet Jupiter. On the most ancient monuments
he is called “the old man of the gods,” “ the judge;” and he was the
tutelary divinity who guarded the gates of the cities, which were
anciently the seats of justice.2
Nergal in his stellar character represented the planet Mars. , He was
in a speciﬁc sense the god of war, but more particularly the god of
hunting ; and his titles clearly indicate his oﬂice and his general
attributes. He was the “king of battles,” the “ champion of the
gods,” the “storm ruler,” “the strong begetter,” the “ tutelary god of
Babylonia,” and “ the god of the chase.” He was usually associated

1 Mr. Rawlinson calls this god Vul, who is the god of the air of the Assyrians;
Lenormant, who is more recent authority, gives to it the name of the text.
2 M. Lenormant assigns Zarpanit, one of the names of Isthar, to Merodach as
his female associate. - . .
54. THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
with Nin, who was his equal in some of his powers and functions.
He was said to live in Catha and Tigabba, where he had a shrine of
great celebrity, and was the reputed patron deity of the town. Laz
was the female divinity assigned to him as his wife.
Isthar was a female deity of great renown, and was personiﬁed by
the planet Venus. She was really Beltis under another form, a god-
dess “who rejoices mankind 3 ” and she was best known under the epi~
thet of amv'ah, “the fortunate or the happy.” She was called “ the-
mistress of heaven'and earth,” “ the great goddess,” “ the queen of all
the gods,” “the goddess of war and battle,” “the queen of victory,”
“she who arranges battles and she who defends from attack.” As.
star-goddess, representing Venus, she is the goddess of love; as the-
productive agency of germination, and as power that gives fecundity
to living beings, she is known as Zapanit 3 as progenitrix, as Illum-
Zz'dacl or Mylitta, which is only another name for Beltis; she was
honoured in Babylon by sacred prostitution. She is called Anunit,
as the star of the river Tigris 3 she is united in marriage with Samsa.
or the sun, as Gula representing the moon; and as goddess of the
dead and queen of the lower world, she is known by the name of
Alla. Numerous shrines are dedicated in her honour, and her worship
was popular and widespread all over the Babylonian empire.
N ebo, as a star-god, corresponds to Mercury 3 and he had also many
attributes of the Greek Hermes. It was his ofﬁce to preside over-
knowledge and learning 3 he was the god who “possesses intelli-
gence 3” “he who hears from afar 3 ” “he who teaches and instructs.”
Like Ea, he presided over literature 3 and as the patron of writing, the-
wedge or arrow-head was his emblem. In his general character he-
bore numerous titles. He was “lord of lords who had no equal in
power,” “the supreme chief,” “the sustainer,” “the supporter,” “ the
ever-ready,” “the guardian over the heaven and the earth,” “ the lord
of the constellations,” “ the holder of the sceptre of power,” “he who-
grants the sceptre of royalty for the guaranty of their people.” This
god, whose worship was rather of recent date, had a celebrated temple-
at Borsippa, and was considered as the patron deity of the great kings
of the Babylonian empire. Tasmit or Varamit was connected with
him, without any speciﬁc attributes, as his divine consort.1
The gods of Babylon were not only symbolised in mystic numbers,
but an astronomic signiﬁcation was given to them 3' and the twelve
great gods were supposed to govern the twelve months of the year and
the twelve signs of the zodiac.2 On the monuments the gods are
ranked in the following order :-—I. Anu is the king of the world and
of the celestial and terrestrial archangels. 2. Bel, the father of the gods-
and the creator. 3. Ea, the king of the ocean, the ruler of destiny,

1 From the characteristics of the gods as described in the text, it is apparent
that nearly all of them are invested with some kind of supremacy, and that they
invariably encroach upon each other's functions or ofﬁee; and the only possible
solution of this mysterious problem is the assumption that several of these deities-
who are indicated as different gods are really one and the same divinities, bear-~
ing different names in different localities.
2 Diodorus Siculus. b
BABYLONIANS. ' I 55
and the god of wisdom and knowledge. 4. Sin, lord of crowns, the
chosen for the highest glory. 5. Bin, the warrior, and lord of fertility
and canals. 6. Samas, judge of heaven and earth. 7. Merodach, the
just prince of the gods, lord of nativity. 8. Adar-Samdan, the
powerful warrior among the powerful gods, the destroyer of evil. 9.
N ergal, the noble king of battles. Io. N ebo, the bearer of the highest
sceptre. II. Belit, the spouse of Bel, the mother of the great gods.
12. Isthar, the most ancient of heaven and earth 3 she ﬁlls the corn.
Besides the great gods there were numerous minor gods, which were
mostly local divinities. Serakh or Nirba is the god of harvests and-
granaries 3 Manu is the great ruler of destiny 3 Dibbora or Ungal-
mirrah, as secondary form of Adar, is the diffuser of pestilence 3 Isuv,
his assistant, who is also called Muttaliku, is the rover or the supreme
informer of the gods 3 and he is also mentioned as the god of the river
Tigris; Subulal was the god of the Euphrates, Sarrakhu the god of
Kis, and Kamisura the god of Kuthra. The personiﬁcation of the
stars, under the name of heavenly sentinels and hosts of armies, had
also a divine signiﬁcation 3 some of them were considered as true gods,
others were merely spirits or genii. To this class. belong the four
tutelary genii : Sedu or Kirubu, represented by a bull with a human
countenance 3 Lamassu or Nirgallu, in the form of a lion with a
human head 3 Ustur, in the form of a man; and N attig, an eagle or
falcon-headed ﬁgure. Superior to the genii were a group of angels or
I spirits. The Igigi or Igaga are the spirits of heaven, and the Anun-
navisiti the spirits of the earth. In addition to all these superior and
inferior divinities, the great gods had a numerous offspring 3 their
family household was composed of many concubines, servants, mes-
sengers, and other subordinate personages, who all formed a part of
the Babylonian pantheon. The gods of Babylonia were represented
in the form of characteristic images, which were made of wood, stone,
gold, silver, bronze, or iron 3 and sometimes a clay model was overlaid
with a metallic covering. The common worshippers looked upon the
idol as the true divinity 3 but the more intelligent classes regarded the
image as the representative symbol of the god, who was supposed to
have occasionally descended from heaven to hold carnal converse with
the chief priestesses of his temple.
The religious ceremonies of the Babylonians were conducted with
much pomp and splendour. A body of priests, who lived with their
families in or near the sacred enclosure, officiated in the temple. It
was through them that the worshippers made their invocations, and
dedicated their offerings and sacrifices of oxen and goats to the gods
whose favour they wished to propitiate.
The religion of the Babylonians enjoined the observance of cer-
tain laws of puriﬁcation. The consummation of the marriage rite
rendered the parties and all they touched unclean 3 and the impurity
thus contracted could only be removed by a fumigation with the
vapour of burning incense, and a subsequent thorough ablution.
Those who were tainted by contact with a corpse were subjected to a
similar process of puriﬁcation.
In the temple was concentrated all the taste and artistic excellence
56 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
of Babylonian architecture. It was often a lofty and imposing ediﬁce,
and its ornamentation, which was chiefly displayed by means of
colour, was pleasing to the eye, and was frequently of elaborate work-
manship. Gold and silver were lavishly used in the moulding of the
images and the construction of the altars. The tower or ziggarat,
which was an essential part of the temple, formed its most interesting
feature, and was partly devoted to sacriﬁcial service and partly to
scientiﬁc observations. It was a solid square or rectangular structure,
rising by successive stages, numbering from two to seven sections,
which were ascended by external spiral steps on a series of inclined
planes.1
The priests formed the most important class of Babylonian society.
Their sacerdotal duties united them in bonds of brotherhood, and by '
their sacred calling and their learning they exercised a paramount
inﬂuence, not only among the common people, but inthe conduct of
public affairs as the counsellors and advisers of the king, who at times
conferred upon them the honour and dignity of important official
positions, and wealth and worldly consideration were thus placed at
their command. They were not only the ministerial ofﬁcers in the
temple, but they were the prophets and seers; they predicted the
mysterious events of life by the interpretation of dreams, prodigies,
and omens. They read the portents indicated by the aspect of the
stars, and at once assumed the office of teachers and guides, giving
due warning of impending evil, and averting it by puriﬁcation, incan-
tation, and sacriﬁces. They were versed in philosophy 3 and the
national literature, written in a peculiar character, was intrusted to
their guardianship. They were considered as the sole possessors of
the recondite wisdom and the traditional knowledge transmitted to
them by their ancestors from remote antiquity.
Babylonia was governed by an absolute monarch, whose powers
were only limited by the rebellious resistance of his nobles and the
displeasure of those who composed his court. The king was the
commander of the army, and led the soldiers to battle. He was also
the chief pontiff of the temple, and was engaged in acts of adoration
and in addressing his invocation to the gods, either standing or kneel-
ing, with his hands raised towards heaven. The crescent and the
rayed orb, emblems of the moon and the sun, were suspended from
his neck. A small ﬁgure with a horned cap and a bident and trident
were also sacred jewels which he were during the performance of reli-
gious ceremonies.
The Babylonian armies were partly composed of native troops and
partly of contingents furnished by tributary nations, and were made
up of infantry, cavalry, and'chariots. Their defensive armour was
the bronze helmet, the linen breastplate, and the shield 3 their offen-

1 The seven stages of the tower of Birs-i-Nimrud, near Babylon, which was
153 feet high, represented the seven spheres in which moved the planets. The
sun was golden, the moon silver, the distant Saturn black, Jupiter was orange,
Mars was red, Venus pale yellow, and Mercury a deep blue. Rawlinson’s “Five
Great Monarchies,” p. 376.
BABYLONIANS. 57
sive weapons were the spear, the dagger, the club or mace, bows and
arrows, and the axe. When marching through an enemy’s country
they scattered far and wide in every direction, laying waste the land,
spreading ruin and destruction all around them, and despoiling the
inhabitants by rapine and plunder. It was but rarely that they suc-
'ceeded to induce their weaker adversaries to engage in a pitched
battle ; but their campaigns were generally crowned with victory after
long and obstinate sieges'of the walled towns, where the population
collected as the only place of refuge, determined to defend their
stronghold to the last extremity. The battering-ram was used to
effect a breach in the walls, or mounds were constructed equal in
height to the opposing ramparts, which were then sealed or broken
‘down. In the hour of victory they were cruel to their prisoners;
they mutilated their persons, consigned them to a long and weary
imprisonment, massacred non-combatants, and even murdered children
in the presence of their fathers.
The Babylonian empire was divided into districts, which, besides
the payment of the regular annual tribute, were required, each in turn,
to supply provisions for the maintenance of the king’s household and
the subsistence of the army; and the requisition was exacted in pro-
portion of one-third from Babylonia and two-thirds from the Asiatic
‘dependencies?
Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was one of the most famous
,cities of antiquity as regards its size, the grandeur and magniﬁcence
of its buildings, as well as the wealth and opulence of its inhabitants.
The city was laid out in a plain, and was of quadrangular form, and
presented on every side a front of about a hundred and twenty stadia,
or ﬁfteen miles. It was surrounded by a deep and wide moat, full of
water, and a circuit wall of brick, two hundred and ﬁfty feet high,
and sixty-two feet wide.2 The walls were pierced on each side by
twenty-ﬁve portals, closed by gates of brass, and were surrounded by
two hundred and ﬁfty towers rising ten feet above the parapet, and
placed at regular intervals. Their top formed a wide street, built up
with two opposite rows of one-story dwellings, leaving an intervening
space for turning a chariot with four horses. The city was intersected
by ﬁfty parallel streets running in an east and west direction, and the
same number, crossing the ﬁrst at right angles, extended north and
south, each being ﬁfteen miles long, and‘connected at either extremity
with one of the gates. The area of the city was thus divided into
seven hundred and seventy-six squares, and around these the houses
were constructed with intervening vacant spaces. The ediﬁces were
three or four stories high, with their fronts decorated with ornamental
work. The central portion of each square was laid out into cultivated
ﬁelds and pleasure gardens. The city was divided into two sections

1 Herodotus, i. 192.
2 Ibid. i. 178. The height is stated in the Greek text to be two hundred
cubits, and the width ﬁfty cubits. The Greek cubit has been estimated at a foot
and a quarter. The measure of the Babylonian walls, as given by Herodotus, is
probably greatly exaggerated.
58 I THE ARAMrEAN' srocx.
by the Euphrates, whose banks were protected by breastworks of‘
burned brick, and connected with the transverse streets by means of"
brass gates. A bridge thirty feet wide and a furlong in length
spanned the river bed, and served as a highway of communication
. between the two banks. A magniﬁcent palace stood at the head of'
the bridge on the east and on the west side, the former measuring"
three and three-fourth miles in circumference, and the latter, which
was called the new palace, had a circuit of seven and a half miles, and
was surrounded by three walls. Here the famous hanging gardens-
were situated, occupying a square, of four hundred feet on each side-
of the palace. They consisted of terraces resting upon piles, and
supported on a series of arches which rose in tiers to the height ofv
the city walls, and were strengthened by a circuit wall twenty-two
feet thick. The ﬂoors were of stone, covered by a pavement of brick,
cemented together with plaster, and laid in a bed of melted bitumen.
Over this thick sheets of lead were spread, upon which was laid a
deep layer of mould, possessing all the qualities of the most fertile
soil, where the largest trees and a great variety of plants grew in great
luxuriance. The water for irrigation was supplied from a reservoir on
the highest of the terraces, and it was ﬁlled from the river below by
an engine.1 One of the most celebrated ediﬁces which adorned the-
city of Babylon was the temple of Belus. It was a vast structure of '
a square form, measuring two stadia, with a solid tower in the centre-
of the enclosure, from which ascended seven other successive turrets.
The summit, which was reached by means of a spiral stairway wind-
ing round the outside walls, was crowned with a spacious temple,
sumptuously furnished with a luxuriant couch and a table of solid
gold. The sanctuary was occupied during the night by a Babylonian
woman, “ chosen by the god of the whole nation,”who, it was asserted
by the priests, made this spot his nightly abode, and reclined on the
bed for the indulgence of pleasure.2 Within the precincts of the
temple there was a chapel which contained a golden statue of J upiter-
seated on a throne of gold, and the steps by which it was ascended,
as well as the table which stood near, were also of the same precious
metal, the total weight of which was estimated at eight hundred
talents. Two altars, one of which was gold, stood outside of the
building, where sacriﬁces were offered up, and a thousand talents of_
frankincense were yearly consumed at the celebration of the festival
of Belus.3
Three deities were worshipped in the great temple of Babylon.
Belus or Jupiter was represented in an upright posture, as if in the-
act of walking, by a golden statue forty feet high, which weighed
a thousand Babylonian talents. Rhea was honoured as a potent
divinity. She was seated on a golden chair, guarded by two lions
standing at her knees, and near her were two large silver serpents.
Mylitta or Hera was universally reverenced. She was represented
by a statue of gold, standing erect, holding a silver serpent by the’

1 Diodorus, lib. 10. 2 Herodotus, lib. i. 181. 3 Ibid. 183.
BABYLONIAN'S. ’ 59
head in the right hand, and a sceptre ornamented by precious stones
in her left. Three golden cups were dedicated to these three deities,
which were placed before them on a silver table1 for their use and
service.
AUTHORITIES.
The Five Great Monarchies. . By George Rawlinson. 1863.
Discoveries of Nineveh and Babylon. By Austin H. Layard. 18 5 3.
Mesopotamia and Assyria. By John Bailie Fraser. 1847.
Die Magic und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldeer. Von Fr. Lenormant. 1878-
Histoire des Empires de Chaldée et d’Assyrie. Par Jules Oppert.
Babylone et les Babyloniens. Par Jules Oppert. I866.
Herodoti Historiarum. Edition Dindorﬁii.
Diodorus Siculus. Edition Dindorfﬁi.

1 Diodorus, lib. ii. 9.
60 THE. ABAMJEAN STOCK.
YEZEDEES.
THE Yezedees occupy the Singar mountains, and inhabit several
valleys near Mosul and ancient Nineveh. They are supposed to be
a remnant of the tribes which formed a component part of the
Assyrian nationality, but their origin as well as their history is
involved in great obscurity.l The name of their race was anciently
Daseni, and it is only in recent times, since they have adopted their
present system of religion, that the appellation of Yezedees has been
introduced, which seems to be derived from “ Yezd” of the ancient
Persian, and was a title applied to the Supreme Being.
The territory which they occupy is included in that of Mesopo-
tamia, and forms a part of the Turkish empire in Asia. As the
Yezedees do not profess Mohamedanism, and their religious belief is
not sanctioned by a revelation compiled in a sacred book recognised
by the followers of Islam as being of divine origin, they were formerly
much persecuted and cruelly massacred by the military force stationed
among them by the Turkish government to keep them in subjection.
The inhabitants of whole villages were forced, under penalty of long
imprisonment and even death, to renounce their creed and accept the
religion of their masters. This repressive system made them highway
robbers 3 they became the terror of the caravans 3 and the merchant and
the traveller were mercilessly plundered, and were made the victims
of their rapacity and vengeance. The military expedition of Mehamed
Pasha ﬁnally reduced them to the most absolute submission, by the
adoption of the most barbarous measures, and subjecting them to the
most unjust exactions. Since 18 50, when the tanzz'mat transformed, in
a measure, the administrative system of the Turkish empire, the
Yezedees have proﬁted by the salutary change, and they are now
exempt from the hardships to which they were formerly exposed, and
are permitted the free exercise of their religion without interference
from the Turkish authorities.

1 Several authors express the opinion that the Yezedees are of Arab descent,
claiming that they derive their name from the Arabian general Yezid, who put
Hassan the son of Ali to death 3 but as they do not speak Arabic, this conjecture
is not well founded; and it cannot be shown that they have been brought to a
state of absolute subjection by a neighbouring nation whose language, it might be
supposed, they had adopted. It is hardly probable that, having made an integral
part of the Arabian empire in the East, they should have forgotten their mother
tongue. “ According to their tradition,” says Mr. Layard, “ they are descendants
of a colony from the north of Syria, which settled in Mesopotamia at a compara-
tively recent period.”
YEZEDEES. 61
The physical characteristics of the Yezedees indicate their oriental
and even Aramaeic lineage. The men are generally of a dark brown
complexion, their features are regular and of a stern aspect, which
often gives them a forbidding countenance, but which is sometimes
expressive of nobleness and manly independence. Their eyes are
black and piercing, shaded by ﬁnely-arched eyebrows ; their nose is of
aquiline outline; their teeth are even and of spotless whiteness ; and
their dark, glossy beard is of luxuriant growth. Their stature is
below the medium height, but their limbs are well formed, strongly
knit together, and their muscular fulness renders them active and
enables them to endure great fatigue. The features of the poorer
women are often irregular, and their complexion is sallow ; but the
cawal girls are strikingly beautiful and admirably formed.
They are industrious, and display much activity and energy. In
their social intercourse they are lively, good-humoured, and hospitable,
and are remarkable for their cleanliness in their dress and their
houses. They are a quiet and orderly race, but in the presence of an
enemy they show the most undaunted courage. On the other hand,
they are cruel and vindictive when their passions are aroused; and
though they are fond of drinking to excess, yet they are never
embroiled in bloody feuds.
The houses of the Yezedees are simple in construction, and the
interior is distinguished for neatness and cleanliness. They are one
story high, and are generally composed of three rooms opening one
into the other, divided by party walls of stone about six feet high
which support wooden pillars upon which the ceiling rests. Trunks
of trees, raised on stone pedestals and placed at regular intervals, serve
as supporting props to the roof. One side of the centre chamber is
open to the air, and the interior walls are smoothed with the whitest
plaster and ornamented with diminutive recesses symmetrically
arranged, and here and there set off with fancy devices in white and
red colours.
The dress of the men has nothing of the oriental gaudiness or
display of colours. Their shirt, their loose trousers, and their cloak
are all of pure white. Their hair falls down in ringlets, and is only
kept conﬁned by a black turban. They carry pistols in their girdle,
have a sword suspended from their side, and rows of reed cartridge
cases are strung across their breast. The married women are equally
dressed in white. A white kerchief covers their neck, and another
serves as head-dress, entwined by the agal or woollen cord of the
Bedouins. The unmarried women wear white shirts and trousers as
under-garments ; but their outer dress, which is rich and elegant, consists
of a long silk gown of various colours, open in front, leaving the neck
bare, and is conﬁned at the waist with a girdle ornamented with
pieces of silver. A piece of drapery of grey or yellowish check falls
down from one shoulder in,front of the silk dress, and a horse-hair
veil completely hides their face on going abroad. Sometimes the hair
is interwoven. with gay ﬂowers, or a wreath of myrtle entwines the
black turban. Many wear as head-dress a black square cap padded
with a cushion at the top, and completely covered with gold or silver
'62 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
‘coin, 'while others have a gay kerchief gracefully folded over the hair.
Strings of coin, amber, coral, agate, and glass beads are suspended
from their neck 3 frontlets adorn their brow, and elaborately wrought
bracelets, anklets, and earrings are favourite articles of adornment.
The mode of living of the Yezedees is simple, for they possess no
means of supplying themselves with luxuries from abroad. Their
principal and most substantial food is composed of a mixture of
bruised wheat, meat, milk, and curds, boiled together, called ham'ssa;
-or of mutton boiled with onions, and a porridge prepared from a
species of pea which is previously parched; and ﬁgs of a superior
quality, which they produce in great abundance, are served up as a
desert. Dates, raisins, and sugar are considered great luxuries, and
are only indulged in on extraordinary occasions.
The occupation of the Yezedees, who inhabit the mountain districts,
is conﬁned to the tillage of the soil 3 and although the land contiguous
to their villages is but moderately fertile, yet their industry and good
management make up for the natural deﬁciencies of soil and climate,
and they obtain a sufficient yield of‘ fruit and grain to provide the quan-
tity necessary for ordinary consumption. Those who have no ﬁxed
habitation are herdsmen and shepherds, and roam over the mountains
to seek suitable pastures for their cattle and ﬂocks 3 and, if a favour-
able opportunity presents itself, they feel no compunction to plunder
a caravan or solitary traveller they meet when engaged in their
marauding expeditions.
Marriage is celebrated without religious ceremonies. It is simply a
civil contract entered into between the relations of the parties 3 and
parents demand large sums of money for disposing of their daughters.
The man and the woman appear before the sheikh and express their
[common consent of becoming husband and wife in the presence of
witnesses 3 and, as a token of the agreement, the bride receives a ring,
or sometimes a certain amount of money in place of it. The sheikh
delivers to the bridegroom a loaf of consecrated bread, half of which
is eaten by each of the betrothed. A day is set apart for the marriage
festival, which is a time of general rejoicing 3 and music, dancing,
and drinking of sherbet give an air of festivity to the occasion. On
the second day, the bride, dressed in holiday costume, is conducted in
procession to the house of the bridegroom, accompanied by cawals,
who are playing on musical instruments, followed by her near relations
and friends on horseback, and a vast concourse of people on foot, with
a crowd of children carrying lambs as offerings. When arrived at her
future home, the bride, covered from head to foot with a thick veil,
retires behind a curtain in the corner of a darkened room, where she
remains for three days before her husband is permitted to see her 3
while the sounds of revelry, the tramp of the dancers, and the bois-
terous warble of the drum and pipe are re-echoing in her cars from
the adjoining room and the courtyard. In the morning of the third
day the bridegroom is led by his young companions from house to
house, and every household bestows upon him a small present as a
mark of welcome and goodwill. On his return home he is surrounded
'by a circle of dancers, “and while thus standing in the ring, each of
YEzEoEEs. 6 3
“the guests present approaches, and presses a piece of coin, previously
wetted, on the bridegroom’s forehead, which is dropped in a handker-
vchief held beneath his chin by friends of the newly-wedded husband.
"To increase the contribution, and to provide liberally for the bridal
“outﬁt, the richest of the guests cheerfully submits to be captured by a
band of young men, and being held conﬁned in a dark room, he volun-
tarily effects his release by paying a suitable ransom, which is added
to the amount of the dowry already collected for the beneﬁt of the
young married couple.
The greatest number of the Yezedees have but one wife 3 but poly-
_ gamy is tolerated and practised, especially among the chiefs. For
grave misconduct, such as adultery, the wife may be divorced 3 and
while the repudiated wife is not allowed to marry again, the husband
'can enter into new marriage relations, provided he has obtained the
consent of the sheikh.
When a Yezedee is at the point of death a cawal is called in, who
pours a quantity of water into the mouth of the dying man 3 and if at
his arrival life is already extinct, the ceremony is performed before
the body is consigned to the grave. Before ﬁnal interment, the body
is washed in running water, and is laid out in the house where the
. icawals chant funeral hymns, accompanied by the plaintive notes of
their sacred instruments. The bier is carried to the grave in pro-
cession preceded by the cawals, who continue their musical perform-
.ances, at the same time swinging their censers of burning incense,
which is both a religious and a sanitary measure. Every morning
- and evening, for several successive days, the male relatives proceed to
the place where the last remains of their friend he entombed, lingering
in silent meditation near the spot, and burning incense to his memory,
while the women give expression to their grief by weeping and uttering
\doleful lamentations. The grave is marked with a tombstone, which
is generally inscribed with a passage from the Koran.
The religion of the Yezedees is an oﬂshoot of the Alla-Illahism
, grafted upon the fundamental tenets of the Zoroastrian creed. They
recognise a Supreme Being under the name of Yezd, but he is not
worshipped either by sacriﬁces or prayers. He is simply a self-exist-
:ing, self-controlling deity, without exercising any active powers, who
. has assigned the function of governing the mundane world to an incar-
Lnate divinity in human form, who represents his creative energy as
well as his authority. Sheikh Adi is held by the Yezedees to be the
‘divine emanation of the godhead personifying Orniuzd, or the Good
Principle. He himself testiﬁes to the ineffable nature of his incarnate
-deiﬁcation. Speaking of his godlike attributes, he says :—“ My wisdom
knoweth the truth of kings. And my truth has mingled with me.
My real descent is from myself. I have not known evil to be with
me. All creation is under my control. Through me are the habitable
parts and the deserts. And every created thing is subservient to me.
And I am he that dccreeth and causeth existence. I am he that spake
the true word. I am he that dispenseth power, and I am the ruler of
.the earth.” Sheikh Adi, who is the beneﬁcent deity, they worship
.and devoutly reverence and adore. They sing hymns to his praise,
64 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
and make pilgrimages to his tomb 3 but they address no invocations to~
him, for his supreme goodness showers his blessings upon them spon-
taneously. They believe that this man-god is omnipresent, is without.
human parentage, but is a direct emanation of light 3 that he is not
dead, but is clothed in unfading immortality. He is the mighty
creator, and it is through him that all things have originated. He is-
represented as having sought the truth, and as having reached, by
means of it, the highest station among the celestial host 3 and he“
vouchsafes a similar exalted position to those believers who, like him,
shall ﬁnd the truth.
The sun is held in great reverence, the priestly order worship it-
every morning and evening at its rising and setting by kissing the
ground, with their faces turned towards the east or west. But the
secular classes are less regular in the performance of this ceremony, except..
during the period of pilgrimage, when large parties assemble together
in the sacred valley at the earliest dawn of the morning to make an
ascent to the top of the neighbouring mountain, and pay their devotion
to the rising sovereign of the day by kissing a stone which reﬂects the-
ﬁrst glowing gushes of his radiant light. "White oxen are sacriﬁced to’
the sun, and this sacriﬁcial offering is rendered meritorious by distri-
buting the ﬂesh among the poor. They look upon ﬁre as the symbol.
of the divine solar manifestation, and consider it as a sacred essence.
They will never spit into it, and they frequently pass their hand
through the ﬂame of the temple lamps, and then kiss it and rub their—
faces, as it were, with the purifying liquid thus imbibed. Water,
the fructifying element, which yields food and nourishment to man,
and is itself an indispensable ingredient to sustain human life, is a.
symbolic representation of Yezd, the omnipotent and supreme divinity-
Many fountains, springs, and rivers are regarded as sacred, and the’
purifying property of their waters is deemed so efficacious that it is an
act of merit to perform there the ordinary ablutions 3 and for the same.-
reason ﬁsh are called blessed (moobarak), and are never used as an
article of food except by the lowest classes. Blue is a prohibited.
colour 3 they abstain from eating lettuce and cabbage, and it is unlawful
to eat pork 3 but the use of wine is freely indulged in. They generally
practise circumcision, but it is not a religious duty of peremptory obli~-
,gation. Those who live at no great distance from the sacred valley
which contains the tomb of Sheikh Adi, consider it of great import--
ance that their children should be immersed immediately after birth
in the holy waters of the streams which traverse the lonely spot that
holds the shrine consecrated to the typical personiﬁcation of the
Supreme Deity. But this baptismal rite may be performed by the
cawals, who in their periodical tour through the provinces carry with
them a skin ﬁlled with holy water, for the convenience of those who are
unable to make a long and tedious journey to reach the saintly shrine.
They entertain the greatest reverence for the Old Testament, but
they reject neither the New Testament nor the Koran. According to
their belief, Christ was a great angel who assumed the form of a man 3.
and they rank Mohamed among the number of prophets, as they do»
Abraham and the other patriarchs.
YEZEDEES. 6 5
The senjak (banner), which is represented by the ﬁgure of a bird
with swelling breast and spreading tail, made of bronze or copper,
' bearing the title of Melek Taoos, or king peacock, is typical of Ahri-
man, of the Zoroastrian theology, and represents the evil principle;
and to this dread mischief-loving power they pay divine adoration to
avert its anger and propitiate its favour. This reverential awe for the
wicked spirit exercises such a powerful inﬂuence over their life and
conduct that they carefully avoid pronouncing his name, nor do they
ever make use of words implying execration, or such as are maledictory
in their import. They never mention Shez'tcm, the Mohamedan
Satan ; nor do they ever call the river Shat by its true name, on account
of its similarity of sound ; nor do they use the verb Zoau, “ to curse,”
and other words having a Satanic complexion in sound or sense.
There are seven representative images of the evil principle, which are
placed under the guardianship of the highest ecclesiastical officer, called
Sheikh N azir. These are constantly transported from district to dis-
trict, following the route traced out by the spiritual chief, and are
exhibited at places where the most muniﬁcent contribution may be
looked for. The sacred symbol is held in such high repute that the
honour of being intrusted with its temporary guardianship is accorded
to the rival claimant who offers the highest price. The senjak as it
passes in procession through the country is accompanied by the priests,
who carry censers ﬁlled with burning incense, and a band of cawal
musicians playing the pipe and the tambourine; and everywhere the
people at the sight of the holy image bow in profound adoration, utter-
ing some words of prayer, and passing their hands through the vapour
of the burning incense, thus perfuming their arms and faces with the
sweet-scented ingredients. The senjak is allowed to abide for a few
days in the house of the successful competitor. It rests upon the top
of a candlestick provided with two clusters of lamps of seven burners,
placed one above the other. Near it stands a copper jug ﬁlled with
holy water, which is supposed to act as a charm when drunk by the
sick and the afﬂicted ; and contiguous to it is a plate to serve as a
receptacle for collecting the voluntary gifts offered up by the faithful.
As the worshipper approaches the senjak, he bows with the utmost
humility, strikes his breast to propitiate the favour of the dreaded
divinity, and throws his contribution into the plate, and then retires
with the self-assurance that he has performed an important religious
duty. They regard .Melek Taoos as the chief of the angelic host, who
now suffers punishment for his rebellious spirit, but still possesses great
power to injure mankind ; and as he is to be restored at some future
day to his rank in the celestial hierarchy, he must be conciliated, that
they may become entitled to the rewards which he will be commis-
sioned to distribute to his faithful worshippers.
The most venerated place of worship of the Yezedees is the shrine
of Sheikh Adi. It is situated at the foot of a mountain range in a
deep ravine intersected by a small stream of limpid water, whose
banks are lined with oak, poplar, and olive trees. The surrounding
scenery is highly attractive and picturesque, and the temple is
embowered in a shady canopy of leaves, which form an effective
‘ E
66 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
contrast with the resplendent whiteness of its cone-like domes of
angular form with gilt ornaments at their summit. The temple area
is ﬁrst approached through the outer court, which contains eight
recesses, used during the pilgrimage season as stalls or shops, where
travelling merchants offer for sale coloured handkerchiefs, cotton
stuffs, dried ﬁgs, almonds, and raisins. A covered passage, con~
structed between two lodges, leads to the inner court, which, being
the sanctuary proper, no one enters without taking oﬁ his shoes.
This forms an enclosed quadrangular space, the walls of which are
inscribed with a number of symbolical ﬁgures and passages from the
Koran in Arabic characters. Here are several small apartments
occupied by the guardians and servants of the temple, and here the
N azir has his seat of honour in one corner under a small recess,
where a lamp is kept burning during the night. The temple is an
oblong apartment, with its roof resting on a row of ﬁve arches, which
divide the interior into three principal aisles. At one end of the
interior central hall is a square basin, which is supplied with water
from a spring bubbling out from a rock 3 it is provided with a plat-
form and with seats at each corner. Here children are immersed 3 and
it subserves other sacred purposes, for it is regarded as possessing
sanctifying efficacy, since it is supposed to have been derived from
the well of Zemzen.1 In the inner room, which is illuminated by the
dim glare of a small lamp, is the tomb of Sheikh Adi, enshrined in a
square case of clay smoothly plastered and covered with an embroidered
cloth of a green colour. The walls of the apartment are inscribed with
a chapter of the Koran called Ayat eZ cow'cz'. ‘In the centre of the
inner court is a small recess ﬁlled with balls of clay taken from the
consecrated ground—the spot which holds the tomb of the patron
saint. These relics are sold and distributed to the pilgrims, and are
highly valued as protecting amulets against diseases and evil spirits.
Near by are two small chapels, surmounted by three cones, which
contain the sacred shrines of Yezedee saints. In the subterranean
apartment no profane visitor is permitted to enter. A number of
covered walks are connected with the temple, and forty or ﬁfty tombs
(shake), erected to the memory of great sheikhs, give additional sanctity
to this retired spot devoted to religious uses.
The worship of the sanctuary is conducted by the priests, one of
whom is a leader of prayer. They walk in procession in a circle
through the temple area, chanting their prayers, accompanied by the
ﬂutes of the cawals, occasionally intermingled with the hollow notes
of the tambourine. The fair-ire, enveloped in black robes, dance
around the burning lamps in solemn pace to the measure of the music,
swinging their arms to and fro, exhibiting a graceful attitude and
displaying much elegance of motion. As the musical strains become
quicker and quicker, the step of the dancers becomes more accelerated,
and while the women raise the loud tahleelz, the whole assembly is

1 This is a sacred well in the mosque at Mecca.
2 This is the zagareét of the Arab women, a sound produced by striking the
open mouth with the ﬂat hand.
YEZEDEES. 67
thrown into a state of boisterous excitement. The worshippers present
give to each other the kiss of peace, and as the priests pass out they
kiss the right side of the doorway where the ﬁgure of a serpent is
drawn on the wall. '
But few women are admitted to witness these ceremonial perform-
ances, the wives of the sheikhs and cawals only have free access to
the interior of the sanctuary, and are at liberty to participate in the
ceremonies.
The ecclesiastical body is divided into four orders. Of these the
cawals ﬁll the most important office, for they are the administrative
and executive agents of the religious and civil authorities. They
.are the sacred musicians, and they solemnise public worship by the
chanting of hymns and the plaintive but monotonous tones of the
ﬂute and the tambourine. They are the missionary priests, who go
from village to village instructing the multitude in the faith and
doctrine of the national religion, and performing such ceremonies
and rites as the occasion may require.v They have some slight know-
ledge of Arabic, for the hymns and chants are composed in that
language. Their usual dress is a white robe and a black turban or
skull-cap. The fahz'rs constitute the lowest order of the priesthood3
they ﬁll the position of ministerial servants and attendants of the
temple. They perform all the menial labour 3 they light and trim
the votive lamps—the memorials dedicated to the tombs 3 they keep
the sacred buildings in proper order, and attend to the minor details
of the temple service as well as of the priestly household. They
‘carry on their left shoulder a band of red and yellow, or a red and
orange plaid, with which they tie up the faggots and other supplies
destined for the use of the sacred ediﬁce. They are also sent out
to make collections for the support of the temple service and the
guardians of the sacred shrine. Their outer garment is a black
woollen cassock of coarse material, reaching to the knee and bound
round the waist with a leather girdle, while their head is covered with
a black turban. The peers or elders rank next to the great sheikh,
who is the high priest of the religious establishment. They are highly
reverenced and are regarded as saints, for they are required to lead a
life of great sanctity, and must be distinguished for their integrity in
private life. They are presumed to possess the power of interceding
for the people, of curing diseases, and casting out the evil demon of
insanity. The sheikhs are, so to say, the scribes of the community 3
and although few of them can write, yet they are supposed to have a
slight knowledge of Arabic, and understand the hymns chanted during
religious worship. They are the special guardians of the tomb of
Sheikh Adi, and it is their duty to see that the holy ﬁres are kept up,
and that provisions and fuel are distributed to those who permanently
reside within the precincts of the temple, as well as to pilgrims of
distinction. They also receive the pilgrims, take charge of the offer—
ings, and sell the clay balls which are used as charms, and are much
esteemed for their supposed prophylactic. effect. The Sheikh Nazir
occupies the highest rank, and is the ﬁrst in dignity in the priestly
hierarchy. He is the patriarch and the supreme pontiff of the sect.
68 THE ARAB/[JEAN STOCK.
His oﬂ‘ice is hereditary in the male line of his family. His inﬂuence
among his people is very great, he is believed to be endowed with
supernatural powers 3 and it is supposed that, by virtue of his media-
torial office and the employment of charms and mystic rites, he can
heal obstinate diseases, impart fecundity to the barren, secure the
propitious termination of a journey, and crown with success any
difﬁcult enterprise. He directs the religious affairs of the community;
performs, on public occasions, the most solemn ceremonial rites, and
supplies the district with religious teachers. Like his brethren of the
secular order, he is engaged in agriculture, and generally possesses a
considerable amount of property. He visits the nearest villages twice
a year, and collects contributions from the people in the form of free-
will offerings, while his deputies are commissioned to perform the
same service in the more distant districts. He is, at times, called
upon by persons of distinction to assist in the celebration of a marriage,
or to preside over funeral rites at the burial of a deceased Yezedee of
high social consideration. The dignity of the four orders of the priestly
hierarchy is hereditary and descends even to the females. They
inviolably preserve their family distinction, for they are interdicted
from intermarrying with each other.
The Yezedees celebrate several annual festivals. The new year, which
begins in the month of April, is inaugurated on Wednesday, which,
with Friday, is considered a holiday. Bunches of wild red anemones
are fastened above the doorways of the houses, to propitiate the evil
principle, and to avert any calamity during the coming year that might
have a tendency to disturb their peace or destroy their prosperity.
Once a year all the tribes assemble together in the sacred valley to
make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sheikh Adi, and engage in religious
devotion in honour of their patron deity. Before the pilgrims approach
the precincts of the sanctuary, they wash their clothes and make their
ablutions in the consecrated stream that flows through the holy ground.
During the night of their anniversary the inner court of the temple is
illuminated by torches and a number of burning lamps. The sheikhs,
venerable with age, and dressed in white, are drawn up in order on
one side 3 while the cawcds are seated on stone benches in an opposite
direction, performing on the ﬂute and tambourine. The fakz'rs and
the women of the order of the priesthood ﬁll up the intervening space.
The voices of men and women are resounding in the valley, and the
pathetic strain of solemn and melancholy music is blended in harmony
with the soft notes of the ﬂutes, broken at regular intervals by the
clash of the cymbals and the tambourine. The distant hills re-echo
the shrill sounds of the tahZeeZ, which is raised at times by the women.
After sunrise, the sheikhs and ca'waZs offer up a short prayer in the
temple court without ceremonial formality. They then proceed to the
tomb of Sheikh Adi, and, taking off the green cloth covering, they carry
it in procession round the court, accompanied by music, while the people
crowd around it to be permitted to kiss the sacred drapery, returning
a small offering of money for the favour thus granted. After this
service a collation is prepared by the falm'rs and sheikhs, and platters
of smoking harz'ssa are set out, and all are invited to partake of thev
YEZEDEES. 69
hospitalities of Sheikh Adi. A collection is then made for the main-
tenance of the temple service. Numerous sheep are slaughtered,
which is accounted an act of merit, for the ﬂesh is distributed to the
poor. After mid-day the recreative part of the festival commences.
Young men and women ﬁnd enjoyment in engaging in the dance to
the measure of the ﬂute and the tambourine ; boys climb up trees to
obtain an extended view of the animated scene; sugar, dates, and
raisins are distributed among the children. About two hundred men
and women join hand in hand and form a ring around the musicians.
Their motions are at ﬁrst slow, but their pace grows quicker as the
merry notes of the instruments become more animated. They throw
their arms backwards and forwards, keeping time with the music, and
at the same time they narrow or widen the circle by advancing or
retreating two long and two short steps.
At a short distance from this scene of gaiety and pleasure a number
of well-dressed Yezedees on horseback amuse themselves with the
manly exercise of throwing the jereed,1 and running foot-races ; while a
far more numerous class are standing round in groups as interested
spectators, and feel as great a delight in witnessing the performances
of their friends and relations as if they themselves were the actors in
these sports, which afford such splendid opportunities to young girls
to display their coquettish arts, and to bring the young men in close
social intercourse with the fair sex.
The Yezedees acknowledge a temporal chief, who exercises great
authority and much greater inﬂuence among his people. His dignity
is hereditary, and the succession is limited to the members of his
family. But he may be deposed for an adequate cause by the joint
action of the tribes, and one of his male relatives may be chosen to
ﬁll his place. He is the political head of the community, and bears
the title of Italrfa or emir. It is through him that the Turkish
government communicates its orders and makes known its sovereign
will. The cawals are placed under his control, and they act as collec-
tors of revenue, which is restricted to voluntary contributions; half
the amount realised being applied to the support of the religious
establishment; one-fourth is allotted to the emir in lieu of a stated
income, and one-fourth falls to the share of the arrivals, who divide it
equally amongst themselves. The highest power exercised by the
emir is that of excommunication of a refractory member, who is thus
debarred from all the privileges of the Yezedee community,--a mode
of punishment which is much dreaded by the faithful followers of the
sect.
AUTHORITIES.
Discoveries of Nineveh and Babylon. By Austin H. Layard. 18 53.
Nestorians and their Rituals. By George P. Badger. 1852.
Mesopotamia and Assyria. By John Bailie Fraser. 1847.
Journey through Asia Minor. By John M. Kinneir. 18 I 8.

1 This is a lance used in a game much practised by the Turks.
70 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
NESTORIANS.
THE N estorians, whose name is derived from the peculiar religious
tenets which they adopted in the ﬁfth century, are the scattered
tribes of Assyrian Christians who sought refuge in the Koordish
mountains, where they found an impregnable stronghold of defence
when driven from their homes by the Mongolians under Tamerlane,
who pillaged and laid waste the land of their fathers. Here they
formed a defensive alliance with the warlike Koords, lived on terms
of amity and good fellowship with the wandering hordes of an alien
race, followed undisturbed their peaceful avocations, and enjoyed the
free and unrestricted exercise of their religion. Here in this mountain
retreat, on the borders of Armenia, are the homesteads of a hundred
thousand Christians, united in one fold by the ties of a common
origin and the unity of religious belief. Their villages are built in
the narrow contracted valleys and secluded glens, which are hemmed
in on one side by inaccessible rocky peaks, whose snow-capped summits
tower above in unapproachable grandeur; and on the other side by
frightful precipices, broken with deep and rugged deﬁles, bristling with
jagged cliffs, and washed by impetuous torrents which sweep down
the steep and perilous mountain gaps with resistless force. The land-
scape is wild and picturesque in the extreme, and assumes a weird
aspect when enveloped in the hazy mist of cloud vapours. Nature
is here divested of its outward garb of bright contrasting colours, and
presents a stern, forbidding, and inhospitable appearance; but in its
element of awe-inspiring sublimity it is unsurpassed. Here and there
a lonely sequestered nook contains numerous clusters of human dwelL
ings, where an industrious population wrings the stunted reward of its
labours from the sterile and ungrateful‘ soil. The dwarf oak and
a few other trees cover the mountain slopes, and poplars ﬂourish
in the valleys ; but vegetation, though profuse in some isolated spots,
is generally scanty and without that enchanting variety which renders
natural scenery so attractive. ‘ .
The climate is propitious to the successful pursuit of agriculture,
and is suﬁiciently salubrious and favourable to longevity, notwith-
standing that the cold of Winter is frequently severe, and the heat
of summer equally excessive. .
Christianity made its appearance in Assyria at an early period of
its rise and progress ; for the native inhabitants were subjected to .the
absolute dominion of foreign conquerors, and they sought relief and
consolation in a religion Whose kingdom is not of this world, and
NESTORIANS. 71
whose promised rewards and enjoyments are spiritual and eternal.
The people were reduced to the utmost misery and distress 3 their
cities were levelled with the ground; their canals, which everywhere
intersected the country and imparted fertility to the soil, became ﬁlled
up or were destroyed. Those who longest resisted the overpowering
force of the pitiless invaders, were either exterminated or carried
away captives into alien lands. The small remnant which remained
to cherish, in fond retrospect, the glorious memories of their ancient
nationality, lingered near the piles of ruin which were scattered all
around them. They remained faithful to the doctrine and practices
of the early Christian Church; and their inﬂuence, learning, and zeal
made itself felt throughout the East by their missionary labours, and
their schools, which were unrivalled in their time. When at the
beginning of the ﬁfth century the Eastern Church was agitated by the
violent controversy about points of doctrines, of mysterious and
abstruse import, in which St. Cyril and N estorius were the recognised
leaders and champions of the dissenting factions, the Chaldean bishops
subscribed to the tenets taught and advocated by Nestorius, and they
accompanied John of Antioch to the third (Ecumenical Council held
at Ephesus in 43I A.D. At the high school of Edessa the N estorian
heresy was alternately taught and condemned by an order from the
Emperor Zeno. When the emperor exhorted all Christians to lay
aside their dissensions and "adopt the Henotican, or Articles of Faith,
as the foundation of their creed, Barsumas, the recusant bishop of
N isibis, placed himself under the protection of the Persian king 3 and
he and his followers were henceforth known as the Persian party.
But it was not till Barbeus, the archbishop of Seleucia, openly
declared himself in favour of the new doctrine, that the N estorian
sect obtained a permanent foothold in the East, and became an
influential and widespread church establishment in Central Asia.
While the Sassanian dynasty was in power, the Chaldean Chris-
tians were sometimes persecuted and sometimes protected by the ruling
authorities; and these alternate changes of policy were entirely
dependent on the relative strength of the Persian and Byzantine
empires. After the establishment of the Eastern Kalifat by the
Saracen Arabs, the N estorians were permitted to worship God
unmolested, in accordance with their religious convictions 3 for the
kalifs appreciated the learning and the skill of which the Chaldeans
were the representative nation in the East 3 and availing themselves
of their knowledge of affairs, they assigned to them the responsible
duties of scribes and treasurers, and employed them as the physicians
of their household.
The N estorians have a robust frame of body, are of good proportion,
and well formed. Their complexion is of a ruddy brown 3 they are
generally dark-haired and dark-eyed, but light hair and hazel eyes are
by no "means uncommon. Their carriage is erect, without betraying
haughtiness or insolence 3 the piercing glance of their eyes indicates
ﬁrmness and courage, without the ferocious instinct of lawless license.
Their forehead is broad and high, and is never darkened by the
treachery of suspicion or the midnight ploddings of hatred. In
72 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
intellectual capacity they rise above mediocrity. Their mental per-
ceptions are quick and easily roused up to action by external
impressions. They are candid in word and in action, and sincere
in their social intercourse with their fellow-men3 but they entertain
an implacable hatred against their enemies, and their vindictive spirit
is not easily appeased unless the injury has been repaired or adequately
punished by retaliatory acts of vengeance. They are frugal in their
habits, and their economising disposition often degenerates into
parsimony. They are strictly honest in their ordinary dealings, and
theft and robbery are almost unknown 3 and yet poverty and the
extortion of the Turkish officials have rendered them covetous, and
they do not scruple to employ their native cunning, and have recourse
to the most shameless falsehoods, to effect some object of deceit or
fraud which will yield them some pecuniary advantage. They are
strangers to the comforts of cleanliness 3 and drinking to excess is one
of their habitual failings. They are active and expert huntsmen, and
brave and intrepid warriors 3 and they will pass, without any inter-
vening transitional steps, from the solemn ceremonials of divine
worship to the boisterous excitement of the chase, or to the bloody
work of a warlike expedition.
The houses of the N estorians are truly primitive and patriarchal.
A single apartment of considerable length, without any partitions,
constitutes the family dwelling, and serves at once as kitchen, sleep-
ing, and dining room 3 and it is not uncommon for a part of the space
to be set apart for the accommodation of sheep and cattle. During
the ‘summer months the N estorian peasants mostly stretch their weary
limbs on wooden scaffolds (arzalé), resting on poles from ﬁfteen to
twenty feet high, in order to escape the annoying visitation of musqui~
toes and gnats which swarm in these regions. Some of the better
houses have a lower story, partly under ground, below the ordinary
family room, which serves them as a place of retreat and protection
during the severity of the winter. The roofs are ﬂat and unsubstan-
tial, which renders it necessary to keep them clear of the heavy weight
of snow that falls during the winter months. '
Nor is their furniture less simple and unpretentious. It con-
sists principally of dried skins, which are used as water and milk ~
vessels; earthenware bins to store away rice, wheat, and butter 3
cooking-pots, wooden bowls, rolls of bedding, and a few agricultural
implements.
_ In their dress the Nestorians are becomingly decent; and in this
respect they are fully up to the standard of Eastern nations in the
same impoverished condition. Over a white cotton shirt the men
wear a pair of ample trousers (shalwars), and a long vest, fastened
round the waist with a running string or a girdle. A coarse woollen
coat, striped white and black, and reaching to the loins, completes the
full suit. The common head-dress is a conical or round cap of felt,
which, especially among the better classes, is frequently entwined with
a turban. Their hair is closely shaved, with the exception of two
long locks on the crown of the head, which are carefully plaited, and
are sometimes hanging down the back. The dress of the women does
NESTORIANS. 73
not materially differ from that of the Koordish females;1 with this
difference, however, that they never veil their faces. They tie their
hair behind the neck, and throw a simple. muslin kerchief over it as a
head-dress.2
The cultivation of the soil constitutes the principal occupation of
the N estorians, and their energy and industry are most exemplary;
for it is only by this means that they can render the otherwise poor
hill lands moderately productive. The iron ploughshares and other
agricultural implements in use are manufactured by the peasants
themselves, and are extremely rude and clumsy. The staple article
universally produced is dhoura (Holcus armzclinacea), of which three
varieties are cultivated ; the ordinary bread being made from its grain,
which is ground into ﬂour. Wheat is but sparingly sown ; but rice is
grown in much greater abundance. The gardens in the valleys are
planted with cucumbers, melons, and beans; and almonds, pome-
granates, and apricots are there almost of spontaneous growth. The
vineyards on the mountain sides produce the most luscious grapes,
which yield a generous wine, and excellent raisins, besides an inspis-
sated juice resembling honey. In some localities, gall-nuts, of which
the oak forests produce great quantities, are gathered by the country
people, and they thus supply a valuable article of commerce. All the
time that can be spared from the tillage of the land is spent in taking
care of the ﬂocks and cattle, which contribute largely to their support.
They sell their butter as well as honey, of which they have an abun-
dance, to the neighbouring Koordish tribes, or to the Mosul mer-
chants who travel through the mountains to purchase supplies for the
purpose of selling them in the city markets. The wool of their sheep
is spun and woven by their women into ﬁgured stuffs, socks, and
striped woollen cloth, of which their coats are made. They exchange
gall-nuts, yellow berries, goat’s hair, wool, dried fruits, wax, honey,
tobacco, cheese, and sheep, for wheat, cotton, ﬂax, and a crimson grey~
striped cloth which is used as dress-material. They are but little
advanced in the mechanic arts ; their woodwork is of the most simple
kind, and exhibits neither skill in combination nor dexterity in
execution- They understand the process of smelting iron, of which
they have an abundant supply; and they are acquainted with the
common manipulation of roughly hammering it into form. They have
acquired considerable proﬁciency in tempering steel; they prepare
their own gunpowder, and they understand the art of extracting the
lead and sulphur found in the mountains. They are fond of hunting ;
and being well practised in the use of ﬁrearms, they are excellent
marksmen, and seldom fail to bring down the game.
The language of the N estorians is a corrupt dialect of the vulgar

1 The Koordish women wear a blue shirt with white trousers tied at the ankles,
and a square mantle fastened by the corners hanging down the back. Fraser’s
“ Koordistan,” p. 71.
2 N o explicit account exists about the articles of food used by the N estorians
at their daily meals; but from their agricultural productions it may be inferred
that they make bread of dhoura. and wheat ﬂour; that rice and vegetables are
articles of ordinary consumption, while their meat dishes are conﬁned to beef
and mutton.
74 THE ARAMZE AN STOCK.
Syriac,‘ generally called the Fallahi, mixed in different provinces,
according to their location and contact with other races, with nume—
rous Arabic, Koordish, or Persian words. They do not understand the
ancient Syriac, and even the majority of the lower clergy can simply
read it, although all their rituals and the version of the Bible are
composed in this language.
The Nestorians are very ignorant and uninstructed, and even can-
didates for holy orders are considered well educated if they can read
the church service and are able to write a good hand. In the sixth
century the N estorian Chaldeans had established the most celebrated
schools in the East, and, like the Chaldeans of old, they were the
depositaries of the literature and learning of the age. The schools of
Edessa and Nisibis had acquired the highest and most widespread
reputation. Here the Greek language was cultivated with great
success, and the Greek authors were studied with much zeal. The
Greek classics became, so to say, naturalised; and Aristotle having
been made the text-book of philosophy, many of the Greek words
signifying abstract ideas and speculative notions were incorporated in
the Syriac language, which thus became enriched by numerous exotic
expressions that were compiled in lexicons and vocabularies for the
guidance and instruction of the student. They were equally well
versed in Persian and Arabic literature, and were perfect masters of
these languages. Grammar, rhetoric, poetry, dialectics, arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and medicine were successfully taught in these
institutions of learning 5 and many treatises were written on all
branches of science, which were preserved in their public libraries.
In their own mother tongue the early Nestorians were distinguished
for originality of thought, acuteness of perception, research in point
of materials, and erudition in the treatment of the subject. In pure
metaphysical di'squisition they recognised Aristotle as their guide, and
their philosophical works are remarkable for comparative simplicity.
In history and narrative composition their style is easy and ﬂowing ;
and their contributions to the exegesis of the Bible combine, with a
display of learning and ingenuity, a plain and inartiﬁcial manner of
expression adapted to ordinary capacities of intellect. Their rituals
are mostly written in poetical strains, whose “thrilling and varied
versiﬁcation ” exhibits an easy ﬂow of language, and an exuberant but
well-disciplined imagination. The spirit of devotion and the feeling
of tenderness which pervades them are expressed with a sentiment of
religious enthusiasm which almost borders on the sublime.
In the sixth century the N estorian missionaries penetrated the
steppes of Tatary, and found even a foothold in the mysterious
empire of the Celestials. They made many converts andfounded
numerous churches, and Prester John, one of the Tatar kings, had‘
acquired historical fame as a Christian ruler.
Marriage is an affair of great moment in Nestorian communities.
The bridegroom is not only required to offer a considerable amount as
dowry, and to give valuable presents to the parents or nearest relatives
of his future wife, but it is incumbent upon him to furnish the
wedding dress for the bride, and supply an ample store of provisions’
NESTORIANS. 7 5
for the wedding feast. Relatives and friends are called upon to make
liberal contributions to enable the young man, who is about entering
into the marriage state, to defray the expenses he is compelled to
incur, by which alone he can secure the consent of the young girl and
her relations to become a party to the proposed match. In some parts
of Persia, N estorian maidens barter away their independence for a
limited period of time to become the mistresses or concubines of
strangers 3 and after having faithfully complied with the terms of the
contract and received the stipulated wages, they return to their father’s
house, ready again to enter either into a permanent or temporary
engagement with the ﬁrst suitor that may present himself. In the
afternoon of the day appointed for the marriage celebration the friends
of the bridegroom, accompanied by a band of music, carry in proces-
sion the wedding dress which is to be presented to the bride at her
father’s house, where her friends and relatives are assembled enjoying
themselves in dancing and feasting. After the reception of the bridal
gift the bride is ﬁtted up for her nuptials 3 she then bids farewell to
her parents- and relatives, and advancing in slow pace towards the
door, on leaving the house she ﬁnds a horse ready to be mounted, on
which she is seated with an infant placed in her lap, typical of the
happy results anticipated from the new relations she is about to
assume. In this bridal excursion, which has for its destination the
house of the bridegroom, she is accompanied by a vast crowd, and the
scene is enlivened by musical performances. The bridegroom ascends
the terrace to witness the approach of the slowly moving train.
While thus in a state of expectancy one of his friends holds before
him a tray loaded with fruits, another pours goblets of wine down his
throat, raising a shout at every draught. As the bride is entering the
house she sticks a lump of butter to the door-post, thus indicating
that her coming brought plenty and fruitfulness to her new home.
Before the bride consents to be seated, her favour must be purchased
with a promise on the part of the bridegroom of presenting her a new
dress. The marriage is solemnised in the church an hour after mid=
night. Standing before the altar in separate groups, each surrounded
by their respective friends, the bride refuses to join hands with the
bridegroom, and some degree of force is necessary to accomplish the
object. When at last the couple are brought together they are both
anxious to tread on each other’s toes, for it is an accepted truth that
the party whose toes are most effectually mashed is to yield implicit
obedience to the other through life. The officiating priest dips a ring
in wine and water and gives it to the bridegroom, who places it on
the bride’s ﬁnger, and the nuptial pair, after being crowned with
garlands, commune together, which constitutes the ﬁnal act of the
marriage ceremonials. The newly-married couple, on their return
home, are followed by two attendants, one ringing a bell and another
beating the cymbals, while priests and deacons walk in the rear
chanting the liturgies of the church.1

1 No information is furnished by any authentic author as regards the burial of
the dead and the funeral ceremonies of the N estorians.
76 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
The Nestorians, as a Christian sect, differ both from the Greek and
the Roman Church in an important point of doctrine. They maintain
that in Christ there were united two distinct natures as well as two
distinct persons—the human, as represented by the man Jesus, and
the divine, as symbolised by the Word of God. They hold that the
man formed in the womb of the Virgin was not the only-begotten of
God, and the incarnation was not the hypostatic union of the Word
with human nature 3 but that the Word of God merely dwelt in the
human body, as it were in its temple, which had a distinct and
separate existence 3 and on this account they reject the deiﬁcation of
the Virgin Mother, and never invoke her mediatorial efficacy. They
reject the doctrine of purgatory, and do not permit images to be
exhibited in their churches. They administer the eucharist in both
elements to communicants, and transubstantiation forms no part of
their creed. Auricular confession is no longer practised, and extreme
unction and conﬁrmation are not invested with the sanctity of sacra-
ments. The cross is recognised as a badge of Christianity and as a
sign of Christian brotherhood. Fasts are strictly observed, and their
rule of abstinence excludes even ﬁsh. One hundred and ﬁfty-two
days in the year are solemnised as fast days, and the church imposes
upon its members the religious obligation of abstaining from food from
sunset to sunset. .
The church service on Sunday is simple. The priests chant the
liturgy, and the congregation, standing or kneeling, join in the
responses. A portion of ‘Scripture is read in the ancient Syriac, which
is sometimes interpreted in the mountain dialect for the ediﬁcation of
the common worshippers. The sacrament is then administered to
men, women, and children, to whom both bread and wine are
distributed. After the close of the religious services, those present
embrace each other in token of brotherly love and concord.
Sunday is observed as a day of rest 3 no work of any kind is per-
formed, and even travelling is interdicted. All attend public worship,
and the rest of the time is spent in village conferences and rural
amusements. Some consider Friday also a sacred day, and many even
abstain from ordinary work, while every Nestorian regards the day as
unpropitious for undertaking any new enterprise.
A kind of love-feast, to commemorate the dead, is celebrated once a
year in all the mountain villages. The feast is prepared in the church—
yard, where the most wealthy families bring their offerings, consisting
of bread and a number of lambs. After the sacrament is administered
the deacons swing the burning censers, into which looks of wool, cut
off from the ﬂeece, are introduced, and the priests are chanting a long
anthem over “the lambs that are slain in sacriﬁce for the dead,”
asking God “to accept the oblation and forgive the dead.” The prayer
is concluded with a recital of the legend of the seven sleepers of
Ephesus. As soon as the religious service is concluded, the bread and
the lamb’s ﬂesh are distributed among the villagers assembled on the
occasion. ,
The Nestorians are addicted to many superstitious practices. The
better classes sacriﬁce a lamb a week or a month after the death of a
NESTORIANS. 77
deceased relative, with the object of bettering the condition of the
soul of the departed, and bread and other provisions are distributed
among the poor. On recovering from sickness a lamb is offered up
before the church door, and the lintel is sprinkled with blood, in token
of gratitude and as an acknowledgment of dependence on God. The
priest is entitled to receive the right shoulder and the breast, as well
as the skin, as his share of this sacriﬁce. They believe that certain
talismans and charms inscribed with Scripture passages exercise a
_ protecting inﬂuence against the spirit of evil; and this singular delusion
inspires them with sufficient conﬁdence that by this means they can
avert the evil eye, can counteract the poison of reptiles and plants,
prevent. the rot from attacking the ﬂocks, deliver them from the
tyranny of their rulers, bring to naught the machinations of wicked
men, and destroy or excite love or hatred in individuals of both sexes.
The N estorian clergy are highly revered and honoured; for they
are not only the spiritual guides but the counsellors and friends of the
people, and their advice is sought in all affairs of importance of a
domestic as well as of a public character. Priests are addressed by
the title of Rabbi, and bishops are affectionately styled Aboona—“ our
father.” They are saluted on meeting by kissing their hand and then
raising it to the forehead. The service which the priests render to
the people is almost gratuitous ; for they receive no regular salary for
their support, and their means of subsistence are principally supplied
by the labour of their own hands. Like their lay brethren, they
cultivate small patches of land, and are frequently devoted to the
mechanic arts, such as weaving and making wooden spoons. They
are aided by their parishioners in gathering the harvest, and many are
sufficiently liberal to allow them a small portion of the produce of
their land. They receive a triﬂing fee, not exceeding twenty-ﬁve cents
in value, for celebrating marriages, one-half of which they are expected
to return to the bridegroom after the conclusion of the service. The
small sum paid for baptism is handed over to the wardens to be applied
to the general support of the church; and for the same object a few
acres of land are attached to each church establishment, which are
cultivated by the wardens, and the proceeds are designed to constitute
a fund to meet the ordinary expenses of the parish. The annual
income of the bishops is derived from a pole-tax of ten cents, which
each male within the limits of each respective diocese is required to
contribute for this purpose.
The Patriarch is the highest dignitary of the church; his oﬂice is
hereditary in the same family, from the members of which his successor
is chosen. He leads a simple and austere life ; never tastes any meat
diet, but restricts the choice of his food to milk and vegetables. His
revenue is partly made up from a tax of six cents levied on all church
members who have attained the age of manhood, and which is paid
once in three years. He also possesses the prerogative of commuting
into a pecuniary ﬁne the sentence of excommunication pronounced
against those who have committed a grievous offence. He is, in addi-
tion, entitled to the tenth part of the ﬁrst-fruits which are annually
presented by the peasantry to the different churches, and from the
78 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
wealthy he often receives voluntary contributions in kind. Formerly
the Patriarch exercised judicial functions in all cases submitted for
his decision, from which there was no ,appeal.
The civil authority among the N estorians was exercised by here+
ditary chiefs called melechs, to whom the management of all local
affairs was intrusted, and they acted as leaders in conducting military
expeditions. But the emir of the Koords was recognised by the
N estorians as the supreme head of the mountain races, of which they
formed a clan. This nominal concession exempted them from paying
tribute, and conferred upon them the right to take part in the election
of the emir, whose oﬁice, although hereditary in his family, was ﬁlled
by the choice of the tribes, who also possessed the power of deposition
for grave misconduct or other causes.
Since the tanzz'mat has been adopted for the government of the
Turkish empire, the N estorians have been deprived of their independ-
ence ; exposing them, without means of resistance, to the extortionate
demands of the Turkish tax-gatherers sent out by the pasha, who
controls the military and civil affairs of the province. They are now
required, like all other Christians under Turkish protection, to pay
the hamj or humiliation tax, which is exacted by irresponsible agents
with the greatest severity, perpetrating great frauds, and at the same
time eating up the substance of the land without adequate compensa-
tion. So far as the Nestorians are concerned, the reform, so tardily
and partially carried into effect by the Sublime Porte, has brought but
little advantage, and imposes upon them heavy burdens without an
equivalent return.
AUTHORITIES.
Nestorians and their Ritual. By Rev. George Percy Badger. 1853..
Nineveh and its Remains. By Austin Henry Layard. 1853.
Researches in Armenia. By Smith and Dwight. 183 3.
Mesopotamia and Assyria. By John Bailie Fraser. 1847.
Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan. By C. J. Rich. 1836.
MARONITES. 79
MARONITES.
THE Maronites are the oldest aboriginal inhabitants of Syria, who have
been forced by the conquerors of their country to ﬁnd a refuge in the
Lebanon mountains, where for many centuries they maintained their
independence, and were faithfully devoted to the religious doctrines
and mode of worship of the Christian church. They occupy that part of
the Lebanon which is comprised between the rivers N ahr-el-Kelb (Dog
River) and the N ahr-el-Bared, from the summit of the mountain 011
the east to the Mediterranean on the west, bordering on the district
of the Anseyreeiah to the north, and on the territory of the Druses on
the south. They inhabit the fertile valley which stretches from the
seashore at Tripoli to the snow-covered summits above the cedars.
This district is thickly sown with villages, built on the borders of
ravines and the edge of frightful chasms, surrounded by rocky ram-
parts which seem almost inaccessible. The grim, naked mountain
slopes are rendered productive by artiﬁcial terraces, watered by the
mountain streams, whose fertilising moisture is distributed by means
of rudely-constructed aqueducts. Everywhere vegetation ﬂourishes
in rich profusion. The hills are garlanded with vines which, in due
season, yield the most luscious grapes. Mulberry gardens are culti—
vated with great care, which afford abundance of material for the
rearing of silkworms 3 and fruit trees of many varieties dot everywhere
the contracted valleys and the gently sloping mountain sides.
The Maronites formerly constituted a distinct division of the
‘Christian church, differing in one essential point from the tenets of
the orthodox creed. To oppose the heresy of Eutyches, the leader of
the Monophysite sect, who contended that by the union of the divine
.and human nature the latter was entirely merged in the former, and '
Christ was no longer man but God, the monk Maron, who in the seventh
century lived in a convent on the banks of the Orontes near Hama,
startled the Christian world with the monothelitic doctrine, which
admits that Christ was both God and man, but divests his humanity
of a distinct power of‘ volition and capacity of individual action.
The Maronites then formed a political body of considerable import—
ance, united by uniformity of origin, of language as well as religion 3
and their controlling authority extended over the entire range of the
mountains from Antioch to Jerusalem. They were governed by their
own emirs or chiefs, who were invested with executive functions by
virtue of hereditary succession, their authority being acknowledged
by the ruling Moslem power then dominant in Syria. The Greek
80 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
emperors sent powerful armies against them to bring them back to
the true fold of orthodoxy, and reduce them to obedience 3 and
although they burned the convent of Mar Maron, and utterly ravaged
and laid waste the southern mountain districts, yet the imperial army
was ﬁnally routed, the generals were slain, and the Maronites adhered
strictly to the monothelitic creed, and enjoyed unrestricted religious
freedom during ﬁve centuries—the most brilliant period of Saracenic
ascendancy in the East.
The Crusades brought the Maronites in contact with the Latin
Christians 3 and having made common cause with the conquerors of
Jerusalem, they contributed, by their valour, to crown with victory
the arms of the soldiers of the cross. After the expulsion of the
Franks from Syria, their independence was imperilled by the
Mamelook sovereigns of Egypt, against whom they waged an
unequal conﬂict under Yoobanra Maroun, their popular leader 3 but
they were at last compelled to terminate the bloody and proﬁtless
contest, and put an end to devastation and ruin, by professing
nominal submission to Mohamedan supremacy. As they wasted
their strength in resisting a cruel invader, their moral and spiritual
independence became also weakened, and in 1167 A.D. they abjured
the monothelitic heresy, and subscribed, in the presence of the Latin
Patriarch of Antioch, to the orthodox creed and doctrines of the
Roman Catholic Church.
WVhen the Druses settled the desolate and abandoned lands of the
southern slope of the Lebanon, and grew formidable by their warlike-
spirit, their undaunted courage, and their strong political organisa-
tion, they assumed the controlling authority in the general govern-
ment of the mountain races 3 and the emir of the Druses exercised
supreme supervision over the Maronites, as well as his own people,
and was commissioned to execute the orders addressed to him by the
Sublime Porte, whose sovereign powers extend over the mountain
regions.
The Maronites and Druses, although they profess religions widely
different, yet as the former have adopted as their vernacular tongue
the Arabic which displaced the Syriac, there existed a bond of union 3-
and, impelled by common interest, they were generally united in the-
defence of their independence, of the freedom of religious belief,
and the unobstructed management of their domestic affairs. But
jealousies and neighbourhood feuds, nevertheless, gave rise to
numerous conﬂicts between the two races 3 and in recent times the
Druses, instigated by Turkish fanaticism, threatened to wipe out
the Maronite Christians, by waging against them a war of exter--
mination; and this wicked and ruthless policy was only abandoned
upon the earnest remonstrance and the active intervention of the
great powers of Europe. \Vhen Mehemed Ali invaded the Asiatic
dominions of the Turkish empire, and had made himself master of a.
great part of Syria, the allied powers interfered in 1841 with an
armed force to preserve the integrity of the Turkish empire, and
prevent the ﬁnal downfall of a tottering and effete government, and
the prostration of a nationality that had accomplished its historical
MARONITES. 8 1
destiny, and was rapidly falling to decay. The forces of the Pasha
of Egypt were forced to retire, and through the inﬂuence of European
diplomacy the Maronites became the dominant race in the Lebanon
mountains. The power of the Druses was broken, and a Christian
governor was appointed, who, under the Turkish government, exer—
cises supreme authority over Druses as well as Maronites.
The Maronites resemble in their physical characteristics the other
races of Syro-Aramaean origin; but their moral and intellectual quali-
ties are peculiar developments, which separate them from every other
nationality, and are the natural outgrowth of their inherent powers,
and the circumstances which, from time to time, controlled their
social‘ and political destiny. Being the inhabitants of a country
where nature pours out her bounties with a sparing hand, they were
compelled, by necessity, to extort from a niggard soil, by the laborious
processes of art, those indispensable means of subsistence which
support the human frame, and which, by sustaining its vigour,
energy, and intelligence, can alone preserve the integrity of society.
Industry is, therefore, one of the most prominent traits of character
of this people, only brought into requisition, however, whenever it
promises results adequate to the labour expended; but gives way to
listless idleness as soon as the season of growth and of the harvest
is passed, and agricultural operations are suspended. They have no
ambitious aspirations to improve their condition; and, exempt from
care and anxiety, they are blessed with a spirit of contentment that
keeps them in a happy state of ignorance. They are hospitable in
_ their way ; they offer the best they have to their guests with cheerful
complacency ; but, being poor, they expect from the departing stranger
a compensation by way of present for their trouble and expenditure
of means. Having long been made the victims of oppression and
persecution, their politeness sometimes borders on cringing servility ;
their spirit of economy degenerates into avariciousness; Sagacity is
degraded into cunning j, and the fear of the tyrant master renders
them abject and cowardly slaves. The only intellectual pursuits in
which their mind was exercised for ages were their religious con-
troversies and religious devotions; and without advancing with the
progress of human knowledge, they have become excessively self-
conceited and bigoted. They are the most impudent beggars and
menial suppliants, and even many of the better classes are profes~
sional mendicants. Every man, woman, and child, from the region
of the cedars to the seashore, understands and follows the trade of
the begging fraternity, and deems it no degradation to ask alms from
the stranger or traveller whom they might perchance meet in the
road, or espy in the distance, while engaged in the labours of the
ﬁeld.
The houses of the Maronites are of the simplest construction ; they
are about ﬁfty feet long, twenty-ﬁve feet broad, and eight feet high,
and are built of stone, the interior being plastered with clay. The
apartments are divided by clay partitions, and the roof is supported
by three transverse joists resting on a central stone pillar. This family
dwelling has neither windows nor chimney. The ﬁreplace (mooadé)
F
82 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
is ﬁxed in a recess near the door, which serves the purpose of a kitchen.
In the adjoining storeroom are found clay bins of various forms and
sizes, which contain supplies, such as burgool, beans, onions, and rice,
preserved for future use 3 and baked earthen jars are here stowed away
ﬁlled with Zeben or curdled milk, with wine, honey (clz'bs), oil, and
arrack. The household and cooking implements are a distaff and a
spinning-wheel, two-handled earthen pots, frying-pans, wooden spoons,
round trays of straw, and a vzarghz'lél with a cocoa-nut bowl, which is
used for smoking by the women as well as the men. The ﬂoor of the
family room is covered with coarse matting ; a sheep’s skin takes the
place of a chair, and a quilt and a cushion serve as bedding.
The dress of the Maronites exhibits considerable taste and pride of
external appearance. The abba2 constitutes the common apparel of
the men, and is of different qualities, according to the wealth of the
wearer. That of the labouring peasants is of coarse woollen stuff,
striped white and black, and ﬁtted up with short sleeves ; but among the
higher classes it is beautifully worked in red and blue colours, fre-
quently intermixed with gold and silver thread. The ample trousers
are of coarse blue-dyed calico, held in place by a plaited shawl wound
around the waist. The open-sleeved jacket is of camel’s hair dyed
brown, and embroidered with blue lace. Under this another jacket is
worn, of blue-coloured cotton cloth. Their head-dress is a fez cap or
z‘cm'boos/z, entwined by a muslin lteﬁe or kerchief, ornamented with
ﬂowers and other ﬁgures in striking colours. A pair of red shoes of
ancient pattern completes the outdoor costume.
The women wear a gown (embaz) of blue cotton cloth, open in front
and provided with long sleeves. Their trousers, which are drawn
tight around their waist and ankles, are of white cotton stuff. The
chemisette is of‘ domestic manufacture, woven of refuse silk mixed
with cotton thread. The tandoor of the Druses?’ was formerly the
common head-dress ; but since it has been denounced by the church as
an abomination which is no longer to be tolerated, the red cap has
taken its place, from which a veil of white cotton or mixed silk is
suspended.
The mode of living of the Maronites is somewhat patriarchal,
although their food is suﬂiciently substantial and of good quality.
They take two meals a day during the winter season, and three meals
during the summer. The principal dish, which is universally served
up, is Zmrgool,4 stewed with fat or oil and seasoned with onions.
Cheese and Zeben, in the form of buttermilk and curds, lentils and
preserved grapes, ﬁgs and olives, make up the ordinary articles of
the daily fare. They rarely indulge in meat, except on Christmas and
Easter, when a cow is killed by each village community and the meat
is distributed among the households. The more wealthy of the

1 The name given to the Persian water-pipe.
2 This is a plain piece of cloth, the mantle of the Arabs, which is thrown across
the shoulders.
3 This is a horn-shaped head-dress, fastened to the fore part of the head.
4 This is a dish universally used in Syria, and is prepared by boiling wheat
with leaven, and drying it in the sun.
MARONITES. ' a3
Maronites fatten two or three sheep every year, which they purchase
from the shepherds, and which are fed with great care for four months,
when they are ﬁt to be killed. The meat is. cut up in strips, is dried
in the sun, and is preserved for future use in the mutton suet, which
is melted over a slow ﬁre, and to which a little salt is added.
Agriculture is almost the exclusive occupation of the Maronites.
The common labouring peasant hires his services to the large landed
proprietors in the spring, when the improvements are going forward
on the plantations; for which he receives the scanty wages of about
twelve or thirteen pence a day, which is increased by the light earnings
‘of his wife, who passes her idle hours in spinning. The rest of the
year he labours on his own account by cultivating a small patch of
land, which he holds either as proprietor or tenant. The mulberry
trees are planted about eight feet apart 3 and to keep them in good
condition, the ground is kept clear from weeds by being turned up with
a plough drawn by a pair of oxen. The vines are set out at regular
intervals, and are supported on stakes, and they supply grapes for
consumption during ﬁve months, besides a sweet light-coloured wine,
and a viscous kind of grape sugar called (libs, which is produced by
boiling the juice rapidly for an hour, which, on cooling, is preserved
in jars. A small quantity of grain and vegetables is grown in the
vacant spaces between the mulberry trees and the vines, or in a patch
adjoining them. '
The education of the lower classes of the Maronites receives but little
attention, and yet opportunities are not wanting for the acquirement
of a scholastic education even in these retired mountain retreats.
They have six clerical seminaries for the education of the priests, who
are instructed in Syriac and Arabic, philosophy and theology; and
in two of these institutions Latin and Italian are also taught. The
~instruction is entirely gratuitous 3 and the students are subjected to an
annual examination held bya board of visitors, who receive their appoint-
ment from the Patriarch, to whom they make a report concerning
the condition of the schools and the progress of the students.
The sheikhs, the emirs, and the merchants who desire that their
sons should be instructed in the higher branches of education, send -
them to the convent of the Lazarites at Aintoora, or to the J esuit College
at Ghozir, where an extensive course of study is pursued, comprising
French,- Italian, Turkish, Arabic, arithmetic, and geography, in addition
to philosophy, rhetoric, belles-lettres, and Latin.
The Syriac language, which was anciently spoken by the Maronites,
and which they exchanged for the Arabic in the thirteenth century,
is considered the sacred tongue, in which the Bible is written and the
liturgies and prayers of the church are composed. It is prolix in its
‘idiomatic phraseology, ﬂat in its mode of expression, and unharmonious
in its method of enunciation. Its primitive energy and vigour has
been greatly impaired by the introduction of Greek words to supply
the want of technical terms, and the construction of its grammatical
framework has been adapted to the Greek model. It is closely allied
to the Hebrew, but is deﬁcient in that charming simplicity which
presents natural objects in wordpaintings, at once highly coloured and
84 THE ARAMfEAN STOCK.
most striking. To express the relations which co-ordinate ideas have
to each other, the heavy and cumbrous mechanism of particles and
periphrases takes the place of the more deﬁnite and the more elegant
method of inﬂection. The root-words are lost in the unmethodical
verbal changes, and derivatives are not formed by ﬁxed and invariable
rules. The Syriac is the oldest, and at the same time the least
polished, of all the Aramaean languages.
The Maronites acknowledge the supremacy and infallibility of the
papal authority in matters of religion. They form a separate branch
of the Roman Catholic Church, for their mode of worship and church
service differ to some extent from the practices of the Latin com-
munion. The Patriarch of Antioch, whose ecclesiastical title is Peter,
is invested with the highest official dignity, and is chosen by ballot,
in secret conclave, by the bishops of the Maronite Church. He has
absolute control over the religious affairs transpiring within the limits
of his jurisdiction, and he also exercises despotic power in the regula-
tion of the principal concerns of his people, and no appeal lies from
his decision to a higher tribunal. He is generally distinguished for
superior learning, and for austerity of life and manners. His annual
revenue, which is derived from the church lands set apart for this
purpose, amounts to a thousand pounds sterling 3 and he is, in addi-
tion, entitled to one-sixth of the revenue of the bishops. The twelve
bishoprics of the Maronite Church are supported by a tithe paid in
kind, set apart from the produce of the land, besides other emoluments
of a purely ecclesiastical character. The ordinary priests receive no
regular pay, but depend for their support on voluntary contributions
and the proceeds realised from saying masses 3 but they rely more
especially on the labour of their hands, and the laudable efforts of
their industry to procure for themselves the necessaries of life by the
tillage of the soil. The Maronite clergy of the lower order are gene~
rally in indigent circumstances, but the inﬂuence which they exercise-
among their lay brethren is almost unlimited. They are highly
respected, for, in a worldly point of view, they stand on a footing of
equality with the poorest of the church communicants 3 they command.
everywhere ready obedience to their behests 3 and they are not only
the guides and counsellors in the graver matters of public interest,
but they control the intimate relations of family life, and not even
marriages are contracted without their previous permission. They
are not only the friends of the household, but they pry into the secrets;
of the family circle 3 they avail themselves of the confessional to
gratify their passion for intermeddling in private affairs, and they
soothe their vanity by extorting from the ignorant peasantry unques-
tioned acquiescence to their peremptory authority.
Celibacy is not a necessary condition to enter the priesthood, and
many of the lower clergy have large families 3 but after ordination a
priest is no longer permitted to marry; and if he should become a
widower by the death of his wife, he is required to remain single for
the rest of his life, or divest himself of his sacred functions.
Each village has its chapel and its priest. The service is less
ostentatious than that of the Roman Church, but it is no less formal.
MARONITES. 85
Mass is celebrated in the Syriac language, of which the worshippers
understand nothing, and of which the priests even are frequently
ignorant. The gospels are read in Arabic, which is the common
vernacular of the people. Both eucharistic elements are administered
to the faithful in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
The bishops as well as the Patriarch live in convents ; and they are
always selected from the most learned of the monks, from whom they
do not differ in dress or mode of living. They are absolutely for-
hidden to marry, and are wholly devoted to the duties of their sacred
office. J -
There are over a hundred convents scattered over the mountain
regions of Lebanon. They occupy the most picturesque and enchant-
ing spots, surrounded by the most romantic scenery, at once beautiful
.and sublime. The lands attached to these establishments have been
transformed, by skilled labour and well-directed industry, into terraced
mulberry gardens and well-planted vineyards in a highly ﬂourishing
‘condition; and it is from the produce of these plantations that
the monasteries are supported. The monks not only cultivate the
ground, but they ply the tools of many handicrafts: they have
brother-shoemakers, brother-tailors, brother-weavers, brother-bakers,
and they are engaged in other mechanic arts. They belong to the
‘order of St. Anthony, and wear a coarse woollen frock-coat, gathered
round the waist by a girdle, reaching to the knee, and surmounted by
a hood which serves as head-dress. Their food is very simple, and
‘their abstemiousness is carried to such an extreme that they never
taste of meat. Some of the fraternity follow the professional pursuit
‘of beggars ; they pass from village to village, and, entering the dwell-
ings of the peasantry with an air of dignity and moral superiority,
they inspire awe and reverence, and never fail to be saluted with a
kiss. The widow’s mite is cheerfully laid at their feet, even by the
humblest Maronite, at the exhibition of a picture of St. Anthony, St.
George, or the Virgin Mary, which receives almost divine adoration in
‘the form of various crossings, genuﬂexions, and passionate kisses.
The Maronites are as superstitious as they are ignorant. They
ﬁrmly believe that the saints exercise extraordinary power over the
life and conduct of men, and they even attribute to them miraculous
interference in worldly affairs. Mar Elias is held in the highest
estimation, and a Maronite may take God to witness in conﬁrmation
‘of the truth of his statement with falsehood on his lips and treachery
in his heart; but if challenged to swear on the altar of St. Elias, he
would approach the sacred spot with fear and trembling, determined
to afﬁrm nothing but the truth, lest the fate of Ananias should be his
lot. In honour of the saints, lamps are burned day and night, and
incense is offered up before the pictures, not only in the churches,
but in the private houses, and many a poor peasant devotes a portion
of his laboriously-acquired earnings to be presented as a propitiatory
offering to the patron saint of some particular chapel or convent.
Sometimes a report is spread by interested priests that a spring
of water has suddenly burst forth in a certain locality which possesses
extraordinary healing power, and hundreds, who are made the victims
8.6 THE ARAMlEAN STOCK.
of the delusion, perform a pilgrimage to the holy ground in order to
become the beneﬁciaries of the healing efficacy of the miraculous
fountain.
Formerly the feudal system, in its most odious form, was prevalent.
among the Maronites. The emir of the Druses was recognised as the.
sovereign ruler of all the races which inhabited the Lebanon, and the
sheikhs were the provincial chiefs of the Maronites, who enforced
unconditional submission from the peasant, and kept them in a state
of servility and debaseinent, by arbitrary acts of power, by the imposia
tion of onerous duties, and the exaction of extortionate contributions.
Even now when the strict feudal rules have been relaxed, and the‘ high.
pretensions of the sheikhs have been repudiated, the peasantry wend
their way to the feudal mansion on Christmas and Easter Day, or on
the birth or marriage of a son of the chief, to present to him a free-
will offering of fowl, sugar and coffee, and other articles of con‘-
sumption. .
Since the European powers have assumed the protectorate over the
Christians of Syria, the social and political condition of the Maronites
has been greatly improved. The feudal system exists only in name,
and the middle classes are gradually advancing in prosperity, and are
rising in social importance. The emirship of the mountain races is-
now vested in a Christian governor, who is appointed by the Sublime
Porte, and is the representative of the Turkish government. He is.
empowered to redress all grievances inﬂicted by the provincial chiefs ;
and all controverted cases are decided by him on appeal, in accordance
with the strict rules of law and justice. ‘
AUTHORITIES.
Ten Years’ Residence on Mount Lebanon. By Colonel Churchill. 18 54.
Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria. By William Brown. 1802.
Researches into the Religions of Syria. By Rev. John Wortabet. 1860.
Voyage en Syrie et en Egypt-e. Par C. F. C. de Volney. 1799.
Eastern Europe and Western Asia. By Arthur Tilly. 1869.
Histoire Générale des Langues Sémitique. Par Ernest Rénan. 1864.
HEBREWS. 87
‘HEBREWS. '—
THE'Hebrews, the Israelites, or Jews, are, in an historical point of view,
the most remarkable people recorded in the annals of mankind, who,
tracing back their descent to the remotest antiquity, have long since
ceased to be an independent nation, and yet their national spirit has
survived in their common religion, their matchless literature, their
uniform character, their ﬁdelity to the customs of their fathers, their
common hopes and their common sympathies. A remnant of their race
is found in every part of the civilised world, everywhere singled out
and distinguished from the rest of the inhabitants by their spirit of
exclusiveness, by their stubborn persistence to maintain their title as
the chosen people of God, as a separate and distinct community, as
the most ancient aristocracy, pure and uncontaminated by base admix-
ture, whose heraldic record is emblazoned with the armorial ensigns
of an ancestral pedigree ennobled by the uninterrupted succession of
forty centuries.
As a race, they form an integral part of the Syrian branch of the
Aramaean stock. The original progenitors of the Jewish race, the
patriarchal chiefs of the tribes of Israel, led a nomadic life 3 they were
wandering shepherds, who lived in tents, and pitched their camp in
the midst of rich pasture grounds, near brooks, springs, and wells.
Retainers and slaves formed a part of their household, to protect them
from marauding enemies 3 and herds and ﬂocks constituted th eir wealth.
They were independent; they recognised no master 3 the ties of kindred
were the only bonds of union that kept them together as a social and
political community. Their government was based upon the voluntary
submission to the supreme authority of the elders of the tribes, who
were distinguished for their wisdom, their experience, and their social
and civic virtues. Their ‘laws were self-imposed restrictions, whose
only sanction was traditional custom 3 they were the footprints deeply
marked by the progressive steps of the social and political development
of the nation. Surrounded 011 all sides by kindred races, they lived
in peace and harmony amongst themselves, and cultivated friendly
relations with their neighbours 3 but they never failed to defend and
vindicate their rights when wantonly injured or rudely insulted. By
a strange and accidental concurrence of events, in which they were
the chief actors, but Without power of controlling the results, they
became sojourners in Egypt, forming a colony of sedentary herdsmen
and shepherds in a foreign land inhabited by a civilised people and
governed by powerful monarchs. Even here they preserved their own
88 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
language, followed the traditions of their fathers, and remained uncon-
taminated by the idolatrous practices of the nation, who assigned to
them a separate region of country as their dwelling-place.
In the course of a few centuries their numbers increased to such an
extent that their union and strength excited the fears and apprehension
of those who had formerly been their protectors, and they were reduced
to a state of servitude to render them harmless and submissive. But
their very oppression raised up from their midst a sage and a legislator,
who was heart and soul devoted to the welfare of his people, and who,
after many fruitless efforts, at last succeeded to lead forth to freedom
and independence a mighty host of shepherd warriors, undisciplined and
unskilled in the art of war, accompanied by their wives and children,
and followed by their herds and ﬂocks. During forty years’ wanderings
in the desert, they became inured to the hardships of a pastoral life.
In hostile encounters with marauding enemies they acquired expertness
in the use of arms. Here they were organised into a compact army, led
by skilful and daring chiefs. Here was laid the foundation of their
nationality 3 their laws, engraven on tablets of stone, were the highest
expression of an advanced civilisation 3 their government was theocratic
in form, and republican in principle. After their courage and persever-
ance had been sufficiently tested, they issued forth from their desert
home, and took possession, as irresistible conquerors, of the green moun-
tain slopes and the fertile valleys and plains of Palestine—a narrow
strip of country which their forefathers had early marked out for them
as their goodly heritage, as the land of promise of their future hopes
and future glory. Here they established permanent settlements3 to
each tribe was assigned a section of the conquered territory with well-
deﬁned boundaries3 the land was divided out among the families to
whom the right of possession was guaranteed in perpetuity 3 and,
though still armed for defence and protection, they were devoted to the
pursuit of agriculture, and the once roaming pastoral tribes now fol-
lowed the steady industry of an agricultural people.
In their border warfare with hostile tribes of Canaanites, they selected
as leaders those who were most renowned for valour and patriotic
devotion, and who in time of peace were invested with executive
authority, and at the same time acted as judges to adjust the dis
putes that arose between various tribes, and to decide cases involv-
ing conﬂicting interests of the highest importance. To bind them
together into a closer bond of union, and render them more capable of
resisting their external enemies, they exchanged the republican for the
monarchical form of government. They thus became a rich and powerful
nation 3 they cultivated the arts of peace, agriculture ﬂourished, the
avenues of commerce became enlarged, their caravans traversed the
Syrian Desert, and their ships sailed along the coast of the Mediter-
ranean Sea.
Their religion now assumed its most exclusive form of nationality.
Its noble sentiments and its lofty spirit drew them more closely
together; its promises and warnings inﬂamed their patriotism. J eru-
salem. the royal city of David, was now the central point of religious
worship. They dedicated the most magniﬁcent temple to Jehovah,
HEBREWS. 89
the God of their fathers; and a consecrated hereditary priesthood
offered up daily sacriﬁces and prayers, to invoke thedivine protection,
to atone for the sins of the people, and to propitiate the anger of the
Deity. 4
But the extravagance and unjust exactions of their kings fostered a
rebellious spirit, and excited discord and discontent among the large
mass of the population. Their national unity was destroyed, they
divided into two separate kingdoms, which assumed toward each other
a hostile attitude. Being thus weakened by internal dissensions, they
fell an easy prey to external enemies ; their country was overrun, and
their cities were conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Many
of them languished in captivity in foreign lands, where they were
chastened by adversity, and strengthened in their religious belief by
their close contact with the grossest idolatry. The destruction of the
Assyrian and Babylonian empires by Cyrus restored them to freedom,
and brought them back to their own country more zealous and devout,
and determined to revive their former prosperity and the glorious
memories of ancient times by consecrating their labour and their
fortune to the building of a new temple. The high priest, assisted by
the council of elders,1 now exercised the chief authority under the
supremacy of the Persian empire. They were subsequently con—
quered by Alexander, who bestowed upon them many marks of
favour. He annexed the border-land of Samaria to their dominions,
exempted them from tribute in the Sabbatic year, established them in
Alexandria, and placed them on an equal footing with the Macedo-
nians. They became tributary to his successors, sometimes acknow—
ledging the sovereign supremacy of Egypt, sometimes that of Syria.
After having become distinguished under the leadership of the Mac-
cabees for bravery on the ﬁeld of battle, and for the most romantic
deeds of heroism, they once more achieved their independence, and were
governed by native princes of the Asmonaean dynasty. Their national
spirit was equal to their political ascendency; they had a regular army,
possessed many fortiﬁed places, and formed alliances not only with
neighbouring princes but with Rome itself. John Hyrcanus destroyed
the temple of the Samaritans, conquered several Syrian cities, extended
his warlike exploits to Idumeea, and compelled its people to be cir-
cumcised and to observe the Mosaic law. But being too weak to bid
deﬁance to the factions spirit that threatened to deprive him of power,
he called on Pompey to defend his cause, who seized upon Jerusalem
as a conqueror, entered the temple, and made the Jews tributary to
Rome. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, the Par-
thians made themselves masters of Syria and Palestine, and ravaged
and laid waste the territory of J udea. The Roman Caesars, the

. 1 The Sanhedrim, or the Council of Seventy, with the addition of the high
priest, who was recognised ea: oﬁicz'o as its presiding officer, was an institution
probably proposed and established by Ezra and Nehemiah. It exercised exten-
sive authority on all questions of civil law and religious usages, for which a sanction
was found either positive or remote in the ﬁve books of Moses. “ Geschichte der
Israeliten,” von Dr. H. Gratz.
90 THE ARAMZEAN sroox,
despoilers of nations, at last entered Palestine with their conquering
legions, and Herod was a worthy representative of their splendour and
power. Titus and Trajan gave the ﬁnal deathblow to the Jewish
nationality; and having extinguished every hope of restoration, the
Jewish people were dispossessed of their native valleys and hills, and
became scattered as captives and exiles over every part of the widely
extended Roman empire. '
Since their dispersion they were simply tolerated among pagan,
Mohamedan, and Christian nations as a useful class of the political
community, who contributed in no small degree to the development
of the resources of the country. Prudent and persevering in their-
enterprises, frugal in their habits, exercising much judgment, and
possessing great professional knowledge of the pursuit which they fol-e
lowed, they accumulated much wealth, they became the envy of the-
great, and drew upon themselves the hatred and malice of the ran—-
corous and fanatic populace.
The Mohamedans, who have adopted the doctrine of monotheism.
from the Jews, who, in part at least, base their religious system upon
Jewish ceremonials and Jewish morality, and recognise a common.
progenitor as the patriarchal prototype of their creed, often treated
the unfortunate race of Israelites with the most cruel barbarities, and
subjected them to the most abject degradation. In the cities distinct‘
and exclusive quarters were assigned to them, and they were not per~~
mitted to pass this limited space; so that their habitations became-
overcrowded, and were ﬁlthy and squalid in the extreme. They were;
distinguished by the peculiar fashion and colour of their dress, or they
were compelled to wear certain badges, that they'might be known at
ﬁrst sight. Many towns they were not even permitted to enter, and
they were interdicted to bestride that noble animal, the horse, the
use of which was exclusively reserved to their Mohamedan masters.
Besides the occasional extortions practised by the government officials,
a capitation tax (hamj) was imposed upon them, so as to recall to’
their mind that they were strangers in the land of their birth and
adoption. They were beaten, insulted, and harassed in the streets-
without redress; justice was denied them in the public tribunals;
they were bastinadoed for the most triﬂing causes, consigned to‘
prison and subjected to themost heartless oppression for no other’
reason than that they were abandoned outcasts, the weak and helpless
victims of a remorseless, tyrannical, and exacting government, which
robbed them in one hour of all the wealth they had accumulated
during years of patient industry.
The Christians owe their religion entirely to the Jewish nation.
“Salvation is of the Jews.” Christ as well as most of the apostles
and early Christians were Jews by birth and education. The Jews-
were “the chosen people” to whom the divine oracles were com-
mitted, and they have faithfully transmitted their trust to later gene-
rations by whom they were supplanted as the depositaries of things
supernatural and divine. But those who profess to be the followers
of the meek and lowly J esus—the prototype of universal charity and
the love of mankind—have not only been guilty of allthe enormities
HEBREWS. 9 I
with which the Mohamedans stand charged in their treatment of
the Jews, but the Christians have ﬁlled the cup of iniquity to the
brim. Despoiled of their property, the Jews were banished from their
native land by hundreds of thousands 3 they were sent out helpless
and naked to seek new homes on foreign shores, exposed to the perils
of the sea and to the horrors of death by starvation. They were
tortured, left to die in subterranean dungeons, were committed to the
ﬂames and burned at'the stake, as a mild punishment for refusing to
renounce the faith of their fathers 3 and all this, as if in mockery, in
the name and under the authority of that religion which calls the
peacemakers the children of God, blesses the merciful that they may
obtain mercy, enjoins upon the Christian to love his enemies, to bless
those that curse him, to do good to those that hate him, and pray for
those that despitefully use him.
Persecuted, oppressed, scorned, derided, and insulted, they became
the playball of the whims and caprices of the arbitrary despot, were
frequently sacriﬁced to the blind fanaticism of the infuriated mob,
and. were robbed and plundered of their goods and possessions. In
every country of Christian Europe the privilege was denied them of
becoming landowners 3 and while they were thus excluded from engag—
ing in agricultural pursuits, they escaped the degrading and ruinous
consequences of being made vassals and slaves. *As the mechanic
arts were practised by a privileged class incorporated into guilds, to
which Jews were but rarely if ever admitted, they were forced, by the
necessity of the circumstances, to devote their talents to the only pro~
fessional career left open to their choice, that of commerce 3 acting at
the same time as the regulating agency to adjust the balances of the
circulating medium of exchange.
Zealous and thrifty, they prospered in the midst of a barbarous
civilisation, like rank luxuriant weeds nourished and supported at the
expense of plants fostered by careful cultivation. They were not only
bankers, moneylenders, and merchants, but many of them became
distinguished for learning 3 they acquired renown as linguists, philo-
sophers, and physicians. At times they were intrusted by princes
with the management of their ﬁnances, and were often admitted to
conﬁdential intimacy as privy counsellors. In their public morals,
and the proprieties and decencies of private life, they were equal to
the best of the inhabitants who wereconsidered as models of proper
deportment. Murder, theft, and the luxurious vices of voluptuous-
ness were almost unknown among them. Their benevolent disposi—
tion was as free from bigotry as from ostentation, and their charity
towards their race and kindred was unbounded.
After having endured for centuries the ignominy heaped upon them
by malice and prejudice, and having long resisted the almost over-
whelming current of injustice and violence, they at last extorted from
the most obdurate of their assailants the recognition of their natural
rights as native-born subjects or citizens, and they were adjudged
entitled to all the legal immunities and political franchises enjoyed by
their countrymen professing a different creed, and they have every-
where shown themselves worthy of the privileges conferred upon
'92 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
them, as peaceable, moral, and patriotic men, who are devoted to the
interests of their country.1
Palestine or the Holy Land is now a province of Syria, and consti-
tutes a part of Asiatic Turkey. It is bounded on the south by Arabia,
and is protected against the scorching winds blowing from the Desert
by the Ramleah mountains 3 the Mediterranean, which is its western
border, supplies it with refreshing breezes 3 and Mount Lebanon, on its
northern frontier line, intercepts the colder winds from the Taurus.
Although Palestine is situated in the temperate zone, between 31°
and 33° north latitude, yet its climate approaches that of the torrid
regions. As the principal rains fall only twice a year, during spring
and autumn, the summer temperature is hot and parching, and it is
the abundant dews only which supply vegetation with the requisite
moisture, and prevent it from being dried up. The interior of the
country is diversiﬁed by mountains and hills, where formerly the vine,
the pomegranate, and the ﬁg-tree flourished,‘ and the cattle were graz-
ing on the gently-inclined slopes. The numerous valleys are irrigated
by frequent torrents, which thus distribute fertilising materials over
the lowlands, and supply the deﬁciency of rivers in a country where
the Jordan is the only stream of importance which winds, in its impetu-
ous course, through its rocky bed, and empties into the Dead Sea.
The plains also present much variety 3 some are suitable for tillage,
others are well adapted for pasturage, which adds picturesqueness to
the landscape, and multiplies the means that afford subsistence to a
scattered population.
The patriarchal age was the primitive state of the Hebrew race 3 it
was the infancy of their national growth. Its charming simplicity
gave beauty and moral force ‘to their family life, and to their domestic
and tribal institutions. The patriarchs constitute the ancestral stock
of the Hebrew people. Their nomadic habits brought them in con-
tact with neighbouring tribes, which increased their knowledge of the
world, and imparted to them lessons of wisdom and experience.
Their pastoral pursuits rendered them free and independent, and
were highly auspicious to the practice of social virtue. Their hospi-
tality was disinterested and generous. They served their guests in
person, brought water to wash their feet, selected the choicest of their
flocks for their meat, and did the honours of magniﬁcent hosts by
standing up and waiting on the strangers, whom they entertained with

1 Re’iéi‘xéntly the Prussian bureaucratic class, who pretend to be at the head of
the civilisation of the nineteenth century, have inaugurated a crusade against the
Jews, not as a religious sect, for they do not wish to be charged with religious
intolerance, but as a race. They thus endeavour to revive the most odious intoler-
ance that can possibly be conceived—the intolerance of caste, of a privileged
class and parian outcasts. But it is certainly very remarkable that the anony-
mous author of a little book styled “Israel and the Gojim” should make the
humiliating confession, that though the Jews were only as one to seventy-ﬁve of
the whole population even in Prussia, yet in the struggle for existence they were
possessed of suﬂicient intellectual and moral capacity‘to bring about the downfall
of the German nationality, as they had already been the primary cause that
resulted in the ruin of the Roman empire. This is a compliment to the Jews
which they do not deserve.
HEBREWS. 93
unstinted liberality.1 Their mode of life was simple in the extreme.
They lived in tents ; their food consisted of unleavened cakes, milk,
butter, lentils made into pottage, and the flesh of calves and kids.2
Their occupation was the care of their goats, sheep, camels, oxen, and
asses, of which they possessed vast herds and flocks.3 The women
managed the household affairs 5 drew water from the wells for domestic
use, and drove the flocks to the pasture.4 They wore as ornaments
bracelets and earrings of gold.5 Slaves formed a part of the patri-
archal family ; they were bought and sold‘ as the most important
merchandise of caravan traflic.‘5 They served as herdsmen and shep~
herds, dug the wells, and were the armed retainers to protect their
masters from the encroachments of enemies.7 Silver, valued accord—
ing to weight, was the ordinary medium of exchange.8 N or was
agriculture and the tillage of the soil unknown. Isaac sowed in the
land of the Philistines, and received in the same year a hundred-
fold.9 The patriarchal progenitors of the Hebrews were inured to the
fatigues and hardships incident to the shepherd’s life. They made
long journeys on foot, slept in the open air, with a stone for their
pillow.10 Polygamy was prevalent among them, and yet they did
not always avail themselves of this privilege, or they indulged in the
plurality of wives only from the necessity of the circumstances.11 Their
weapons of attack and defence were bows, and arrows, and swordslg
Their records of important events were altars and piles of stones 3
circumcision was their mark of tribal distinction, and the unity
and omnipotence of God, and faith in the divine protection, were the
religious truths that inspired their hopes and regulated their conduct.
Their government was based upon parental authority ; the oldest, the
wisest, and the best was recognised as the chief of the tribe ,- his
orders were never disobeyed ,' he was the expounder of the law ; he
adjusted the difﬁculties that sprung up among the different members
of the community ; he exercised supreme judicial as well as executive
power, and from his decision there was no appeal. He was at once
the father, the judge, and the ruler of his people.
After Palestine had been conquered from the Canaanites, the
Hebrews became an independent nation, and their social and poli—
tical organisation was devised with great wisdom, suitable to the age
in which they lived, and well adapted to the nature of the country
which they inhabited. They were now an agricultural people ; they
dwelt in ﬁxed and permanent abodes in towns and villages, cultivated
their ﬁelds, while their cattle were grazing on the neighbouri‘ligF hills.
They were distinguished by characteristic peculiarities, which made
them a peculiar people, and gave to their nationality many features of
exclusiveness, that fostered their patriotism and kept them separate
and distinct from all other nations, barbarous or civilised.

W
1 Gen. xviii. 6-8. 7 Gen. xxvi. 19—2I ; xiv. I4.
2 Ibid. xviii. 5—8. 8 1bid.Xxiii.15;xlii.25 ; xliii. I2.
3 Ibidxxxii. I4. 9 Ibid. xxvi. 12. p
4 Ibidxviii. 6; xxvii. 9; xxiv. I6; xxix. 9. 1° Ibid. xxviii. II ; xxxvii. I4.
5 Ibid. xxiv. 22. 11 Ibid. Xvi. 1—3; xxx. 1—3.
6 Ibid. xiv. I4 ; xxvi. I4. 12 Ibid. xxvii. 3 ; Xxxiv. 25
94 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
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If -—~ -..<- w ‘ " ‘Vrqm ‘ M_Q>_PMWMW
v‘__ Ly'fijlff
The houses of the Hebrews were generally built of stone, cemented
with mortar, the inner walls being often wainscoted with cedar or
cypress wood.1 The roof was terraced, and surrounded by a parapet
for protection.2 The houses of the rich were provided with porches,
supported by pillars artistically carved.3 The number of windows
was in just proportion to the size of the building, and they were
closed by trellis-work or curtains.4 The rooms occupied during
winter were heated by a ﬁre, kindled on the hearth.5
Their furniture was sufficient for convenience and comfort, but it
~was very simple. A table, a stool, a candlestick, on which the lamp
was placed containing the oil, and a bed, was the ordinary outﬁt which
garnished the chamber.6 For household use they had earthen vessels
and basins, dishes, spoons, bowls, and ewers of brass, silver, and gold.
The couches of the rich were of ivory or carved work 3 their beds were
decked with coverings of tapestry or ﬁne linen of Egypt 3 they were
perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.7 The women were aided
in making their toilet by mirrors of polished brass.
The Hebrews were distinguished for frugality, sobriety, and tem-
perance. Bread made of wheat or barley ﬂour, and baked in an oven,
was their principal article of food 3 it was in the form of loaves, cakes,
or wafers, at times leavened, but generally unleavened, and often
rendered more savoury by the addition of oil.8 They were prohibited
by the Mosaic law from eating the ﬂesh of animals, except such as
were cloven-hoofed and chewed the cud 3 their meat diet was therefore '
conﬁned to beef, mutton, veal, and deer. They were permitted to eat
‘the gallinaceous family of fowls, pigeons, and doves, and ﬁsh that were
‘provided with ﬁns and scales. Beans, lentils, and peas were converted
into palatable dishes. Milk and honey were in common use, and the
art of making butter was well known 3 but olive oil and probably the
oil of sesamum were most frequently employed in cooking, where the
addition of a fatty substance was desirable for the sake of its nutritive
qualities as well as ﬂavour. Raisins and dried ﬁgs were luxuries
which they highly relished 3 and grapes, pomegranates, and dates
were the fruits most esteemed. Water was the ordinary drink, but
‘the use of wine was universal,9 and a vow of abstinence was considered
an act of sanctity.10 They assumed a reclining posture while eating,
and they used no other appliances than their ﬁngers to help themselves
to their food.
It is, difficult to determine the fashion of dress worn by the ancient
Hebrews, for it is almost impossible to decide the precise cut or shape
of the garments designated by the Hebrew words. It is highly
probable, however, that the men wore tunics,11 and the women robes
of linen, wool, or silk, either white or of various colours, plain or
embroidered, and tied with a girdle round the waist. Over this was

1 Lev. xiv. 42, 45-3 1 Kings vii. 7, 10.
2 2 Sam. xi. 2.
3 I Kings vii. 6. / >
4 I Kings vii. 43 Prov. vii. 6.
5 J er. xxxvi. 22.
6 2 Sam. xvii. 283 2 Kings iv. 10.
7 Amos. vi. 4; Prov. vii. 16, 17.
8 Exod. xxix. 2, 233 Lev. ii. 4.
9 1 Sam. xxv. I8 3 2Sam. xvi.’ 13 Prov.
xxvii. 27.
10 Num. vi. 3, 5.
11 Ruth iii. 9.
HEBREWS. 95
thrown, wrapped round the shoulders, a scarf-like cloak or mantle,
made of one piece of cloth, with a striped border set off with a fringe
and a ribbon of blue.1 Their feet were covered with sandals of
badger’s skin. The women wore a face veil 3 they tied their hair with
a band, and their head-dress was a crown or tiara. Their ornaments
were earrings, chains, tablets, bracelets, and anklets of gold.2 Both
sexes anointed their head with sweet-scented ointments 3 and with the
men long hair and ﬂowing beards were the pride and glory of man-
hood.3 Frequent ablutions were among the most important sanitary
regulations of the Mosaic law 3 and washing the hands, feet, and face
were practised daily 3 while bathing was prescribed on certain occasions
as a religious duty and as a symbolic act of puriﬁcation.
The principal wealth of the Hebrews was conﬁned to cattle and
lands. Each family had an hereditary patrimonial estate, which was
inalienable, and if transferred for a term of years it returned to the
original owners in the year of J ubileeft
Agricultural pursuits were their chief occupation 3 they sowed and
reaped wheat and barley, bound them into sheaves, which were spread
‘over the smooth threshing-ﬂoor, where the corn was freed from the
husks by threshing instruments 35 or oxen, which the law required to
be left unmuzzled, trod out the grain, from which the chaff was sepa-
rated by winnowing.6 For transportation they had wheeled vehicles
drawn by oxen.7 They planted the vine, pruned it, gathered the
grapes, expressed the juice in the wine-press, and produced a sufﬁcient
quantity of wine for home consumption.8 The olive was also exten-
sively cultivated for the production of the oil. Around Jericho the
date-palm ﬂourished in great perfection, and near Gilead the cele-
brated balm was the natural product of a coniferous tree. Their cattle
‘were grazing on a thousand hills, and their Country was emphatically
‘the land of milk and honey. Their instrument of tillage was a plough
armed with a share or a coulter of iron. They sharpened it with the
ﬁle, dug the ground with the mattock, gathered the straw with forks,
and felled the trees with axes.9
The arts and manufacturing industry were almost entirely neglected
by the Hebrews. During their sojourn in Egypt some of their men
were'trained as skilful artisans and craftsmen, and they assisted Moses
in the construction of the tabernacle. They understood the art of
‘melting and fashioning metals into form 3 they were skilled in cutting
.and engraving precious stones 3 they were engaged in elaborate wood-
work and artistic carving 3 they had acquired proﬁciency in the weaving
‘of tapestry, in embroidering ﬁne linen in .blue, red, and scarlet, and in
compounding the most delicious perfumes-l0 They made pots, shovels,
basins, ﬂesh-hooks, ﬁrepans, a grate of network, and a laver of brass.11
'They beat gold into plates, and cut it into ﬁne threads for embroidery 3 12

ma-
1 Gen. xxxvii. 23 3 Eccles. ix. 8 3 2 Sam. xiii. 18 3 Ezek. xvi. I3.
2 Isa. iii. 19, 233 Ezek. xvi. II, 123 Judith x. 3; Exod. xxxii. 2, xxxv. 22;
Ruth iii. I 5. 3 Lev. xix. 27. 4 Lev. xxv. 28.
5 Isa. xxviii. 27 3 Ruth ii. 23. 6 Ruth. iii. 2. 7 Num. vii. 3.
8 Lev. xix. 9, Io, xxv. 3-5. 9 I Sam. xiii. 20, 21. 1° Exod. xxxv. 3 3.
11 Exod. xxxviii. 4, 5. 12 Exod. xxxix. 3.
(‘M
96 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
I! 5? ‘W why Mn,“ .H.-.
p»
.mm /-‘r<>~"~‘"'1-—-_-.-~ H _ .r- _ _. W
they gave elegance and ﬁnish to chains of “ wreathen work” ofv pure‘
gold.1 '
During the building of the temple and the “ king’s house,” Solomon
conﬁded the supervision of the work to Hiram of Tyre, who was of
Hebrew descent on his mother’s side, being of the tribe of N aphthali.
The Sidonians surpassed the Hebrews in hewing timber, but they were
assisted by Hebrew workmen and artisans, of whom there were thirty
thousand under the direction of Adoniram, one of the princes of Israel,
who presided over the ﬁnancial department of the government; and
three thousand and three hundred officers appointed by the king,
who ruled over the people that wrought in the work.2 The kings-
gardens contained the workshops of the weavers who made ﬁne linen,
and of the workmen who were engaged in fashioning clay into pottery
for the royal household. .
During the early period of their history the Hebrews had no external
commerce; their import and export trade was in the hands of the
Phoenicians. Judah and Israel supplied Tyre with wheat, honey, oil,
and balm.3 Their internal commerce was principally carried on by
barter 3 they were without coined money 3 all debts were prescribed
at the end of seven years, and the creditor could no longer recover the‘
amount due him.4 The taking of interest on advanced money capital
was strictly forbidden.5 A loan was considered an act of accommoda_
tion and of generosity due to their countrymen and kindred, and it.
would have been dishonourable to exact a compensation. Thetribe
of Zebulun only, occupying the lands near the Mediterranean coast,
followed commercial pursuits to a limited extent.6 After the accession
of Solomon to the throne of David, the commercial activity of the‘
country was developed to its utmost capacity. He established naval
workshops at Eziongeber, on the shores of the Red Sea, for the con-e
struction of ships 5 and, instructed by Phoenician mariners, the Hebrew
sailors acquired a knowledge of navigation, and the royal navy of'
Tarshish made a voyage in foreign lands once every three years, and
brought back a cargo of “ gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” He-
established a caravan route across the Arabian Desert, where he built
the city of Tadmour (Palmyra), and derived considerable revenue from
the trafﬁc of the spice merchants 7 and the traders of the country.
Certain rules of politeness prevailed among the ancient Hebrews in
their intercourse with each .other, and they were strictly observed.
On the meeting of equals they bowed and exchanged with one another-
the well-known salutation, “Peace be unto thee !”8 A superior in
rank whom they wished to honour they addressed with the title of'
lord, and inclined their head as a mark of obeisance. In the presence
of the great and the powerful of whom they asked favours, sought
forgiveness for injuries inflicted, returned their acknowledgment for'
beneﬁts conferred, or made offers of service, they prostrated them-
selves at their feet and bowed with their faces to the ground in the

1 Exod. xxxix.'15. 2 I Kings v. 6, 13, I6, 18.
4 Deut. xv. 2. 5 Dent. xv. 6 ; Lev. xxv. 36, 37.
6 Gen. xlix. 13 ; Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19. 7 1 Kings ix. 26 ; x. I 5, 22. 8 I Sam. xxv. 6.
3 Ezek. xxvii. I7.
HEBREWS. _ 97
attitude of the most profound humility.1 When friends met after a
long absence, or when they parted, they embraced, kissed one another,
and wept.2 ‘
The women were far more addicted to ﬂattery than the men. They
gave evidence of their submissive disposition on every occasion.
Their expressions were often metaphorical and ﬁgurative, but their
language was always modest and chaste. The Hebrews were free and
unrestrained in their terms referring to their marriage relations, for all
marriageable persons contracted this obligation at the age of puberty;
and as they did not practise the fashionable vices of modern times,
their verbal utterances were not guarded by the reﬁnements of speech
which these vices suggest.
Their pleasures and enjoyments were principally derived from
musical entertainments, where male and female singers added life and
spirit by their harmonious melodies to the delights of social festivities,
and where the sweet sounds of many concordant instruments made
a pleasing impression upon the ear and charmed the imagination?’
Their festival days were the Sabbath and the regular appointed feasts,
the celebration of marriage, the division of the booty after a victory,
sheep-shearing, harvesting, and vintage!‘ During the days of universal
rejoicing they frequently indulged in the excess of wine, twined ﬂower
garlands round their brow, and scented their person with perfumes.5
Games of recreation or hazard were entirely unknown to them, nor
was the excitement of hunting one of their sources of pleasure,
although they caught quadrupeds and birds with nets and snares to
protect their cornﬁelds and vineyards.
. Marriage was simply a civil contract, unaccompanied by religious
ceremonies, and did not require to be sanctioned by the solemn bene-
diction of either Levite or priest. The father and the witnesses present
bestowed their blessings and gave expression to their good wishes.6
Parents possessed the right of disposing of their children in marriage,
and at the time of the betrothal an agreement about the payment of
the dowry by the bridegroom was entered into by the contracting
arties.
P Daughters could not inherit any part of their father’s estate,
unless there were no male heirs in the descending line; and they
were sought after as life companions rather for the sake of family
alliance than wealth.7 As married life provided new resources of
labour, increased their personal inﬂuence, perpetuated their name, and
added new strength to the clan of their kindred, it was deemed of
, great advantage ; and a numerous family of children was consequently,
an honourable distinction,s without causing much expense. For the

1 Ruth ii. 11, 13 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 23, 41 5 2 Sam. xiv. 4, 9 ; Judith xi. 5, 6.
2 Gen. xlvi. 29 ; I Sam. xx. 41. .
3 2 Sam. xix. 35 ; Eccles. ii. 8 ; Amos vi. 5 ; 1 Chron. xv. 16, xvi. 42 ; 2 Ghron.
v. 13; Job xxi. 12.
4 Isa. ix. 3, xvi. 10; 1 Sam. xxv. II.
5 Amos vi. 6 ; Isa. v. II, 12, xxviii. 3, 7.
6 Gen. xxiv. 60; Ruth iv. II ; Tob. vii. 15.
7 Num. xxvii. 8. 8 I Sam. i. 8; Zech. viii. 5 ; Eccles. vi. 3.
G
Maw--~ - -
98 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
same reason polygamy and concubinage, although not encouraged, were-
tolerated as long-established institutions, and were regulated by strin—
gent laws. The degrees of consanguinity within the limits of which
marriage was forbidden were deﬁned with the utmost exactness, that
the morality of family life might be preserved in all its purity, and
the intimacies of youth might not lead to corrupt and licentious con-
nections.
Divorce for certain well-deﬁned causes, such as inﬁdelity, barren-
ness, and uncleanly habits, was a privilege of which the husband alone
had the right to avail himself, requiring no other formality than the.
writing of a bill of divorcemcnt, which was to be given to the repu-
diated wife, and she was to be sent out of the husband’s house 31 but
she was at full liberty to marry again whenever an opportunity pre-
sented itself.
Woman, though not on a footing of perfect equality with man, was
nevertheless treated with great consideration and respect. She was
admitted to the distinctions and honours of public life. Miriam was
a prophetess, and with a timbrel in her hand she led the chorus of
women singing the refrain of the song of deliverance.2 Deborah, who;
dwelt under the palm-tree, where “ the children of Israel came up to
her for judgment,” selected the commander of the army, accompanied
him to the ﬁeld of battle, animated the troops by her presence, and
thus discomfited the enemies of her people. As wives, the women
of Israel were industrious, and were worthy examples of imitation.
While their husbands were engaged in the labours of the ﬁeld, they
attended to the household aﬂairs 3 they prepared the food, baked the
bread,3 and had exclusive control over the domestic establishment.
They spun ﬂax and wool with the spindle and the distaff. They were
skilled in weaving ﬁne linen coverings of tapestry, and clothing of
silk and purple. Their children and their husbands called them
blessed 3 for “they looked well to the ways of their household, and
did not eat the bread of idleness.” 4
Circumcision, although strictly enjoined by the Mosaic law as an
imperative duty, had no other religious signiﬁcance than that of an.
initiatory rite, an indelible mark of distinction which exercised the
greatest inﬂuence in shaping the national character of the Hebrews.
The operation itself was a profane act, and was performed at the
house, in the presence of the nearest relations, by a person of the
secular order having acquired skill in the practice of the profession,
without the aid of a priest or the observance of religious ceremonies.5
Death among the Hebrews was not considered in the light of an
inevitable necessity, but as a providential inﬂiction, as a punishment
for their sins; and all their outward signs of mourning were acts of
penitence and contrition, accompanied by heartfelt sorrow, deepened
by the reproach that they might have been the cause of the demise of
their dearest and best friend,——an affectionate parent, a loved com-
panion, or a favourite child. Not only death, but any public cala-

ﬂqwMM'P-Q_.,\
1 Dent. xxiv. 1. 2 Exod. xv. 20, 2!.
4 Prov. xxxi. 13, 19, 24, 27, 28.
3 2 Sam. xiii. 8
5 Exod. iv. 25 3 Josh. v. 3, 4.
HEBREWS. 99
mity, such as pestilence, famine, or the invasion of enemies, called
forth the same outward manifestation of grief. They tore their gar-
ments, covered themselves with sackcloth, strewed ashes upon their
head, struck their breasts, and cut their hair and heard. Barefooted,
and with their faces covered, they were seated on the ground fasting
until sunset, and abstained not only from washing and anointing their
person, but also from all food except bread, vegetables, and water.
For seven days they remained secluded in their own house, passing
their time in uttering lamentations and singing plaintive songs.
The body was washed, wrapped in a linen shroud, and carried to
the place of burial, accompanied in silence by relatives and friends,
where it ‘was either consigned to the earth whence it came, or having
been previously embalmed, it was deposited in a vault frequently cut
in the rock. The burial of the dead, although not consecrated by
religious services, and unattended by priests, was as simple as it was
solemn and impressive. The severance of the ties that existed
between the dead and the living left a void in the family circle
which could never be ﬁlled 3 and no artiﬁcial ceremonials, or deceptive
superstitions, could soothe the pangs and anguish of this domestic
bereavement.
The necessity of puriﬁcation imposed upon those who had been
engaged in the burial of their friends was simply a sanitary regulation 3
a measure of prudence rendered expedient in a hot country, where
maladies are far more malignant than in more temperate climates, to
prevent the diffusion of contagious and epidemic diseases.
The education of the young was strictly adapted to the circum-
stances by which they were surrounded. They were early trained in
the proper performance of agricultural labours 3 and to develop their
physical constitution, footrraces gave nimbleness to their limbs, and
target-shooting with bows and arrows afforded at once bodily exercise
and recreation.1
Nor was their literary education neglected. They acquired proﬁ~
~ciency in speaking and reading the Hebrew, which was their mother
tongue; for it was the duty of all to study the law of God day and
night, no matter what might be their circumstances and conditions of
life. Fathers were required to instruct their sons in the great things
which God had done for them, and explain to their children “the
commandments, statutes, and judgments,” which were published by
divine authority for their guidance and direction.2 As all their books
were in the form of written scrolls of parchment, and there was but
one kind of alphabetic character, it is more than probable that read-
ing was taught through the medium of written exercises—a mode of
instruction still followed by the Arabs—and that all were acquainted
with the art of writing, for every Hebrew was commanded to write
the words which comprise the profession of his creed upon the portals
of his house and on his gates.3 Books and public documents were
written by professional scribes, whose education was of a higher order

1 I Sam. xx. 20 3 2 Sam. i. 18, ii. 18.
2 Dent. vi. 7, 20, 21. 3 Dent. vi. 9.
I 00 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
than that of the people in general, for they were almost always men
of consideration and inﬂuence in the community.1
The Pentateuch contained all the knowledge which it was most.
important for them to acquire. It not only gives a succinct account.
of the early history of their race, but it reveals the primary source
of the origin of mankind, and traces the outlines of the successive
creative changes which gave to the physical world its present state of
development. It is not only a ritual of religious Observances and
ceremonial forms, but it is a code of civil and criminal law, and a
compendium of moral precepts and constitutional principles by which
the nation was to be governed.
The study of foreign literature, such as history and poetry, was
utterly at variance with their national genius, and was prejudicial to‘
their rigid adherence to religious exclusiveness; for the literary pros
ductions of other nations were disﬁgured by mythological ﬁctions of
false gods, whose names they were not even permitted to pronounce.2
But they were not entirely conﬁned to the book of the law for-
reading and instruction, for they had other literary compositions, which
are now lost, such as the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the Book of
J asher or the Just, and the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of‘
Israel.3
Nor were they altogether unprovided with teachers and schools.
The Levites were commissioned as regular instructors in the law,
which they read at appointed times before the congregations of Israel 5.
and the prophets acted in the capacity of teachers of the people, while.
the schools of the prophets were institutions of learning of a high
order.4
As vocal and instrumental music made an important part of the
temple service, the musical art was carried to a high state of perfection
during the reign of David, who was himself a skilful performer on the
harp, whose soothing melodies had a tranquillising effect upon Saul
when his nerves were strung too highly, and when he suffered from
an excess of mental excitation. Four thousand Levites were pro--
fessional musicians, under the direction of two hundred and eighty-
eight masters, who “were instructed in the songs of the Lord.” 5 They
were divided into regular courses, according to age and sex; they
played not only on stringed and wind instruments, but on feast days.
they added solemnity to the temple worship by singing sacred hymns.

1 I Chron. xxviii. 32. 2 Ps. xvi. 4.
3 Num. xxi. I4; Jos. x. I3; 2 Sam. i. 18; I Kings xvi. 20.
4 After the ﬁrst Babylonian captivity a- system of compulsory instruction had
been introduced by Joshua, son of Gamala. Each district was provided with a
schoolboard, and every male child more than six years of age was obliged to
attend the communal school, unless it received private instruction at home from
qualiﬁed tutors. The Bible was the primer and ﬁrst reading-book of the Jewish
boy ; he acquired a thorough knowledge of its laws and traditions, which furnished
him the rules by which his conduct through life was to be governed. In riper
manhodd he attended in the evening, after he had completed his daily labour,
the exposition of the Scripture asjgiven by the masters of the law. Benny’s
“ Criminal Code of the Jews,” p. 32.
5 I Chron. xxiii. 5 ; xxv. 7.
HEBREWS. IO 1
accompanied by dancing. They sang in choirs, and danced in a
waving motion.
The Hebrew literature has its peculiar national characteristics, like
the people among whom it originated. In its simplicity and clearness
of expression, and in its vivid descriptions and truthful delineations,
it has never been imitated, much less excelled. Its poetical com—
positions display not only a high creative genius, but their imagery
is vast, magniﬁcent, and often sublime; their metaphors are striking
and bold ; and their language is animated, vehement, full of energy,
and inspired by zealous devotion and the lofty sentiment of religious
enthusiasm. -
Its historical writings are pure and chaste in style, simple and
unadorned in the narrative of facts, which are unencumbered by
reasonings and reﬂections, but are selected with Sagacity, while the
,purpose aimed at is constantly kept in view, and the moral tendency
is distinctly indicated or pointed out. The progress of events is often
.followed up with a master hand, prominence is given to the most
important occurrence, and ampliﬁcation and hyperbole are not unfre-
quently brought into play to excite the interest and arrest the atten-
tion of the reader.
The Hebrew laws are expressed in laconic sentences, and with such
remarkable clearness and precision of meaning that they require no
deﬁnition or commentary to explain their import or enforce their
practical application. The moral maxims are addressed to the con-
science with pathetic appeals, not as abstract principles, but as rules
of conduct often illustrated by parables and ﬁgurative language.
The Hebrew language is second only to the Arabic in the full
development of its organic structure. Its power of forcibly expressing
the sublimities of nature, and painting its beauties in all the colours
of reality, is one of its striking characteristics. It readily lends
itself to distinguish the most delicate shades of sensual perception,
and convert into symbolic words the profoundest sentiments and the
most deep-felt emotions. It is not overloaded with synonyms, and
its utterances are free from ambiguity, and are well deﬁned and
readily understood. Though clear in its logical arrangement and
energetic in its force of expression, the construction and combination
of its sentences are extremely simple, utterly devoid of that artistic
beauty derived from a regular mode of inversion which adds so much
grace and melody to languages susceptible of being arranged in
metrical order. Nor has it sufﬁcient capacity of expansion to advance
with the progressive step of science, or adapt itself to the reﬁned
subtleties of metaphysical abstraction, those cobwebs of the mind
which are bewildering rather than instructive in their tendency and
eﬂ‘ect. But the Hebrew is not entirely deﬁcient in those elements
of human thought which give force and character to philosophical
reasoning, of which the books of Job and Ecclesiastes furnish many
prominent examples. Indeed, the conception of the unity and omni-
potence of the Godhead is itself the most abstract and most incom-
prehensible idea the human intellect has ever ventured to propound
as a self-evident truth. The “I Am That I Am ” is the climax of
102 » THE ARAMZEAN ‘STOCK.
rational metaphysics expressed in the clearest and the most sententious
language. Having at one bound reached the highest metaphysical
thought, the Hebrew language, like the Hebrew mind, was no longer .
susceptible of development in that ‘direction 3 it disdained to grope in
the obscure and interminable labyrinth of a speculative philosophy
—false in its premises and erroneous in its conclusions—seeking to
escape from the meshes of a theological system which was as degrading
to the human mind as it was absurd in its ‘polytheistic ideas of nature~
worship, rendered more attractive to the imagination under the guise
of extravagant, if not monstrous, mythological ﬁctions.
The alphabetic sounds of the Hebrew language1 are sufﬁciently
distinct to render them harmonious without excess of diversiﬁed
gradations, which are only appreciated by a practised ear 3 and while
it is far more harsh in its pronunciation than the Greek, it has but
one more guttural, and no more hissing sounds than that most melo-
dious of all ancient or modern languages.
Though inﬂectional in its structural arrangement, the Hebrew has
preserved much of its primitive character 3 the root-words can be
easily eliminated from their compound derivatives, and they reﬂect in
their original application the impressions made by natural objects on
the consciousness of the men of the race while yet in its infancy.
The language is not wanting in the mathematical element of multi~
plicity with all its modiﬁcations. It‘has not only a deﬁnite form of
the plural, but the idea of duality and collectivity are also distinctly
marked. The inﬂections of its verbs are sufﬁciently comprehensive
to express with precision the external relations of things with all their
phenomenal or accidental changes 3 but the want of characteristic
moods and tenses renders it a stiff and unpliable medium for analytical
disquisition and speculative philosophical theories. The accidents of
the nouns are not indicated by a variation of the terminal syllable,
but by monosyllabic preﬁxes, which are a rudimentary form ofprimi—
tive times, and perform the function of parasitic particles. '
It is the religion of the Hebrews, however, which gave to their
nationality its peculiar character. The unity of God was impressed
upon their minds in their profession of faith: “Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord.”2 While all the nations of the world
were sunk in the grossest idolatry, the Hebrews worshipped One
Almighty Creator of the universe, who was their temporal and
spiritual sovereign, their lawgiver and judge, their strength in war,
and their wisdom in the councils of peace 3 he was their shield of pro-
tection in whom they trusted in prosperity and adversity. It was the
God of their fathers who had appointed them his chosen people}

1 The old written characters of the Hebrew language were partly Phoenician and
partly Babylonian. The alphabetic forms which have come down to us have been
introduced only after the building of the second temple, and were in use at that
time in the provinces bordering on the Euphrates and the Tigris, and are there-
fore of Assyrian origin. The Pentateuch of the Samaritan is to this day written
in the old character. Dr. Gratz, “Geschichte der Israeliten,” p. 181, Zweiter
Band, 2te Halfte
2 Deut. vi. 4. ‘3 Deut. vii, 6, 8 3 ix. 5, 6.
HEBREWS. ' 103
who had fulﬁlled the words of his promise, had delivered them from
Egyptian bondage, and gave them as an inheritance a land flowing
with milk and honey. That mighty Lord who had called the heavens
and the earth into existence by his mere word of power was the only
divinity they recognised as worthy of their homage ; the God who
governs the world by his providence, who sees all and searches even
the secrets of the heart, who is master of the human will and changes
it at pleasure,1 who is just in all his dealings with the children of
men and recompenses and punishes according to merit, but is at the
same time a God of compassion, and pardons those who sincerely
repent of their transgressions.
The doctrine of the unity of God was not only the foundation of
their religious faith, but it was the corner-stone of the constitutional
framework of their government. It was not only guarded by pro~
hibitory and denunciatory laws, but the whole system of symbolism
and ceremonials was based upon this fundamental article of faith.
There was but one religious centre whose light radiated over the face
of the whole country. There was but one temple and one altar where"
sacriﬁces could be offered without incurring the guilt of idolatry. The
Divine Unity was thus exempliﬁed by the rigid observance of the
unity of worship. The temple was a sacred place hallowed by the
Divine Presence, and it could only be approached by those who were
pure and undeﬁled. The people assembled in the inner court, the
outer court being reserved for Gentiles and strangers, while the
temple proper was only entered by the priest, who ministered at the
altar, lighted the lamps, burned incense, and consecrated the sacriﬁcial
offerings; but the high priest alone was permitted to appear in the
Holy of Holies, and once a year to prostrate himself before the throne
'of Omnipotence and make atonement for the people. '
The priesthood was hereditary in the family of Aaron 3 the priestly
function, with all its emoluments and privileges attached to it, was
its peculiar prerogative. All intrusion from every other Levitical
stock was strenuously resisted, and every encroachment supported by
force and violence was severely punished. Only those priests were
invested with a sacred character who performed actual service in the
tabernacle or the temple ; but they did not renounce the exercise of
their civil rights, nor were they absolved from the duties which
devolved upon them as patriots and citizens. They incurred the
obligations of married life ; they acted as teachers, performed the ofﬁce
of judges, enforced sanitary regulations as physicians 3 they were
enrolled in the army, and addressed the people before engaging in
battle,‘ to inflame their zeal and rouse their courage,2 and they served
as trumpeters3 to direct the camps on their line of march. They used
a silver trumpet to announce the festivals and call the people to
public prayer.6L
The priests attended to the temple service by regular courses, and
all those who were entitled to act as high priests continued in oiﬁce

1 Exod. vii. 3. 2 Deut. xx. 2, 3, 4; Josh. vi. 4.
3 Num. x. 2, 5, 6, 8 ; 2 Ghron. 12. 4 Num. 2:. 3.
104 THE ARAMZEAN sTocK.
“MM
“hr” M"
for twelve months, each in his turn, in regular succession. The high
priest, when invested with his priestly robes, appeared in magniﬁcent
array. He was dressed in a closely-ﬁtting tunic and loose trousers of
ﬁne linen, over which he wore a sleeveless robe of blue, woven inone
piece, extending to the feet, with the lower edge garnished with
pomegranates and bells of gold. The ephocl was of purple, blue, and
scarlet thread twisted with thread of gold 5 it was attached around the
waist by a rich girdle, and provided with two shoulder pieces, orna—
mented with two berryl stones set in gold, on which the names of the
twelve tribes were engraven. It was connected by four golden chains
with the breastplate, made of cloth of gold, bearing, besides the
mysterious Um'm and Tlmmnmz'm, twelve precious stones set in gold,
arranged in four rows, each stone being engraved with the name of
one of the tribes of Israel. The head-dress was a rich turban of ﬁne
linen, to which was fastened a golden frontlet, bearing the inscription
of “Holiness to the Lord.”
The institution of animal sacriﬁces, with other auxiliary offerings,
sanctioned and even commanded by the Mosaiclaw, had a threefold
object. Sacriﬁces were an outward sign of an internal, mental, and
moral state 5 they were fruits of religious faith as exercised by the
devout worshipper, and were either propitiatory, to secure the divine
favour, or eucharistic, expressive of gratitude for the divine blessings 5
but they were most frequently expiatory, to serve, after a strict com-
pliance with the conditions of the law, as an atonement for wilful or
involuntary transgressions and offences, and were followed by the
absolving power of the officiating priest. But animal sacriﬁces and
other perquisites of the altar were also indispensable concomitants to
the institution of the priesthood 5 they were necessary for the main-
tenance and support'iof the ministering servants of the tabernacle and
the temple, and at the same time the numerous worshippers that came
from a ‘distance received their share of allowance while on their
periodical or accidental visitation to Jerusalem.
That sacriﬁces were not a sacramental but simply a conventional
and expedient mode of divine worship, and were not considered an
essential part of a holy and religious life, may be abundantly proved
from the prophetic writings.1 In the ﬁfty-ﬁrst Psalm it is declared
that God does not desire sacriﬁce 5 that he does not delight in burnt-
offering 5 that the sacriﬁces which God will not despise are a broken
spirit and a broken and a contrite heart.2 The prophet Micah exclaims,
“ Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the
high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves
of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or
with ten thousands of rivers of oil? He hath showed thee, O man!
what is good 5 and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” 3
Among all nations and in all countries national festivals have been
established to cultivate sociality and foster friendly intercourse, which
form the strongest bond of union between the members of the same

1 Isa. 1. II, 12, I 3. 2 Ps. Ii. 16, 17. 3 Micah vi. 6, 7, 8.
HEBREWS. ‘ 10;
political community. This object, having been pre-eminently kept in
view by the lawgiver of the Hebrew nation, was carried into effect
with much judgment, and was, for a time at least, highly conducive
to produce harmony and unity of action in the dissevered tribal com-
munities of the Hebrew commonwealth. The most solemn festival
among the Hebrews was the Sabbath, which was celebrated in com-
memoration of the creative power of the Omnipotent Jehovah, who
created the world in six days, closing up the demiurgic processes of
development with the Sabbatic period of rest. On the Sabbath-day all
labour ceased 3 even the slave, the working cattle, and the beasts of bur-
den were exempt from the performance of their daily task. Gradually
it became a day of great national importance ; the people of towns
.assembled to be instructed in the principles of the law, and all classes of
.society, without distinction of rank or condition, met at the gates of the
city, on a footing of perfect social equality, to indulge in innocent recrea—
tion, and enjoy the pleasure of free and unrestrained social intercourse.
To impress upon the minds of the Hebrews the importance of
national unity 3 to inspire them with patriotic feelings, engendered by
common sympathies and common interests; and to counteract the
.antagonism of tribal division, holy convocations took place three
times a year, when every male inhabitant of the land journeyed to
Jerusalem, where the congregation of the whole people met for public
worship and public festivities. The feast of the Passover occurred
in the spring, in the month Ziphan, on the ﬁrst full moon, which was
the beginning of the religious year, and the anniversary of the birth
of the nation. On the eve of the festival the fathers of Israel, with
their loins girded and a staff in their hand, sat in the midst of their
family circle, and related to their children the wonderful story of the
deliverance of their fathers from Egyptian bondage; they ate the
paschal lamb in memory that God had spared the ﬁrstborn of their
people ; they tasted the bitter herb, emblematic of the bitterness of
slavery; and partook of unleavened bread, showing forth the hurry
and confusion of their departure, and their precipitate ﬂight from the
land of tyranny and oppression. The harvest was gathered during
‘the ﬁfty days which intervened between the feast of the Passover and
Pentecost, which was celebrated to commemorate the publication of
the law and the fulﬁlment of the promises made to their forefathers.
The feast of Tabernacles took place in autumn, after the close of the
vintage—a period of gladness and mirth, when the sounds of sweet
melodies re-echoed from the hills, and a spirit of gaiety and rejoicing
‘enlivened every household. During this season the Hebrews, in
imitation of their ancestors, who had been providentially preserved
while dwelling in tents in the desert, made themselves shady bowers
with the evergreen branches ‘of coniferous and other perennial trees;
and here they took up their temporary abode, where for seven days
the festival board was spread with all the luxuries of an Eastern home.
The civil year began on the new moon of the month Tishri, and
was called the feast of Trumpets, being the preparatory season
announcing the approach of the great day of atonement, which was a
day of fasting and prayer, and was the most solemn day in the year.
106 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
The ﬁrst day of the lunar month was also a festival occasion, not
commanded by positive law, but simply observed as an established
usage recognised from time immemorial.1
Notwithstanding that the unity of God was hedged in by every
possible precaution, to prevent the least infringement upon its essential
principles 3 notwithstanding that the intercourse of the Hebrews with
other nations was counteracted by peculiar customs and laws; yet a
great portion of the people frequentlyrelapsed into idolatry, and intro-
duced, to a limited extent, the worship of strange gods. Although they
did not, like the Canaanites, burn their children in the ﬁres of Moloch 3
nor worship under a phallic form the generative principle of the sun, as
practised by the Midianites 3 nor devote the chastity of their women
to the Baal-peor of the Moabites 3 they, nevertheless, bowed down
in adoration to the Dagon of the Philistines, the Ashtaroth of the
Phoenicians, and, at a later period, also to the Jupiter of the Greeks.2
As the continuance of the national prosperity was only vouchsafed
to them upon the condition that they faithfully discharged the duties
imposed upon them by their national religion, idolatry was twofold
treason 3 it was a wilful abandonment of the fealty and allegiance which -
they owed to their country and their God. It was, therefore, a crime
of the most heinous character, and the criminal, after he had been con-
victcd by the evidence of two witnesses, was publicly stoned to death,
which was the highest penalty known to the law. The vengeance
denounced against idolatrous worship was so ﬁerce and relentless, that
a city convicted of the crime of setting up false gods in public places
for the adoration of worshippers was razed to the ground, and all its
treasures were heaped up in a pile and burned.3 The inhabitants were‘
put to the sword, and no living thing, not even the cattle were spared;
and to vroot out the abomination which had thus been planted in the
soil, curses and anathemas were pronounced against him who would
attempt to rebuild the guilty city. The practices of divination, necro-
mancy, and witchcraft, the most noxious outgrowth of superstition, the
cunning devices of wicked impostors to ensnare the credulous multi-
tude, were punished with death.
Neither distinction of caste nor political class division was recognised
in the social economy of the Hebrew commonwealth. All enjoyed the
same civil and legal rights, and all Hebrews were brothers, descended
from the same lineage and belonging to the same original stock. And
yet from this population, so homogeneous in family likeness, and so
‘democratic in the management of its internal affairs, distinct orders of a
religious character were gradually eliminated, who exercised great moral
and political inﬂuence in shaping the future destiny of the nation.

1 Isa. i. 13, I4.
2 Established in Palestine, the Israelites gradually entered into religious com.-
munity with the Canaanites, and worshipped Baal, Ashera, and Astarte. At a later
period Solomon introduced into Jerusalem the religious service of the Sidonian
Astarte, and it was only Josiah who demolished her altars. Ahab, who had
married a daughter of the king of Sidon, established the worship of the Sidonian.
divinities in the kingdom of Israel, which was subsequently also adopted in the
kingdom of Judah.
3 According to Mr. Benny, this law was never executed.
HEBREWS. 107
n:-
The tribe of Levi was, by virtue of the organic law, set apart for
the service of the tabernacle and the temple. The Levites were a.
religious body who possessed exclusive privileges as a compensation
for their share of landed property, to which each father of a family
of all other tribes was entitled in the partition of the territorial
domain. Forty-eight cities were assigned to them as permanent homes;
and a tenth part of all the agricultural products gathered during the
year constituted their principal income, which served as a means of
support for themselves and their families. Being exempt from
the cares and drudgeries of everyday life, they passed their leisure
hours in study and meditation, and they thus became, from inclination
no less than necessity, the learned and educated men of the nation.
They were required to read the whole law before the people in regular
septennial periods, and the nature of their professional duties made them
religious teachers. Their thorough knowledge of the law ﬁtted them
for the exercise of judicial functions. They were expert as scribes,
and it was through their active exertions that the Hebrew literature
becameperpetuated and diffused. They were the genealogists, the
registrars of the tribes, and the keepers of the records 3 and they
possessed ample materials and the highest qualiﬁcations as annalists-
and historians. They were geometricians to mark out the boundary
lines of private landed estates 3 they were the superintendents of
weights and measures, and thus secured honest and fair dealings in
the transactions of internal commerce.
The prophets were a religious order in the true sense of the word.
They had no connection with the ceremonials of public worship, and
were not necessarily Levites. They lived together in close communi-
ties 3 1 their fare was frugal 3 2 their homes were by the side of the brook,
or on the mountains 3 their dress was camel’s-hair sackcloth, bound by
a leather girdle.3 They were holy men of God 3 they passed their
time'in religious meditation, in improvising poetical compositions of a
devout character, in imparting instruction, and addressing exhortations
and admonitory counsel, not only to the people, but to kings and
princes. Inspired by enthusiasm and pious zeal for right and justice,
they stood up before the great men of the land, those who exercised
the chief authority in the state, who were the rulers of the nation,
denouncing oppression and tyranny as a crime, and rebuking, with
a determined will and measured words, the evil propensities and
wicked practices of the people. They were distinguished for their
bold and independent spirit 3 their simple and virtuous life, untainted
by. selﬁshness, and untouched by the corroding canker of ambition.
They did not win over the powerful by base ﬂattery, nor court popular
favour by pandering to the passions and prejudices of the multitude.
They were the shining lights of the nation, whose patriotism was pure
and unsullied, who loved their country with a fervour of devotion that
deﬁed death in all its multiple forms of terror and destruction. In
their religious professions they were zealous, faithful, and sincere 3
they were the sworn enemies of idolatry, and the maintenance of their
1 I Sam. x. 5. 2 2 Kings iv. 38, 39. 3 2 Kings 1. 8; Isa. 2.
108 THE ABAMZEAN STOCK.
religion, and the preservation of their national independence, were
objects dearest to their heart, and made them the champions of virtue,
liberty, and justice. They were earnest and undaunted in defending
the oppressed 5 they pleaded the cause of the poor, and the widow and
the fatherless never appealed to them in vain. Their moral principles
and their charity were of a high and lofty character. Their spirit of
benevolence was comprehensive and universal. They were ever fore-
most in their efforts “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the
heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.”
It was their delight “ to deal the bread to the hungry, and to bring
the poor that are cast out to their house 5 when they saw the naked
they covered him, and did not hide themselves from their own flesh.1
Another religious order, rather limited in extent and duration, were
the Rechabites. They were the descendants of J ehonadab, who lived
in the time of J ehu, king of Israel, and who made a vow that neither
he nor his children should drink wine, build houses, sow their land,
or plant vineyards. They and their posterity inviolably preserved
the rules of their order during a period of a hundred and eighty years,
when the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar compelled them to take up their
abode in Jerusalem. They dwelt in tents, led a pastoral life, and were
distinguished for patriarchal simplicity in their manners, and for their
loyalty of character by yielding strict obedience to the precepts of
their father.2
During the prophetic age the Hebrew nation preserved the unity
of its religious doctrines and the purity of its creed undisturbed by
sectarian division. Theology, as a separate branch of religious learn-
ing, did not yet exist 5 the spirit of controversial disputation was still
in its infancy, and the passion for metaphysical speculation was as yet
undeveloped. The Aaronic priests were universally recognised as
possessing the exclusive privilege of ministering in the sanctuary 5
and the Levites and prophets were united in their common aim and
purpose to maintain, in all their integrity, the civil and religious laws,
to encourage the timid, guide the erring, exhort the wayward, and
instruct the popular mind. But the schools of the prophets, which
existed only for educational and devotional purposes, were gradually
superseded by regular schools of law,3 where the chief menof every
community met to discuss and decide controversial points, such as
were constantly raised in the ordinary transactions of private life.
Although it was still obligatory upon every Hebrew to regard J eru-

1 Isa. lviii. 6, 7. 2 Jer. xxxv. 8, 9, IO, 18, 19; 2 Kings x. 15.
3 The teachers were called scribes (Sopherim) or Wise men; the disciples were
known as scholars of the wise men (C'hachamz'm Tabmide). The services which the
scribes rendered were twofold. They were the interpreters of the laws as con-
tained in the Pentateuch (Thom), and they pointed out the manner of their
practical application in connection with the individual as well as the commu-
nity. They explained obscure passages, marked out the extent of obligations, and
ampliﬁed whatever might seem defective in clearness of expression. This expla-
natory work is called the “ Interpretation ” or “ Commentary ” (Midmsh). When
the manner of interpretation of certain laws was conﬁrmed by the Sanhedrim, its
observance became obligatory upon every member of the Jewish community.
Gratz’s “ Geschichte der Israeliten,” p. 182, 2d Band, 2te Halfte.
HEBREWS. 1 09
salem as the centre of his national aspirations, and the temple as the
only consecrated spot where sacriﬁcial offerings could be made, either
to fulﬁl some speciﬁc legal requirement, or for purposes of national
expiation and thanksgiving 5 yet the local schools of law not only
became public institutions for popular instruction, but also houses of
prayer, where the whole community met to engage in devotional exer-
cises, to offer up hymns of praise to the Lord Most High, and to
entreat Him, who is ever merciful and full of compassion, to grant
them his divine favour and protection. This was the ﬁrst germ of
the synagogue which, by degrees, became a regular organisation, having
for its object the assembling of the people for divine worship,- and it
thus forestalled the discontinuance of sacriﬁces, the abolition of the
exclusive hereditary priesthood, and the destruction of the temple.
This silent and imperceptible change in the national constitution
developed a new power in the state, which exercised unlimited inﬂu~
ence over the popular heart 5 and its supreme dominion over the masses
gave form and direction to the national will. The Levite and prophet
served well their own generation 5 but old things having passed away,
they had now become superannuated, and their places were ﬁlled by
the rabbis or masters of the law.
After the death of Judas Maccabaeus, synagogue worship was per-
manently established all over J udea 5 and the multiplicity of religious
centres gave rise to a multiplicity of theological tenets, which became
the seedplot of sectarianism; and as religion and politics were inti-
mately connected and closely interwoven, the division of sects cor-
responded with the existing political class division.
The Sadducees constituted the aristocratic class among the Hebrews 5
all the wealth and power of the country was in their possession 5 they
held all the ofﬁces, and were either priests themselves, or were connected
with priestly families. They were, for a time, the representatives of
national sovereignty and national independence; and as they were
highly favoured by fortune, and exercised a commanding inﬂuence
among their countrymen by virtue of their social and political position,
they were pre-eminen'tly conservative, and violently opposed to all
reform and revolutionary changes. They therefore adhered strictly to
the letter of the law. They were satisﬁed with the present, they
enjoyed all the good things of this world, they indulged freely in the
pleasures of life 5 and the future could offer them no promises, nor
inspire them with hopes sufﬁciently attractive for their acceptance.
They denied—not the immortality of the soul—but the resurrection
of the body, a religious belief which did not originate in Palestine,
but which the Hebrews had imbibed during their captivity in Assyria
and Babylonia; and the ﬁrst reference made to this doctrine is found
in the prophet Daniel.1
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were the representative men of

1 A single foreign religious element was introduced during the period of the
,S’opherim, that was the hope of, and the belief in, the resurrection of the dead,
after departing this world in expectation of the glorious time of the day of judg-
ment. Dr. Gratz’s “ Geschichte der Israeliten,” p. 190, 2d Band, 2te Halfte.
110 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
‘the masses 3 they constituted the revolutionary party 3 their followers
were the poor, the down-trodden, and the oppressed. Neither rank
nor accumulated wealth gave them political importance 3 they were
.zealous and devoted in the strict observance of the law, to merit the
rewards of a future life as an adequate compensation for present desti-
tution .and suﬂering. They were strongly impressed with the belief
of the resurrection of the body, for the body alone was capable of
appreciating the enjoymentsv of that happy state of existence reserved
for the humble and lowly who had been faithful in the discharge of
their duties, and walked steadfastly in the ways of the Lord. They
maintained that though the priestly office was sacred, and the exercise
of its function was restricted to a certain class, its moral and religious
qualiﬁcations were the common prerogatives of all classes 3 and as it
was incumbent upon every Hebrew to aspire to priestly holiness and
personal sanctiﬁcation, every Hebrew was a priest, and occupied as
exalted a position in the state, in point of virtue and piety, as the
most distinguished member of the priestly hierarchy. This principle,
which was accepted by the people at large, gave to the synagogue the
character of the house of God, and imparted to prayer and thanks-
giving sacriﬁcial sanctity. The Pharisees were the popular leaders 3
‘they claimed equal rights for all without distinction 3 they waged
violent opposition to the assumed superiority of privileged classes 3
‘they struggled with all their might against the ascendency of
priestcraft and the arrogance of usurped oflicial authority. Their
indomitable zeal and their ﬁrm religious convictions gained them
many adherents, and eventually they were called to occupy the ﬁrst
:seats of power, and their high merits were recognised by Sadducees
and priests. But the moment the exercise of authority was intrusted
to them in an official capacity, they became themselves conservative
and anti-revolutionary, and they anxiously sought to reconcile the
ancient religious forms with a free and independent religious spirituality.
That many of the Pharisees were bigots and hypocrites cannot be
called in question, for these are the natural outgrowth ofextreme zeal
in religion, especially when it is almost bordering on fanaticism 3 but
it is at the same time incontestable that the great majority were sincere
in their religious profession, and that the most pious and most learned
men of the nation, such as Hillel, Gamaliel, and even St. Paul, were
Pharisees in spirit and in the active exercise of their duties.
The Essenes were a purely religious sect, although they were opposed
in principle to the aristocratic class and to the priestly order3 yet they
exercised no political inﬂuence during the decline and downfall of the
Hebrew commonwealth. Their life was passed in strict seclusion
.from the world, and in the severest discipline of stern asceticism. Not
far from the shores of the Dead Sea, at a considerable distance from
the centre of wealth and population, were situated their ﬂourishing
villages, where they cultivated the barren and desolate soil 3 and with
‘the labour of’ their hands, and by their patient industry, they changed
the wilderness into a garden. Groves of palm-trees afforded them
shade and shelter from the hot summer’s sun, and ﬁelds of corn and
barley were teeming with abundant harvests. They lived together
HEBREWS. I I I
in close community, and had all things in common. Riches and
worldly honours were in their eyes mere baubles, which they never
sought nor coveted. They had no worldly possessions. They were
not even the owners of the dwellings they occupied 3 all the houses
were free to every member of the community, who might take up his
abode at pleasure wherever he found a vacant place to repose his
weary limbs. Pursuits of gain of every description were proscribed;
they practised the mechanic arts, but were forbidden to fashion metals
into weapons of war. They loved peace, quiet, and concord, and
avoided strife and contention 3 yet they carried arms when making a
journey far away from their own homes, to defend themselves against
robbers. Their sympathy for their kind was highly developed 3 they
were tender-hearted and benevolent to the poor, hospitable to the
stranger, and their generosity was only limited by their means; and
yet they rarely visited populous cities, not because they wished to
avoid the contact with their fellow-men, but because they dreaded the
corrupting inﬂuence of their vices.
They were bound together, not only by the sacred ties of companion»
.ship, but as all laboured for the common good, they were all supplied
with the necessaries of life from the common stock. Their domestic
affairs were managed by stewards, who distributed the means placed at
their command 3 and strangers were entertained by the ofﬁcers expressly
‘appointed for this purpose. _
Their mode of life was simple and unostentatious 3 they dressed in
white garments, discarded all external adornments, and they never
anointed their bodies, for they entertained the greatest aversion to
the use of oil for cosmetic purposes. They passed their time according
‘to prescribed rules, and they were controlled in their conduct and
~~actions by the strictest disciplinary regulations. They rose at the
earliest dawn of the morning, but were forbidden to speak of the
ordinary aﬂfairs of everyday life until they had offered up their custo-
mary prayers, in accordance with their ancient forms, which would
"render them worthy that the sun might shine upon them. After their
'morning’s devotion they received their orders from their superior; to
‘each some particular work was assigned, for all were required to labour
and make themselves useful, some as skilled artisans, and others as
‘tillers of the soil. At the ﬁfth hour1 they ceased from their labour,
performed their usual ablutions, arrayed themselves in a linen garment,
and entered a consecrated hall exclusively reserved for the members
of the sect. They next proceeded in regular order to the refectory,
where they stood in unbroken silence until grace was said, after which
each one received from the baker and the cook his allotted portion of
bread, salt, and hyssop. After the closing prayer, at the conclusion of
the meal, they retired, laid aside the sacred garment, and resumed their
work, which they continued until, at eventide, they were again
assembled for supper.
In their social intercourse they observed certain rules of. propriety
and decorum. They were only allowed to speak by permission, and

1 Corresponds to II o’clock A.M. of our time.
112 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
each one in his turn 5 and ‘on certain occasions, when ten met together,
no one was permitted to break the silence except with the consent of
all the others. In the presence of company they were never guilty of
spitting either before them or to the right hand 5 they remained un-
affected by the attractions of pleasure, which they considered as sinful 5
and the complete control of their passions they regarded as the only-
real virtue; and, having subdued all amorous propensities, the higher
orders of the sect practised the most rigid celibacy, for all social
intercourse with the other sex was interdicted. In communities of'
an inferior grade marriage was simply tolerated, and the association of
husband and wife was limited to the procreation of children. Ordi-
narily, their ranks were ﬁlled up by proselytes who voluntarily oined
the society 5 or by the adoption of orphans while young, whom they
educated in all the learning of their sect, and reared up according to
the discipline of their order.
In their religious principles the Essenes did not materially differ
from the Pharisees 5 they fulﬁlled strictly all the requirements of the
law, although they offered no animal sacriﬁces in the temple. They
kept the Sabbath holy, abstained from all manner of work, and
assembled in their synagogues to listen to the teachings of the elders,
who explained and interpreted the law through the medium of parables.
Their more abstruse doctrines had already assumed a speculative cast,
and were idealised by metaphysical reﬁnement. They based the social
and physical economy of the world upon the eternal and irreversible
order of predestination. They looked upon the body as mortal,
as the perishable prison-house which keeps within conﬁned limits
the immortal soul, a pure emanation of the most subtle ethereal sub-
stance, which, after having been subjected to a degrading servitude
and to severe probationary discipline, is freed from its material encum-
brances, and soars aloft, wafted upwards on the wings of ineifable
delight, into the congenial regions of its spirit-home. Their paradise
or elysian abode of the spirit-world was a spot of enchanting loveli-
ness and beauty, situated in some blessed region beyond the distant
ocean bounds, where the disenthralled spirits of the good, the pure,
and the holy revelled in perpetual joy and happiness 5 where the air
was fanned with refreshing breezes 5 where the sky was ever cloud-
less; where parching heat never dried up the sap of life, nor winter
frosts ever congealed motion into torpid inactivity. The souls of the
wicked, the wretched victims of a degraded life, were doomed to dwell
in the outermost bounds of a waste and desert land, never illuminated
by the light of heaven5 a dreary, cold, and monotonous plain, where
existence is a burden, where the guilty pangs of anguish and ever-
lasting torments convulse and torture the never-dying soul.
Their morals were of the most elevated standard, and were most
exemplary. They were bound by the most solemn pledges of ﬁdelity
to worship God, to deal out impartial justice unto men, and to keep
inviolable faith in all the affairs and transactions of life. The love of
truth and the hatred of falsehood were prominent features of their
moral training. They paid the highest Veneration to old age 5 and
their habits being extremely temperate and frugal, they were blessed
HEBREWS. I I 3
with the fulness of years. Their words were words of soberness 5 and
they never attempted to prove their character for veracity by an oath,
which they condemned as being equally as degrading as perjury.
They advocated the natural rights and personal liberty of man 5 and
they looked upon slavery as an abomination, as a violation of the
4 ﬁrst principle of social morality.
In their associated capacity they were bound to keep secret the
tenets of their order, and were only allowed to communicate them to
the members of their society. They were enjoined to preserve and
study the sacred books which contained the record of their doctrines,
and to keep in memory the names of the angelic host. They perused
the prophetic writings with searching scrutiny and diligence 5 and
popular credulity attributed to them the gift of prophecy, and invested
them with that still higher power of working miracles. They were
devoted to the study of the nature and cure of diseases, and searched
into the mysterious efﬁcacy and medicinal properties of herbs and
minerals. .
Although by their civil constitution they were all placed on a footing
of legal equality, yet they were distinguished by invidious class division 5
and the superior order claimed for themselves a higher degree of sanctity,
presuming that even the touch of one of the inferior classes would
impart a stain which could only be washed out by proper ablution.
To gain admission into the society the candidate was required to
serve a long probationary term, that he might be fully prepared, by
the strict observance of the prescribed rules, to occupy the exalted
station reserved for him whenever he was received into full member-
ship. On entering his noviciate, which lasted one year, the proselyte
was furnished with a pickaxe, a linen garment, and a white dress 5 and
his moral conduct during that period having been approved, he was
admitted to closer fellowship, and was entitled to the privilege of
washing in holy water. His actions were still watched, and his mode
of life- closely observed; and he was only received in the common
refectory after a trial of two additional years, if he was found worthy
of the high calling to which he aspired.
If one of the sect was accused of a crime, he was tried before a
tribunal of his brethren, and if found guilty he was expelled 5 but
the sentence of expulsion could only be pronounced in the presence
of a hundred members, and it was then irrevocable. This was the
severest penalty that could be inﬂicted 5 for having solemnly bound
‘himself to receive no food except from his own sect, the outcast was
compelled to feed on the grass of the ﬁeld, and was eventually doomed
to perish with hunger. He might, however, be readmitted to all the
rights and privileges of the society on showing sincere repentance, and
making an earnest appeal, exciting the compassion of the members of
the community.
The government of the Hebrews varied in form at different periods
of their history 5 but in principle the fundamental organic law
remained unchanged. Whether the executive authority was vested
in a popular chief or an hereditary monarch, the great Jehovah was
recognised as the Sovereign Ruler, who was their lawgiver, their
- H
114. THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
judge, and their protector. Their lands, their possessions, and even
their national independence, were His free gifts—blessings bestowed
upon them as a special favour—that they might be enabled to perpe-
tuate and transmit to future generations the religious truths that had
been intrusted to their keeping. They ascribed all public calamities
to their sinful disobedience 3 and when war, famine, or pestilence
devastated the land and smote the inhabitants with the rod of destruc-
tion, they bowed their heads in deepest humility before the throne of
the omnipotent Jehovah, implored his forgiveness, and cried to him
for help in their distress and helplessness.
The constitutional form of the government was, however, at all times,
at least before the establishment of the monarchy, a confederacy of tribal
republics, who acknowledged a common federal head as the leader of
their armies, and in whom was vested the highest judicial authority;
but in their domestic relations they were in a manner independent.
Their liberty was only restricted by the supremacy of the law, to which
all without distinction owed unconditional obedience. Their internal
affairs were managed by elders, who were the chief men of the com-
munity, were rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of ﬁfties, and of tens
of associated families, and judged the people at all seasons.1 Pro-
vincial assemblies composed of the ruling aristocracy, including the
Levites, who were the scribes and genealogists, were from time to
time convened to discuss matters of local importance 3 but they had no
legislative power, for the law was ﬁxed and permanent, to which
not a jot or tittle could be added, nor could any part be altered or abro-
gated. The princes, judges, and administrative officers of all the
tribes, and other men of distinction and personal merit, were called
together by the executive authority of the nation, or by the high
priest, to meet before the door of the tabernacle, in general assembly,
for the exercise of sovereign powers, and to decide questions of com—
mon interest to the whole state. They declared war, made peace,
formed alliances, appointed the chiefs of the army, and even deter-
mined the choice of kings. .
Nor had the kings any real power over the masses of the people.
Saul and David were merely leaders of armies, organised principally
for defensive warfare, although occasionally employed for purposes
of conquest. They exercised despotic power over their immediate
dependents by whom they were surrounded, but beyond this their
authority was only nominal. Solomon was the ﬁrst king who
exacted contributions in kind from the people for the maintenance
of his expensive household 3 but his great riches and treasures were
principally derived from his commercial enterprises, and the tribute
paid to him by tributary princes and foreign traders.2 The rank and
station of the kings did not entitle them to any privilege. They
were subjected to the religious and civil laws of the land, and were
commanded to write them in a bo~k and read them all the days of
their life, that their heart might not be lifted up above their brethren.3
It was only by acts of usurpation and violence that they gave effect to

1 Exod. xviii. 25, 26. 2 1 Kings iv. 7, 21. 3 Dent. xvii. 19, 20.
HEBREWS. 1 1 5
arbitrary measures, often excessively oppressive and tyrannical. But
the priests, the Levites, and the prophets, who were the conservators
as well as the interpreters of the law, formed, by their moral inﬂuence
among the people, a sufficient counterpoise to render the power of
the kings almost nugatory.
The I- constitution of the Hebrew commonwealth was, considering
the time it originated and the character of the people for whom it
was intended, the wisest and most conservative organic law that can
possibly be devised. The supremacy of the law, symbolised by a
theocratic form of government, was its fundamental principle. Implicit
and unconditional obedience to the law, to be rendered by all classes
of society without distinction, placed the governors and the governed
upon a perfect footing of equality, and made oppression and usurpation
almost impossible. As the laws were ﬁxed and unalterable, no revo-
lutionary changes could ever convulse society, which, when once
. ‘organised in conformity with the established system, was no longer
susceptible of improvement in accordance with the modern idea of
progress 3 but as it had then reached its standard of perfection, every
deviation from this standard would have been a violation of constitu-
tional principles 3 it would have been an act of rebellion against the
sovereign authority of the land, and, so far from being a sign of pro-
gress, it would have been considered a retrogressive step, undermining
the stability and integrity of the nation. N 0 change could be
effected by the secular power in the internal and domestic government
of the tribal communities, which were the principal safeguard against
infringement of the personal liberty of the individuals 3 for it was the
interest of the sacerdotal order to preserve the privileges to which it
was entitled by virtue of its sacred functions 3 and thus it became
the conservator of the law, in direct antagonism to a centralised,
‘consolidated despotic power.
As all the political offices in the state were ﬁlled gratuitously, and
were positions of honour conferring distinction and high considera-
tion, there was no public revenue collected by means of a regular
system of taxation to defray the expenses of the government. The
sacred treasury, which supplied the expenditure for the maintenance of
public worship, was replenished from the booty taken in war, from
the ﬁrst-fruits, the redemption of the ﬁrst-born, and voluntary offer—
.ings made in the form of vows. The people were, however, required
to contribute from their substance for the support of the Levites, who
received for their public services one-tenth of the proceeds of the
land, besides the tithes of the poor and the ordinary temple offerings,
which were also contributions obligatory upon all.
The Hebrews, having obtained possession of the land of their
fathers by conquest, which was only completed during the reign of
David, were a military nation of the ﬁrst order. Every man able to
bear arms, including the Levites and priests, was enrolled in the
army 3 and at the age of twenty years and upwards they were always
ready and willing to defend their country, and to invade the neigh-
bouring territories to adjust their boundaries and wage retaliatory
warfare against their enemies. David was a successful commander
116 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
and military hero 5 he divided his forces into twelve corps of twenty—
four thousand men, each division serving in monthly rotation 5 and
to this already numerous army Solomon added fourteen hundred
chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
Their most ordinary weapons of attack were bows and arrows,
slings, javelines, and lances; but in close encounters, when every soldier
fought man to man, they were expert in the use of swords.1 Their
defensive arms consisted of helmets, shields, and coats of mail 5 2 and
battering-rams, wooden towers for hurling darts, and scaling ladders
were employed in siege operations.
The administration of justice was conﬁded to regular tribunals,
composed of men learned in the law, called shophetz'm (judges) 5 and
they were assisted by executive officers who bore the title of
shozfcrz'm. They held their sittings at the gates of the towns, the
place where the markets were held and the most important business
transactions were concluded. Twenty-three shophetzbn constituted
the provincial Sanhedrim who tried all criminal and civil cases
brought before them. After the building of the second temple the
supreme judicial authority was vested in the Great Sanhedrim, the
ecclesiastical and civil council to whom all cases of importance were
referred for ﬁnal decision. It was composed of seventy-one members,
with the high priest as presiding dignitary, having the father of the
council or vice-president at his right, and the wise men or learned
doctors of the law at his left. Its jurisdiction extended over capital
offences and violations of the law of an aggravated character. Scourg-
ing was the penalty inflicted for ordinary offences, but capital crimes
were punished with death. ‘I
The Mosaic law was comprehensive 5 it was impartial and just, well
adapted to meet every contingency 5 and it made a suitable provision
for every condition in life. It determined with precision the moral
and religious duties of the individual 5 it regulated the domestic rela-
tions of the family 5 it protected society against violence and crime by
penal enactments stringent in their tenor and effective in their appli_
cation. It clearly designated the fundamental articles of religious-
belief, and established by appropriate ceremonials a uniform mode of
public worship. It prescribed the necessary regulations to preserve
public health 5 it took the poor and the stranger under its protecting
care. The rights of property were well deﬁned, and even the rules
of war were distinctly marked out. Its framework was a marvel of
simplicity, and yet sufﬁciently complicated to secure the self-existence
and‘ the independence of the nation. It was destined to represent the
most advanced principles of the existing civilisation 5 and at the same
time it was intended as an educational agency, to form a new nationality
and shape its future destiny. Although the father was considered the
patriarchal head of the household, the chief and master of the family,
where he exercised unlimited authority over his children and slaves,

1 Exod. xxxii. 27; Ps. xliv. 6; Cant. iii. 8 5 Judg. xx. 15, 16, I7; 1 Sam.
xvii. 49, xxv. I3 5 2 Chron. xxvi. I4.
2 I Sam. xxviii. 38; 2 Chron. xxvi. I4.
HEBREWS. :1 I 7
yet he could not disinherit his sons 5 the ﬁrst-born was entitled to
two shares, and the rest of the property was equally divided among
the remaining male heirs. As daughters on entering the marriage
relation would alienate the family estate, they were entirely excluded
from all landed inheritance, except when the male line was extinct.
By the organic law it was made the duty obligatory upon every
Hebrew to honour his father and mother 5 and if he cursed or struck
them, or if he was accused by them of rebellion and debauchery, he
was judged by the elders of the city, and, if condemned, he was stoned
to death. If suffering under the pangs and anguish of poverty and
destitution, a man was permitted to sell himself as a hired servant for
a period of six years 51 and under the same conditions he might also
sell his children, to escape the horrid death of starvation.
Slavery, which had existed as an ancient institution from the earliest
period of patriarchal times, was recognised by the Mosaic law; but
the slaves were all of foreign origin, they were either purchased or
were captives of war, and no Hebrew could be sold into perpetual
slavery as bondsman. If a master struck his slave with a rod causing
immediate death, he was punishable 5 but if the slave continued to live
a day or two, the punishment was remitted. A slave was entitled to
his freedom if one of his eyes or one of his teeth was struck out.
The sanitary laws were distinguished by great minuteness of detail,
nothing was overlooked that was deemed beneﬁcial as a preservative
of public health. The‘ dietary regulations distinctly marked out by
proper characteristics those animals whose ﬂesh was considered whole-
some and suitable as food. Personal cleanliness was enjoined by
rendering frequent ablutions necessary, not only as occasional acts of
puriﬁcation, but as a daily practice. The spread of contagious or
infectious diseases was guarded against by the strictest quarantine
rules, by [a regular system of inspection, and by setting apart hospital
grounds, provided with proper accommodation, for persons afﬂicted
with that dreadful disease called leprosy.
The chastity of women was surrounded by every safeguard to pre—
serve the purity of family life. Adultery was punished with death,
and both parties were considered equally guilty. A betrothed virgin
who indulged in a criminal connection before marriage, was led from
the nuptial couch to the place of execution. The wife who was only
suspected of inﬁdelity was subjected to the most terrible ordeal, whose
awful solemnity and denunciatory maledictions would betray into weak-
ness the accusing conscience of the most ﬁrm and resolute woman.
The law by which the ownership of landed property was regulated
and controlled, was highly conservative, and contributed in no small
degree to maintain the political and social equality by which the
Hebrew commonwealth was distinguished. Houses in walled cities,
not making a part of any landed estate, could be sold in perpetuity,
but were redeemable within the ﬁrst year after the sale 5 but landed
property was absolutely inalienable, although the usufructuary right
might be transferred for a limited period of time, which could in no

1 Lev. xxv. 4o, 42, 44, 46.
118 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
case exceed forty-nine years 3 for in the year of Jubilee all the lands
reverted to the original owners, if not previously redeemed by a return
of a proportionate part of the purchase money.
As the Hebrews were an agricultural and not a commercial people,
the Hebrew lawgiver, with a commendable spirit of benevolence,
prohibited interest to be taken, or a compensation to be exacted for
money lent to a poor and needy fellow-countryman, with the object-
of relieving his immediate wants and necessities. But interest1 was
considered a legitimate proﬁt if derived from money lent to strangers,
who were generally engaged in commercial pursuits.
The laws and injunctions concerning the poor and the stranger-
were dictated by a spirit of philanthropy that ignored class distinc~
tion, and was superior to all narrow and exclusive national prejudices.
The widow and the orphan were required to be treated with tender‘
ness and sympathy. The home of the poor man was sacred 3 his gar-
ment, if pledged, was to be restored before nightfall. The husband--
man was commanded to leave the gleanings of the harvest ﬁeld and
of the vineyard untouched, to be gathered by the poor and the stranger.
The aid rendered to a needy Hebrew by the loan of money was to be
regarded as an act of charity or a gratuitous accommodation. The-
most liberal sentiments were inculcated concerning the domiciled
stranger 3 he was to be treated with the same consideration as if he
were born in the country, and he was entitled to protection against
exaction and oppression.
The provisions of the penal law were expressed in clear, concise,
and unequivocal language. The punishment was sufficiently adequate,
and rarely disproportionate to the nature of the crime. Murder was
not only an offence by which an irreparable injury may have been
inﬂicted upon surviving relatives, but it was a criminal act of the
most atrocious character 3 it was a violation of the public law, and
could only be expiated by taking the life of the murderer, as an
equivalent ransom for the life of the victim. The practice of blood-
revenge, which was universally prevalent, was ingeniously obviated
by appointing a certain number of cities of refuge, situated in different.
parts of the country, where the man-slayer might ﬁnd a safe asylum until
the case was tried before a judicial tribunal. If from the evidence it
appeared that the homicide was justiﬁable or accidental, the perpe-
trator of the act was not entirely released, but was bound to reside
within the limits of the sanctuary for a certain period of time 3 and if
he left the place where alone he could ﬁnd protection, before the
days of his expiation had expired, he did so at the risk of being slain
by the nearest relative of the victim. The law of retaliation was, in
principle, applied to all cases of bodily injury wantonly inﬂicted 3 but
the Zezc talz'om's was never literally interpreted 3 and the expressions,

1 In the English Bible the legal interest allowed to be taken from trading
strangers is erroneously called usury, a term suggested by the prohibitory
injunction of the Catholic authorities of the Middle Ages to take interest, which,
however reduced its rate might be, was considered usurious; for the Catholic
Church was, in principle, opposed to the exercise of commercial pursuits, which
could only be followed with a good conscience by Jews and inﬁdels. '
HEBREWS. I 19
“ an eye for an eye,” “ a tooth for a tooth,” were considered as ﬁgures
of speech, indicating the payment of damages in strict conformity
with the injury inﬂicted. The offence of stealing oxen or sheep could
only be repaired by a double or ﬁvefold restitution 3 and if the
offender was too poor to comply with the conditions of the law, he
forfeited his freedom, and, being sold into servitude, the amount
realised was paid over to the injured party.
During the period intervening between the destruction of the ﬁrst
and the building of the second temple, the sacerdotal order, if not
abolished, was in abeyance as regards its priestly functions; but the
Hebrew nationality did not cease to exist, and the Hebrews still formed
a separate and distinct body politic, professing a common religion and
governed by common laws. The service of the temple was superseded
by synagogue worship, which now assumed aregular form; and the
rabbis exercised the authority which was once vested in the priests
and the Levites. Although they did not profess to be‘ inspired men,
nor did they claim to be invested with sacred functions by divine
appointment, yet, as the interpreters of the law, as the depositaries of
the learning and wisdom of the ancient fathers, their inﬂuence over the
minds of the masses was unbounded. The knowledge of the law and
the prophets was no longer suﬂicient in order to be recognised as a
competent and authorised teacher in Israel 3 but the civil and religious
policy of the Mosaic institutes was overburdened with an extensive
collection of traditions called the massomh, which, it was asserted, had
been delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, and had been perpetuated, by
oral transmission, as the unwritten law by the great men of the nation
who presided from time to time over the great national assembly called
the Great Sanhedrim.1 It is during this period that the oral or custo-
mary law, as incorporated in the Mishna and Gemarah became developed 3
and though founded in its essential principles on the laws of the Pen-
tateuch, yet it was necessarily modiﬁed and controlled, by virtue of legal
argumentation and judicial decisions, by the changed state of the social
and political condition of the Hebrews, and the constant progressive
or retrogressive movements which impart life to society, and which
even the most conservative national institutions are unable to arrest.
During this period the three tribunals established for the adminis-
tration of justice were the petty courts of three judges, who were
competent to adjudicate upon civil cases 3 the provincial Sanhedrim,
consisting of twenty-three members, who had not only criminal juris-
diction, but were a court of ﬁrst instance in all ordinary civil matters 3
and, lastly, the Great Sanhedrim of Jerusalem, which was the supreme
authority of the nation. The scheme of the legal administration was
based upon the representative system. The Great Sanhedrim sent an
order bidding the residents of the town to assemble and nominate from

1 The assertion of the rabbis is, at least in part, unfounded ; for the Sanhedrim
was only instituted as a national legislative body, and a tribunal of the highest
jurisdiction, before the building of the second temple; and though a similar
tribunal existed in the time of lVIoses, yet there is no evidence to show that
it was continued after the conquest of Palestine either under the judges or the
kings.
120 THE ARALIJEAN STOCK.
among themselves such as were “learned, modest, and popular.” ' A
return of the selection was made, and an authority, in conformity with
custom, was issued, which constituted the judges elect a corporate body.
A provincial Sanhedrim was established in every town inhabited by a
hundred and twenty families. In small towns the sessions of these
tribunals were not permanent, and the members were only convened as
a court when the accumulated judicial business required it 5 but in the
cities the sessions of the court were regular and uninterrupted. In
Jerusalem there were only two ordinary Sanhedrims, of twenty-three
members each, and the Great Sanhedrim, composed of seventy-one of
the most eminent judges of the nation.
In the trial of civil cases in the petty courts, the plaintiff and
defendant in a cause nominated each of them a competent person to
act as judge, and these two named a third 5 but these tribunals had
only a temporary organisation, and attended only to speciﬁc cases.
To the Great Sanhedrim only such men “learned in the law” were
admitted, who were distinguished for legal acumen, proved ability,
sound knowledge, and undoubted integrity. Thosev who were dis-
qualiﬁed to receive the appointment as judges, and were not even
considered competent witnesses, were men who made money by dice-
playing, or any other game of hazard, who bet on pigeon matches, who
lent money on usury, whether to a Jew or a heathen,1 and those who
were professional slave dealers. Those who were related to the parties,
or were interested in the suit, were also incapacitated from acting as
judges. The provincial Sanhedrims were not only courts of justice
with deﬁned powers, but they assessed the amount of taxes to be
imposed; they organised the distribution of the communal charity 5
they were charged with the administration of the public elementary
schools 5 they superintended the periodical inspection of the weights
and measures 5 they constructed, examined, and repaired the defences
of the walled towns 5 they were the local highway board 5 they were
the sanitary authorities, and they discharged numerous other duties of
local government.
The mode of procedure in ordinary trials was very simple. The
prosecutor, who was appointed by the court, ﬁled his complaint 5 he
arrested the accused, and brought him before the tribunal. After the
witnesses that had been summoned were heard, the plaintiff and
defendant quitted the judgment hall, to permit the judges to deliberate
by maturely weighing all the facts having a direct bearing upon the
case. The members of the tribunals acted both as judges of the law
and as jury; and they never failed, in rendering their judgment, to
mitigate its severity by admitting, on a very liberal basis, extenuating
circumstances in favour of the accused; for they deemed it their duty,
not only to make their decision with perfect impartiality, but to
emulate “the heavenly attribute of mercy.” The right of appeal to a
neighbouring Sanhedrim could be exercised within thirty days after
the trial in the ﬁrst instance. The suitors were entitled to receive a

1 These practices were introduced_among the Hebrews after their return from
the captivity.
HEBREWS. 1 2 1
written record of the reasons and arguments upon which the decision
was founded. The Great Sanhedrim of Jerusalem had appellate juris-
diction in all criminal cases, and original jurisdiction when an accusation
was preferred against a high priest, or a false prophet, or against a city
given to pagan practices, or against an entire tribe. The views of the
majority were considered binding upon all; and the non-compliance
with its judgment was punished with death.
In establishing the rules of evidence, the primary objectIof the
Hebrew judicial system was to render the conviction of an innocent
person impossible. N 0 man could incriminate himself, nor could the
wife give evidence against her husband, while a prisoner was not
debarred from testifying in his own favour. T o procure the condemna-
tion of an accused person, two competent witnesses, not related, were
absolutely necessary. To render the evidence of a witness conclusive
for conviction, when a woman was tried for adultery who was supposed
to be ignorant of the law, it was one of the most important requisites
that the person testifying had cautioned the prisoner as regards the
gravity of the offence, and had warned her of the punishment to which
she was liable if convicted. Hearsay and circumstantial evidence was
inadmissible.1
The capital punishments were stoning, which consisted in hurling
the criminal from the height of an eminence; strangling, which was
effected by ﬁxing the body of the culprit up to his knees immovably
in the ground, while two men pulled in different directions a cord
wrapped in soft cloth that was passed round his neck 5 burning, which
differed only from death by strangling, that a lighted wick was thrown
into the open mouth of the person previously strangled. Decapitation
was considered the most degrading and ignominious death a man could
suffer. Cruciﬁxion, as practised by the Romans, was unknown both
to the Biblical and Talmudic law. Before execution took place the
prisoner was stupeﬁed, by administering to him a soporiﬁc draught
composed of a mixture of myrrh, incense, and vinegar.
After the destruction of the second temple the synagogue was the
“ house of God,” without altar, without seraphim and cherubim, and
without the “holy of holies 5” but it was sanctiﬁed by the actual
presence of the “divine light” (Shé/zi'i'lld) wherever a congregation of
ten devout men was assembled; and in order that divine worship
might be performed on the Sabbath, the regular feasts, and the second
and ﬁfth day of the week, ten of the most pious men of the com-
munity, who were men of leisure, were appointed to attend the religious
exercises in the synagogue at the time and seasons when it was made
the duty of every Hebrew to address his prayers to the God of his
fathers.
The synagogues were generally plain and unostentatious structures,
without architectural pretensions or artistic embellishment. Nor did
the interior of the buildings present any ornamental decorations. An

1 Those who. wish to acquire a more extensive knowledge of the laws of evidence
of Hebrew jurlsprudence, would do well to read that most excellent little work of
Mr. Benny, “The Criminal Code of the Jews.”
‘inxwu'
122 THE ARAMPEAN STOCK.
elevated rostrum or tribune (aZ mentor) stood in the centre, provided
with a desk on which the them rolls, or books of the law, were spread,
from which a reader, appointed for this purpose, read a portion of the
Pentateuch suitable to the occasion, observing the proper accent and
intonation, without omitting or changing a jot or tittle of the pure
and correct text. In the wall in the end facing Jerusalem there was
a square oblong recess, closed by folding-doors and covered with a
curtain, which was typical of the ark of the covenant and was called
the “holy ark” (Oran hakodesh). Here the thaw rolls, written on
parchment in the square Hebrew character, without vowel marks and
without punctuation, were preserved as a perpetual testimony to the
truth as it was delivered to the Israelites through the mouth of their
lawgiver and prophet. The chief dignitary of the community who
conducted the divine service in the synagogue, was called “angel”
(malach). He repeated in a loud voice the usual prayers in Hebrew,
and supervised the reading of the law by a certain number of members
of the congregation, the original text being translated by an inter-
preter in the vernacular, generally Greek or Syro-Chaldaeic.
Three elders or rulers of the synagogue were associated with the
rabbi, and they together formed a consistory or court of justice for
the trial of offences, being invested with authority to inﬂict punish-
ment by sconrging. But the most potent weapon to maintain the
supremacy of the rabbinical domination, carrying with it powers
almost despotic, was the sentence of excommunication, which cut off
the offender from the Israel of God, and made him an outcast of
society.
During the period‘of persecution, when the Jews were driven from
country to country, and the civilised world had conspired to treat
them as outcasts and as the pariahs of society, they met in secret for
public worship, in cellars or in retired places, unobserved by the
public eye 3 or they assembled in the open air in picturesque mountain
glens, by the seaside, or under the shady canopy of the forest grove.
To worship God according to their ancient customs, and address their
prayers to Him who had so signally preserved them in the midst of
the greatest calamities and misfortunes, was their ﬁrst duty, and they
discharged it at the peril and risk of their lives.
AUTHORITIES.
English Version of the Bible.
The History of the Jews. By H. H. Milman. 1835.
Jewish Antiquities. By Flavius Josephus.
History of the Hebrew Commonwealth. By J. J ahn.
Das J udenthum und seine Geschichte. Von Abraham Geiger. 1865.
The Criminal Code of the Jews. By Philip Berger Benny. 1880.
Geschichte der Israeliten. Von Dr. Gratz. 187 5.
Die Geschichte des J iidischen Volkes und seiner literatur. Von Dr. S.
Back. 1877.
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. 123
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST AND TALMUD
JEWS OF POLAND.
THE Jews had formed regular colonies in Asia, in Africa, and partly also
in Europe, long before the destruction of Jerusalem by Trajan. The
Jews of Persia, Babylonia, and Armenia are the descendants of the
remnant of the captivity who did not join the band of patriots that
returned to the Holy Land under the leadership of Zerubbabel and
Nehemiah, but preferred to remain in the country of their adoption,
whose language they had learned, and where they had attained a
degree of opulence and consideration which is in marked contrast with
their condition for the last three centuries under the Persian and
Turkish domination.
After Alexander had conquered Syria, and Jerusalem had volun-
tarily surrendered to the mighty conqueror, he conferred upon the
Jews many distinguished favours and privileges, and colonised a con-
siderable number of them in Alexandria—an Egyptian seaport city
which he had recently founded. Here in their new home they enjoyed
equal rights with the Greeks, and by their industry and intelligence
not only acquired wealth and inﬂuence, but they were distinguished for
their learning, and established a philosophical school, of which Philo
was one of the most renowned teachers and illustrious expounders.
Although they did not go up to Jerusalem to offer sacriﬁces in
the temple, they nevertheless acknowledged religious allegiance to
the mother country, and contributed, from the abundance of their
means, more than a proportionate share for the maintenance of temple
worship. Alexandria fell into the ‘hands of the Romans; it became
a Christian city under Constantine; it was subsequently conquered
by the Saracens, who were superseded by the Mamelooks and the
Turks; and as its commercial prosperity had vanished, the ancient
landmarks of the city gradually disappeared, until it was reduced to a
collection of insigniﬁcant mud hovels, the humble habitations of six
thousand miserable and poverty—stricken Arabs, leaving nothing behind
of its former grandeur but Pompey’s Pillar and Cleopatra’s Needles ;
and with it passed away the Alexandrian Jews, with all their wealth,
their learning, and their philosophy.
Jewish communities of respectability, in point of character as well
as numbers, existed in Greece and Rome several centuries before the
temple service had entirely passed away. These expatriated Jews
were naturalised in their adopted country, and spoke Greek or Latin
as their vernacular tongue, although they still faithfully observed their
ancient religious customs and remained true to the faith of their fathers.
124 v THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
Titus, as well as Trajan, carried captive to Rome a vast number of
Jewish warriors who had obstinately defended the holy city to the
last extremity, and they thus became dispersed throughout every part
of the Roman world 5 and to this day regularly-organised Jewish com-
munities are found in every country where civilisation has advanced
beyond the lowest state of barbarism. Even in the very heart of
China there exists a Jewish congregation, who observe the Sabbath,
and pray and read the Pentateuch in the Hebrew tongue. The native
Jews of Bombay are descended from a stock so ancient that they have
forgotten the origin and many tenets of their religion.1
Jewish principalities whose people were governed by their own laws,
and who, yielding obedience only to their own chiefs, occupied forti-
ﬁed places protected by strong castles, were scattered over many parts
of Arabia. Mohamed, inspired by religious zeal and the blind fury
of fanaticism, waged a war of extermination against the Jews who
obstinately refused to exchange their own faith for that of Islam 5 and
he thus swept away what he considered inﬁdelity from the sacred soil
of Arabia—the cradle-land of the Moslem creed.
In modern Persia the Jews are, perhaps, more oppressed than in
any other country in the world. They are not only held in contempt
and derision by their Mohamedan masters, but they are considered
as morally impure and deﬁled; their contact is avoided; they are
excluded from every honourable occupation, are debarred from all com—
mercial enterprise and lawful trafﬁc, and are forced to followr the most
uncongenial pursuits, and engage in the basest and most unproﬁtable
trades, which keeps them in a state of poverty and destitution. The
implacable hatred and truculent rancour of the bigoted Persian are not
the natural outgrowth of fanaticism or religious intolerance, but they are
the legitimate fruit of unreasoning prejudice, which takes pleasure in
keeping the weak and defenceless in a state of despicable subserviency
and vile debasement. In many towns the Jew cannot enter the public
bazaars without imminent peril 5 and whenever he dares to show him-
self in the streets, his cautious look and wary step mark him out as
a victim of injustice and oppression 5 he is in constant dread of meet-
ing his enemy, from whom he expects nothing but abuse and ill-
treatment. In the cities the Jews are cooped up within a narrow and
contracted space, living in miserable, dilapidated dwellings, whose
overcrowded inmates are not only haggard and lean—for unwholesome
and scanty food just saves them from starvation—but they look pale
and sickly, for the stagnant vapours exhaled from the heaps of refuse
rubbish piled all around them by their Mohamedan neighbours close
them up, as it were, within a foul and mephitic atmosphere, producing
the natural result of stifling their intellect and undermining their
bodily constitution?
Some of the Persian and Babylonian Jews, being too closely pressed

1 The native Jews of Bombay are undoubtedly of Arabic origin, and are
Arabs whose forefathers had been converted to Judaism long before Mohamed
had revolutionised Arabia.
0 2 Sterne’s Dawning of the Light from the East, p. 17 5.
ORTHODOX J EWS OF THE EAST. 125
by their enemies, or escaping from the oppression of domineering
masters, found a refuge in the very heart of the Koordish mountains,
where they lead a nomadic life amidst the inaccessible crags and glens
of those wild and romantic regions, and where they have adopted the
garb, the language, and the mode of living of the Koordish hordes,
by whom they are surrounded, and with whom they live on terms of
amity. They pitch their camp, composed of large black tents, in
localities favourable for pasturage and water. They subsist on the
ﬂesh and milk of their sheep. The men attend not only to the ﬂocks,
but they are brave warriors, and in time of war they know how to
defend themselves and protect their encampment from the inroads of
marauding enemies. Others belonging to the clan wander on foot
through the mountain settlements, and offer their wares as travelling
merchants, or their services as tinkering goldsmiths. The women
milk the ewes in wooden bowls.1 The girls wear their hair in long
plaited tresses, ornamented with tassels and interwoven with gold
coin. Their ﬂowing garments are of bright silk. Their head is
entwined with a high, gay-coloured turban, embroidered with pieces
of gold coin, to which a ﬁne white veil is attached, falling gracefully
over their shoulders. They have inherited the love of music of their
ancestors, who, when overwhelmed by a feeling of desolation and
abandonment, hung their harps upon the willows. The Jewish maidens
of the Koordish mountains, although they are not gifted with artistic
skill to attune their musical notes to the sweet sounds of the harp,
yet their plaintive melodies, sung to the measure of the tambourine,
re-echo from the mountain heights at a distance.2
The most eminent and most inﬂuential of the Babylonian Jews
found a home and an asylum in Bagdad, once “the mother of the
world,” which was founded by Almansar in the year 760 A. 1)., on the
western banks of the Tigris. At the time when the Arabian kalifs
had reached the summit of power, Bagdad was a magniﬁcent city,
vying with Babylon of old in splendour and opulence. But since it
has been subjected to Turkish rule its prosperity has declined, its
palaces have crumbled into dust, its mosques‘ are falling to decay, its
commercial activity has greatly diminished, and it is but the shadow
of what it was when it formed the metropolitan centre of the Arabian
empire. Its population has dwindled down to forty thousand inhabi-
tants, of which sixteen thousand are Jews.
The Jewish community of Bagdad has three large and six small
synagogues. These old Jews, of pure and unmixed lineage, are strict
in the observance of religious ceremonies, and scrupulous in the per-
formance of all external rites. They yield implicit obedience to
rabbinical supremacy, regulate their conduct by the traditions of the
elders, have great reverence for their religious teachers, and consider
the wisdom and learning of the Talmud as the most essential branch
of a liberal education 5 and while they are zealously devoted to the
interests and welfare of the common household of the faithful, they
have all the bigotry and superstition ‘of the Asiatic Jews. They form

1 Layard’s Nineveh, p. 383. 2 Ibid.
1 26 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
a distinct and separate body politic for the management of their
internal affairs, subject to the supervision of the Turkish authorities.
Three rabbins are appointed, for their learning and impartiality, as
judges to preside over the judicial tribunal, whose jurisdiction extends
over all cases, civil as well as criminal, that may be submitted to it
for ﬁnal decision.
The N asi or Prince of the Captivity, which, during the reign of the
kalifs, was a title of honour as well as power, is now conferred by
the Sultan upon the most inﬂuential merchant, distinguished both for
wealth and administrative abilities. All the ﬁnancial affairs of the
community are under his control. He superintends the collection of
taxes and other contributions, and is responsible to the government
for the amount with which the community stands charged as the pro-
portionate share of revenue to be paid over to the imperial treasury.
The Jews constitute the most important portion of the population
of Bagdad. They are the principal merchants and bankers, and
nearly all the business transactions are conducted through their imme—
diate agency; so that on the Sabbath-day most of the bazaars are
closed and trafﬁc is suspended. Every bazaar is ﬁlled with their mer-
chandise, and they monopolise the principal caravanseries as store-
houses for their goods.
The education even of the better classes of the Bagdad Jews is
rather limited. They are versed in rabbinical lore, and pay much
attention to Hebrew literature; but a thorough knowledge of Arabic,
which is the vernacular tongue, and other useful branches of learning,
receive little encouragement.
There are in Syria several Jewish communities whose ancestors
came directly from Palestine. But the Jews of the Turkish empire
are for the most part the descendants of the Spanish Jews, who, as
houseless and homeless Wanderers and abandoned and lonely exiles,
sought shelter in foreign lands from the dreadful calamities inﬂicted
upon them by a tyrannical government which had reduced them to
poverty and destitution. They directed their steps towards the East,
where their spiritual aspirations and their hopes of a future life were
more vividly excited, exerting a beneﬁcent inﬂuence by teaching them
patience in long-suffering, and rousing up their ﬂagging energies by
an increased power of endurance. Broussa, the ancient capital of
Bithynia, recalled to their mind the shadowy, airy, and dreamlike
forms of Moresque architecture 3 for they could not forget that fairy
creation—the Alhambra of Grenada—nor the beloved city, where they
found not only protection, but the free enjoyment of civil and poli-
tical rights. Driven from Spain in 1415, they entered Broussa with a
heavy heart; and attracted by the charm of this purely oriental city,
they applied for permission to organise a Jewish community in the
midst of a Mohamedan population, and the sultan Mohamed I.
accorded to them the privilege of a permanent settlement, with a
guarantee of protection in the free exercise of their religious and
civil rights.
In 1495, when the whole Jewish population of Spain were ruth—
lessly banished from'their native country, the greatest number found
ORTHODOX J EWS OF THE EAST. 127
homes and protection within the limits of the Turkish empire and
other Mohamedan states. The sultan Bajazet II., received them
with open arms, and placed them on an equal footing with other rag/aha,
subject to his supreme authority. From that time Constantinople
became the great centre of the Eastern Jews 3 and although they were
restricted to an exclusive quart-er within the city, they were compelled
to wear the yehoudcmee (a coloured overcoat or bcmz'sh) as a badge of
distinction, and were required to pay the capitation tax (haraj) 3 yet
they enjoyed the liberty of controlling in their own way all their
religious and civil concerns, and remained unmolested on the part of
the government, who regarded them as loyal and useful subjects.
Yet, notwithstanding this liberal policy of toleration, they were very
much oppressed by being despoiled of their accumulated wealth, on
the most-trivial pretext, by unscrupulous and rapacious pashas 3 and
they are even now scorned, reviled, and hated by the Mohamedan
Arabs and Turks, who merely tolerate them, but consider them as the
most God-forsaken and cursed race of reprobates who have incurred
the divine wrath; and the Osmanli freely apply to them the epithet
of tchcﬁut (mean, avaricious). The term J ew_(Yah00dee) is with the
Mussulman Arabs a proverbial expression, to give utterance to their
feelings of the most unqualiﬁed contempt. “ The Jew is a hog ” (El
Yahoodee khamzeer); “ Cursed be thy father, thou son of a Jew”
(Yulacm alcnk ya z'bn eZ Y ahoodee), are burning words and abusing
epithets that are hurled forth with impressive emphasis to calm
down the overﬂowing rancour of impotent rage. Nor are the more
civilised Christian Greeks less fanatical and unjust towards their
fellow-countrymen of Israelitish descent. Their senseless hatred
springs from blind, stolid bigotry. When a Greek wishes to express
the highest degree of deprecation he says, “ God forbid that such
misfortune should happen to any one, even to a J ew.” This rancorous
feeling manifests itself most conspicuously on Good Friday, when no
Jew would dare to approach the quarter where the Greeks reside with-
out running the risk of being stoned.
Although the Ohacham Bashi of Constantinople is the intermediate
representative of the Jews of the Ottoman empire, through whom the
Turkish government transmits the imperial orders to the grard
rabbis of the provinces, yet he exercises neither civil nor religious
supremacy outside of his local jurisdiction, and he can neither appoint
nor remove them 3 for every Jewish community is independent, and
they are all organised upon the same principle and are governed by
the same fundamental laws. There are in Turkey eight rabbinical
jurisdictions, of which Constantinople, Salonica, Broussa, Smyrna,
and Jerusalem are administered by grand rabbis or Chacham Bash-2's,-
while Soﬁa, Bosnia, and Hadrianople are presided over by rabbis of
the second class.1 The smaller towns, whose Jewish population is not
sufficiently numerous, are placed under the supervision of inferior
rabbis, who are appointed by the grand rabbis of the larger cities, to
whom they are directly responsible." The rabbis of the second as

1 Soﬁa and Bosnia are no longer dependent on the Turkish authorities.
128 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
well as those of the ﬁrst class are elected by the notables, and both
exercise the same powers. The judicial authority of each community
is vested in a tribunal called besdz'n, composed of three permanent
members, who are chosen from among the citizens, and are distinguished
for their experience, their practical wisdom, their intelligence, and
their domestic and civic virtues. All the administrative offices are
ﬁlled by election; and as the positions confer much honour, and are
productive of but slight emoluments, they do not satisfy the aspira-
tions of grovelling ambition, and are generally bestowed upon those
who are most competent to perform the ofﬁcial duties, and are most
worthy to act as the leading minds of the community. Each city is
represented before the provincial governor, or the pasha, by the chief
rabbi or by a member of the besdz'n expressly selected for this purpose.
The Jews of the Turkish empire regard the Talmud as the perfection
of divine wisdom, as the consummation of all moral and religious
teaching, an emanation of the divine mind, the absolute, the unchange-
able law, delivered to Moses and transmitted unimpaired and una-
bridged through the mouth of holy men, who in later times, in order
that it might not be forgotten or lost, reduced it to writing, and thus
perpetuated its testimony in the form of the Mishna (second law),
which contains the text, and the Gemarah (accomplishment), which is
the only true and infallible commentary of the spoken word. The
rabbis, who are the masters of this sophistical and often cabalistic
learning, intermixed with beautiful sentiments, lofty moral principles,
apt illustrations, superstitious utterances, and meaningless fatuities,
are the magicians who hold the Jewish people entranced by the
fervour of their eloquence, the ostentatious display of their Talmudical'
learning, their uncompromising bigotry, and their real or affected zeal
for ceremonial, religious Observances.
The grand and sublime idea which forms the fundamental principle
of Jewish monotheism, is degraded by the introduction of the Mani-
chaean doctrine of good and evil spirits regulating and controlling the
destiny of man. Jehovah and Satan, angels and demons, represent
the prevailing tendencies by which the actions of men and the
government of the world are characterised. The air is peopled with a
host of malevolent spirits, which are known by the name of Shedz'm, a
name inspiring fear and terror and which is never pronounced 5 and
if called for by unavoidable circumstances, the expressive substitute of
“ those without” is used in its place. It is supposed that every man
has two attendant spirits as his constant companions: the good angel
hovers around him on his right, and the malevolent demon on his
left, and his actions are prompted either by the one or the other of
these spiritual influences. The superstitions growing out- of this
doctrine of a dual‘moral agency are somewhat‘ fanciful; and while
they are degrading to the intellect, they exercise no deleterious
influence upon the life and conduct of the Eastern Jews. Ashmedaz',
the chief of the Shedz'm, is believed to lie in wait, that at an unguarded
hour he may stifle the child that is ready to be circumcised; and
parents, acting upon this belief, will watch their infant boy, and not
permit him to be out of sight for one moment on the day preceding
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. 129
circumcision. It is even asserted among the Jews of the East that
spirits multiply by propagating their kind, and that male spirits form
alliances with the women, while the female spirits entangle in their
cunning meshes of wedded love the young men of this gross material
world. When the spirits desire to celebrate a marriage festival, they
take possession of a house in a lonely and solitary place, and give
notice of their presence by hurling stones against the outer walls;
dishes vanish while eating, the Wine in the goblet becomes agitated
and overﬂows, little stones which fall into the oil on the Sabbath eve
dim the light of the burning lamps. If the haunted house is passed
late in the night, strange but bewitching music is heard, the dancer’s
rapid tread strikes the ear, and the merry glee and joyful sounds are
intermingled with hellish laughter, discordant like the horrid screams
of caterwauling cats celebrating their feline nuptials.
The most populous Jewish communities are found in the large
cities, in the seaports of the Levant, and in the commercial towns of
the interior. The Eastern Jews subject to the Porte are the poorest
class of the multiplied nationalities of which the Turkish empire is
composed. They rarely occupy positions of honour and distinction.
They are generally small traders, or they are engaged as brokers in
the bazaars 3 they monopolise almost entirely the business of the
tinsmith and hardware dealer; and the traffic of second-hand goods, as
well as the artistic manipulation of the lapidary, constitute their
favourite callings. Most of the wealthy merchants and eminent
' bankers, as well as the physicians who, by their scientiﬁc attainments
and extraordinary talent, have acquired professional reputation, belong
to the Jewish colonies collected together from various parts of Europe,
and are placed under the protection of the representatives of their
respective governments.
Intellectually considered, the Turkish Jews of the present day are
much inferior to the original stock of their Spanish ancestors. F or-
merly they were perfect masters of the Eastern languages, and ﬁlled
the important positions of interpreters, both to the Porte and to
foreign ambassadors and consuls’ ofﬁces ; but these places of honour
and proﬁt were at a later period ﬁlled by the Greeks, who were in
turn superseded by the Armenians. At one time the collection of
custom duties, the operations of the mint, and the management of
the principal banking establishments were all placed under their
control. Ines Castro, the Jewish rabbi of Constantinople, established
in his own house the only printing-press with European type then
existing in the East. John Miquez was made Duke of N axos and the
Cyclades by Selim II. Solomon Roph was sent to Venice in I 570
to negotiate peace 3 and Fonseca was physician to the Seraglio.
A spirit of excessive bigotry and exclusiveness contributes much to
keep alive those ancient prejudices, engendered by religious fanaticism
and mob violence, which keeps the Turkish Jews separate from the
mass of the population by whom they are surrounded, who look upon
them as alien intruders rather than as fellow-countrymen born on the
same soil and subject to the same government. Many of them do
not even understand the Turkish language, which sounds in their
I
1 30 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
ears like a foreign idiom, and which it would be their interest to
learn and thoroughly master, that new avenues of communication
might be opened for them that would advance their prosperity and
improve their social condition. Boys, instead of being educated and
taught to follow some useful pursuit, are sent out into the wide world
at a very early period of life to try their fortune in populous cities,
where they languish in obscurity, and, unless endowed with extra-
ordinary intelligence, pass their time idly in the streets, earn a spare
subsistence by acting as occasional porters or body servants 3 or they
are compelled to support themselves by mendicity, and become victims
of poverty, wretchedness, and degradation.
The conservative disposition of the Eastern Jews keeps them sta-
tionary, and they offer the most obstinate resistance to the steady
progress and the onward movement that is constantly going on around
them 3 and though they are generally active, industrious, and well
disposed, yet the want of a useful and practical education keeps the
Jews of the old school in a low state of ignorance as well as indigence.
They are all taught to read Hebrew, and repeat their prayers by rote,
and many of them study the Pentateuch and the prophets. The
most intellectual class dive even into the abstruse learning of the
Mishna and the Talmud 3 but they hardly know arithmetic enough to
keep proper accounts, and the acquirement of general knowledge and
profane literature is entirely neglected.1 The absolute despotism and
the abuse of power of the rabbis keep their minds in a depressed
condition, cause them to entertain narrow and contracted views by
substituting trivial Observances and superstitious practices for truly
religious principles and rational and useful instruction. Under pre-
tence of Scripture authority, they are forbidden the use of meat unless
the animal has been killed by an authorised butcher. Every Jew is
required to keep a double set of kitchen utensils and table service,
one exclusively reserved for milk diet and the other is only to be used
when meat dishes are prepared or served up 3 and it would be con-
sidered the greatest abomination to partake of the two different kinds
of food at one and the same meal. And all this is grounded upon a
forced interpretation of a single passage of Scripture.2 The observance
of the Sabbath is so strictly guarded that the Israelites are prohibited
from carrying on that day, beyond certain contracted limits, a bunch
of keys, a watch, or any other object not of absolute necessity.
But if the Turkish Jews of the present day are intellectually
inferior to the Greeks, and perhaps also to the higher class of Arme-
nians, they are far above them in the purity of their morals and in
the wise and economical administration of their community interests.
Religious apostasy is of extremely rare occurrence and is altogether

1 Since Turkey has endeavoured, though not very successfully, to reform the
interior administration of the empire, the Eastern Jews have to some extent
proﬁted by the privileges conferred upon them, and schools of a higher order have
recently sprung up which will prove of incalculable advantage to the rising
generation.
2 “ Thou shalt not seethe the kid in its mother’s milk ” (Deut. xiv. 21).
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I 31
exceptional, in which case poverty or worldly interests are uniformly
the controlling motives. Their moral virtues are highly commendable,
and make them good fathers of families and worthy citizens. Crimes
and vices which are by no means uncommon among Greek and Arme-
nian rag/aha, such as drunkenness, fraud, extortion, robbery, and
murder, are unknown among the Eastern Jews 3 and if the charge of
usury can be laid at their door, the practice is shared by the no less
sagacious Armenians, who are the principal money-changers and
usurers in the Turkish empire. Nor are the Jews justly chargeable
to the reproach of an habitual want of cleanliness as a national defect.
It is rather the natural consequence of their poverty, and the necessity
imposed upon them by circumstances, because they are forced to live
together in overcrowded habitations, and are thus huddled together
in a narrow and conﬁned locality. Frequent ablutions form an
essential part of the outward observances, which even the rabbinical
law has not neglected to enforce. Their unbounded charity “ covereth
not only many sins,” but is one of their distinguishing characteristics,
in which they are perhaps superior to every other race of people. The
poor are liberally assisted, and their most urgent wants never fail to
be most speedily supplied. They are entirely exempt from every kind
of taxation or impost, and the annual taxes due to the imperial
treasury are exclusively paid by the rich, who, in addition to this,
defray from their own means the expenses incurred in the general
administration of justice, in the management of the affairs of the com—
munity, in the service of the synagogue, and in the support of schools.
Marriage is contracted among the Eastern Jews at a very early
period of life. Girls assume the duties of wife and mother, and bear
the heavy burdens incident to the married state, at thirteen 3 and boys
incur the responsibilities of heads of families at the age of seventeen.
The young married couple are still in a state of pupilage, are unable
to provide for their daily wants, and generally live with their parents,
who have the pleasure of seeing a numerous progeny of grandchildren
grow up around them, that eat up their substance and make them look
old and worn out with care and anxiety at the most vigorous period
‘of human life. The women of the poorer classes live a life of seclu—
.sion 3 they are cut off from all intercourse with society outside of their
‘own family circle. They are wholly devoted to the drudgeries of the
household and the guardianship and rearing of their children 3 a few
of them ﬁnd leisure to employ themselves in silk weaving. Though
of comely appearance and ﬁne featured when young, their mode of
life renders them prematurely old, they become withered and exces-
sively unprepossessing even at the age of thirty.
By virtue of the Turkish laws the Jews can acquire a legal title to
immovable property, and they are generally the owners of houses,
which they occupy as permanent dwellings 3 but they are often so
crowded by the rapid increase of their families, that their houses
become quite uncomfortable, and are exposed to the ravages of con-
tagious and epidemic diseases.
As many of the religious observances inculcated by the rabbinical
teachings compel the Jews to live together in close community in
132 THE ARAMPEAN STOCK.
6‘
towns and cities, which also enables them to assist and protect each
other and attend public worship, it is not often that they are land
owners, or that they devote themselves to the tillage of the soil 5 and
the inveterate prejudices that pressed with such heavy weight upon
them for centuries prevent them from entering into successful com-
petition with the artisans and mechanics of Mohamedan Turks
and Greek Christians, who are the majority and, consequently, the
governing class.
The Syrian Jews speak Arabic, but in Turkey proper a' patois
Spanish, mixed with Hebrew words, is the prevailing language;
though some of the wealthier classes of the Eastern Jews possess a
remarkable facility for the acquisition of languages, and some of them
write and speak with equal ease Arabic, Spanish, Italian, French,
English, Greek, and even German and Turkish.
The Syrian Jews are almost all dressed in Turkish fashion, en-
veloped in a dark-coloured overcoat or bemish, with the turban or a
red fez as the ordinary head-dress.
The Syrian J ewesses of the higher classes are universally admired
for their elegance of form, beauty of complexion, delicate outline of
feature, and gracefulness in movement and action. They never appear
in the presence of their husbands except in full dress, adorned with
all their jewels and in the most splendid array of holiday costume.
They wear robes of dark green, yellow, red, and blue ﬂowered silk of
Damascus manufacture, fastened round the waist with a parti-coloured
girdle. Their wide trousers, gathered at the ankles, are usually red and
white, set off by yellow or red slippers embroidered with gold. The
upper part of their body is covered with a tunic of white silk interwoven
with gold and silver thread, open in front, so as to leave the breast
exposed. A jacket of various coloured silks, with half-open embroidered
sleeves, forms the outer dress, the shoulders being ornamented with
bouquets of roses of gold. On extraordinary occasions the head-dress
consists of a most magniﬁcently ornamented red fez or turban of fancy
silk, completely enwreathed with golden tassels, strings of pearls and
diamonds, roses lof rubies and leaves of emeralds 5 while their long
glossy hair, falling down smoothly over their shoulders, is entwined with
blue silken cords and golden spangles. When they go abroad their form
is completely disguised in a white mantle, and their features are con—
cealed from the vulgar gaze by a long ﬂowing veil. All have their
cheeks 'andiilips painted 5 their eyelids are tinted with kohl 51 and their
eyebrows‘:i'eingvshaven off, their place is supplied by two gracefully
arched streaks of ‘black extending to the root of the nose. On visits
of ceremony they are. seated crosslegged, reclining on the cushion of
the divan, and smoke the na'rghc'lé 2 through a silver-tipped red tube,
watching the gurgling wavelets as they spring up at every puff in the
water cistern of pure crystal. Dark-complexioned female slaves are
passing 439 and fro waiting on the guests, by presenting them coffee,
sweetrneats, and fruit.
The interior of the houses of the wealthy Syrian Jews displays

1 A‘composition of black paint. 2 Persian pipe.
ORTHODOX JEWS or THE EAST. 133
much taste and oriental splendour. The inner court is shaded by
date-palms, almond, and orange trees, whose diffusive fragrance, inter-
mingled with the spray of a sparkling fountain, imparts delightful
freshness to the balmy atmosphere.
At marriage festivities and other seasons of rejoicing musical per-
formances and dancing—the latter being exclusively reserved to the
ladies—constitute prominent features of the entertainment. The
dancers ﬁrst give the salute to the guests present by applying their
right hand to the forehead, the heart, and the lips, and, with castanets
in their hands, each lady moves round in a circle, keeping time with
the music, touching her forehead in turn with her right and then with
her left hand, at times advancing and then receding, or resting her
hands on her waist while gracefully bowing.
Among the Eastern Jews, those of Damascus are, perhaps, the most
respectable and the most highly favoured by fortune. Their number
is estimated at about ﬁve thousand, of which the great majority are
Turkish subjects, but many of them are Austrians, Italians, French,
and Prussians. The community has eight synagogues, which are
supported by voluntary contributions 3 and forty thousand piasters are
collected every year for the sole purpose of supplying the poor with
unleavened bread and rice during the feast of the Passover.
The internal affairs are under the control of the Chacham Bashi, an
official recognised by the Turkish government, with whom are asso-
ciated the heads of the wealthiest families, who conduct the adminis-
- tration of the ﬁnances, determine the rate of taxation, and regulate
the proper distribution of charitable donations. The community has
two schools of considerable importance, in which ﬁfteen teachers give
instruction in various branches of education according to the division
to which they belong, the Talmud being taught in two of them. But
in order to acquire knowledge less restricted, more secular, and, con—
sequently, more useful, many of the Jews, as well as Mohamedans,
send their children to the school of the French missionaries of the
order of St. Lazare, where great opportunities are afforded for learning
languages, and where they can pursue a more complete course of
studies. No library is attached to any of the educational or religious
establishments ; but several rich families have private libraries of from
seven hundred to eight hundred volumes, comprising Hebrew manu-
scripts and Hebrew books, and many modern works of a miscellaneous
character. Here the rabbis meet daily for purposes of study and
mutual instruction, as well as the discussion of learned topics and
matters of general interest.
The habitations of the Jews are not conﬁned to any particular
quarter of Damascus, but they can select their places of residence in
any street that may suit their convenience. They voluntarily restrict
themselves, however, to certain localities in the vicinity of their syna-
gogues, to be able to attend public worship and send their children to
school without the necessity of traversing the most frequented thorough-
fares of the city.
The richest of the Damascene Jews are bankers and moneylenders or
merchants 5 and many of the poorer classes act as agents, or are eng (red
134. 1 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
in the retail traﬁic as pedlars, or hire out their services as porters. The
most interesting portion of the Jewish population are those who ply
the tools of their handicraft, and by their skill and labour add pro-
ductive value to- raw materials, and contribute to the development of
the manufacturing interests of the country. Fifty or sixty are weavers
of woollen and silk goods, and seventy are employed in the art of
dying, besides those who follow the occupations of watchmakers, tin-
smiths, tailors, and shoemakers. There are also a number of Jewish
physicians in Damascus who practise the medical profession. Their
professional education, however, is not of a high order, but they are
keeping equal step with the slow advancement of Eastern civilisation.
The other Jewish communities of Syria are those of Aleppo, Bey—
rout, Tripoli, and J afﬁr. With the exception of Aleppo, their number
is very small, and they are generally poor 3 and although they have
synagogues with schools attached to them, yet their limited means do-
not enable them to maintain a rabbi. They are nearly all of Syrian’
origin, speak Arabic, and are mostly merchants and shopkeepers, only
a few of them being mechanics.
The Jews who form congregations at Chasbeia and at Dar-al-
Kamar, on Mount Lebanon, have acquired all the distinguishing
characteristics of mountaineers. They carry arms, and are renowned
for their bravery 3 and live on friendly terms with the Druses and
the Maronites. They follow the pursuit of agriculture, and pay much
attention to ,the rearing of horses. The Jewish maidens of Lebanon
drive the sheep and goats to pasture 3 and with spear and pistol,
which they know how to use with effect, they protect their honour,1
as well as the ﬂocks placed under their charge.
Jerusalem has, in the eyes of the zealous and devout Jew, peculiar
sanctity 3 and he regards the holy city as the most sacred spot on
earth, deserving his highest veneration. To it he turns when he
addresses his prayers to the Almighty 3 and its past greatness and
former glory are constantly ﬂoating before his enraptured vision3
while the remembrance of its downfall, the destruction of its temple,
the dispersion of its people, and its present desolation, force from his
sorrowing heart the cry of anguish, and overwhelm him with unutters
able grief and sad repinings of deferred hopes. In the city which his
fathers had founded he is a stranger and a pilgrim 3 the places that-
once knew him, and where he knelt in holy devotion, now know him
no more.‘ That grand and sublime historical monument which once
crowned the brow of Mount Moriah is now a pile of ruins 3 and the-
temple of an alien creed—a structure more artistically magniﬁcent,
but less solemn and impressive—has usurped the place of the holiest.
of all ediﬁces constructed for religious worship.
The Jew is simply a sojourner and a pilgrim at Jerusalem, and
when he ﬁrst enters it he tears his upper garment as a sign of

1 One of these maidens was surprised by a Turk, but she saved her honour"
by boldly shooting him down. Justice absolved her for the deed, and the fame
of her bravery and virtue is celebrated among all the inhabitants of the moun-
tains. Frankl’s “Jews of the East,” p. 340.
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I35
mourning. He‘ does not seek there pleasure or enjoyment 3 but the
whole object of his life is to pass his time in study and prayer, and,
when the period of his pilgrimage is ended, to be buried in holy
ground and be permitted to repose in the valley of J ehoshaphat, near
the tomb of the ancient fathers.
, The number of Jews in Jerusalem is estimated at ﬁve thousand
seven hundred souls, constituting nearly one-third of the whole
population3 but they contribute but little to its advancement and
prosperity, for out of this whole mass of men, women, and children,
only an insigniﬁcant number are engaged in the mechanic arts and
other industrial pursuits;1 all the others are simply the beneﬁciaries
of pious communities in different parts of Europe, by whose chari—
table contributions or permanent endowments the Jerusalem Jews are
supported and maintained. They form close and exclusive religious
orders, to which no new member is admitted unless he is able to
increase the community funds, to entitle him to a distributive share
' from the common treasury of the society.
The two principal classes of Jews in Jerusalem are distinguished
from each other by the diﬂ’erence of nationality of origin. The
Sephared'im are the descendants of the Spanish-Portuguese Jews who
were banished from, their country during the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella and Charles V., and they still speak Spanish in a corrupt
form as their vernacular tongue. They are generally tall, are of a
commanding appearance, with a noble outline of features; and their
imposing walk and stately bearing are unmistakable marks of dignity
and self-possession. Their long ﬂowing robes, wrapped round the
waist with a shawl, impress upon them the character of Orientals in
form as well as attire. This community, which is estimated at four
thousand, is not only the largest in number, but it possesses more
ample resources in the form of immovable property and permanent
interest bearing endowments than all the other societies combined.
They have but four synagogues, but that of Sion is a large and very
extensive building, being divided into four different compartments.
The spacious halls are lofty, airy, and well-lighted 3 they are ﬁtted up
in plain but decent style, without the least attempt of ostentatious
display or the tricky imitations of sham art. The ark, which contains
the thora rolls, or book of the law, is a ﬁxed wooden case, mounted in
silver, and closed by folding-doors, beautifully varnished, in front of
which hangs a silk curtain neatly embroidered with Hebrew inscrip-
tions in gold or silver. In the centre of the halls is an elevated
rostrum (almemer), surrounded by carved balusters on which the
‘reading-desk is placed, where the them rolls are opened, and a

1 There were at Jerusalem among the J ews—I mason, 2 stonecutters, 12
joiners, 2 blacksmiths, 6 tinsmiths, 5 watehmakers, I knife-grinder, 2 lapidaries,
5 goldsmiths, 5 bookbinders, 6 lacemakers, from 20' to 40 tailors, I 5 shoemakers,
2 d'yers, 5 barbers, IO bakers, 3 sugar-makers, and from 30 to 40 distillers (all
Poles or Russians) of brandy or manufacturers of wine. Among other employ-
ments may be mentioned 40 'melctmdz'm (learned men in Hebrew), 5 writers, 2
musicians, 12 merchants, 20 shop-keepers, 3 agents of exchange, and from 10 to
12 haw-ke'rs. Frankl’s “ Jews of the East,” p. 64..
1 36 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
portion of the Pentateuch is read aloud in the presence of the con-
gregation. The them rolls are adorned with the trees of life
(etzchaim), a silver ornament beautifully designed, usually repre-
senting pomegranates. ‘When the parchment scrolls, which are
covered with a richly-embroidered silken mantle, are lifted out of
the ark and carried through the synagogue, the whole congregation
rises, and each worshipper touches the covering of the thora, and then
kisses the ﬁngers that have thus been hallowed by the touch. The
whole of the Pentateuch is read through every year in regular order,
a certain portion being marked out to be recited every Sabbath
during the hours of morning prayer. N o profane hand ever touches.
the writing of the parchment rolls, and the reader is provided with a
silver hand (fad), which serves as an index to guide him. as his eye
passes over the uniform lines, ﬁlled out with words and sentences,
not separated by any punctuation, nor rendered more distinct by
vowel points.
All the male adult worshippers have a prayer cloth (talz'th) of ﬁne
white wool thrown over their shoulders, sometimes gathered up like a
scarf, but often hanging down like a mantle. A few narrow blue
stripes mark the lateral margin, and a woollen tassel or fringe (zz'zz's)
hangs loosely from each of the four corners. The Hebrew prayers
are generally composed of a selection of Psalms, or they are of a
benedictory, invocatory, or penitential character. Some particular
portions are chanted, but the greatest part is simply recited from the
prayer-book, either in a loud voice or in perfect silence, the quiverings
of the lips and the waving motion of the body being the only signs
of devotion. The singing is not distinguished for artistic excellence 5
it is rather shrill than harmonious, and, although rhythmical, it is
devoid of taste and originality.
Young girls never attend synagogue worship; but the married
women are zealous and devout in the strict performance of their
religious duties, and they never fail to be present at the regular
service on the Sabbath and festival days. They occupy an elevated
gallery, where their persons are screened by close lattice work, so that
they can see but cannot be seen.
At Bethel, an institution where the Talmud is studied all night,
the oldest rabbi despatches a messenger at the earliest dawn of the
morning to the roof of the building which commands an extensive
view towards the east, who announces in a loud voice that this is the
hour of prayer. The morning prayer is repeated in the principal
synagogue four times on week-days, so as to render it convenient
to all classes to- attend public worship daily and be present at the
regular service. When, on the eve of the Sabbath, the cry of ascends?‘
(light up) is heard by the Scpharedim, thousands of lights are at once
glimmering through the windows 5 for the Jews neither kindle a ﬁre,
nor light or extinguish a lamp, on the Sabbath-day.
The Chacham Basin‘, who is elected by the rabbis, is the presiding
dignitary of the community, and is recognised as such by the Turkish
government. He forms, with a number of associated rabbis, a con-
sistory called besdz'n, which decides all religious questions. He selects
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I 37
three presidents (padckz'm), who, with three subordinate functionaries,
manage the ﬁnancial aﬁ"airs, conduct the business relations, and give
directions to the secular and economical interest of the community.
The whole machinery of the government is in the hands of about a
hundred chachz'm, who alone possess the elective franchise, and who
are exclusively devoted to the study of the Talmud, while there exists
no direct responsibility, for the heads of families (balbaclz'm) have no
control nor supervisory power over the affairs in which they are most
deeply concerned. The revenue of the community is partly derived
from thirty-six pious institutions (jeshibot) which have been endowed
with a certain capital by pious Jews living in foreign countries, the
interest of which is drawn by these chachz'm, who are principally
engaged in the study of the Talmud, and oﬁ‘er up prayers in behalf of
the benevolent founders. But the principal source of income consists
of the voluntary contributions or alms which are collected throughout
the whole world, except Russia and Poland, by agents expressly
appointed for this purpose.1 The community possesses the exclusive
right‘ of selling burial lots in the cemetery of J ehoshaphat, the proceeds
of which amount annually to twenty thousand piasters 5 and in addi-
tion to this, twenty thousand piasters are realised every year from
killing animals for the supply of butcher’s meat, in conformity with
‘the regulations and mode of operation prescribed by the rabbinical
law. The total amount of their revenues is estimated, in favourable
years, at a million of piasters. To gain admittance into the society
and to be entitled to a share of the community interest, the new
settler must pay over the exact amount of his annual income ; and at
his death all his property is taken possession of by the padekz'm, and
deposited in the public assembly-room (auda), where it is sold to the
highest bidder, for the exclusive beneﬁt of the community, and regard-
less of the claims of foreign heirs. Many chachz'm are made the
heirs of childless widows, who bequeath to them their property, that
the prayer in memory of the dead (kacZ-z'sh) may be offered up in their
behalf, and an anniversary taper may be burned for them in the syna—
gogue in accordance with Jewish custom.
The second class of Jews in Jerusalem, who do not exceed seventeen
hundred in number, are called Ashkenasim. They were originally
pious pilgrims from Germany, but now they are principally Russians,
Poles, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Moravians. They speak a German
dialect, intermixed with numerous Hebrew words, and pronounced
with a peculiar accent. They are restless in disposition, hasty in
drawing conclusions, and keen in assertion and reply in argumentative
discourses. They are dressed in a Polish caftan, and their head is

1 The oﬁice of delegate (shelc'ach) to collect alms in Europe is sold in the holy
city to the highest bidder, usually to some respectable chacham or rabbi, to enable
him to amass a fortune. The highest bidder continues to enjoy his right ; he is
not bound to enter on his journey immediately, provided he pays the interest on
the sum, which increases according to a ﬁxed scale. On his return he receives a
third part of the proceeds of his journey, but he does not receive the sum originally
‘deposited, but he pays this sum to himself, and pays over the balance, of WhlCh he
receives one-third. Frankl’s “Jews in the East,” p. 41.
138 THE ARAMlEAN STOCK.
covered with a fur cap or a turban 3 but they are not remarkable for
cleanliness, and their whole appearance is untidy and slovenly.
They separated from the Sepharcdim, and are now divided into six
distinct communities, of which the Perushz'm (seceders) are equal in
number to all the others combined. They are nearly all natives of
Russia, are without a spiritual head, but have their seat of government
at VVilna, in Russian Poland, which contributes three hundred and
eighty thousand piasters for their support. They are quarrelsome,
intolerant, and bigoted 3 their moral character is of a low order, for
they do not consider morality as an essential part of a religious life.
Their religion is characterised by the performance of outward cere~
monies and the strict observance of the rabbinical law. They are the
most learned Talmudists in Jerusalem 3 but they are ignorant of every
other branch of knowledge, and they do not even study the law and
the prophets.
The Ashkenasim look upon the Sephcm'eclz'm with jealousy, and accuse
them of ignorance and latitudinarian views 3 but while the Sepha-
redz'm prefer the charge of cunning against the Ashkenasim, they give
them credit for their Talmudic learning and their outward piety.
The different communities are not on a footing of friendly inter»
course with each other, and are often divided among themselves.
They never visit each other’s assembly-rooms (66365697.), and it is only
among the poorest that intermarriages ever take place.
Another class of Jews, who have dwindled down to an insigniﬁcant
number, are the Karai'tes (readers or followers of Scripture). They
are the aristocracy of the Jewish race in their physical characteristics.
Their form is elegant, their features are regular and beautiful, their
hair and eyes are black. They are pleasant and agreeable in their inter-
course, their manners are simple and courteous, and their whole course
of life is modest and unpretentious. The Sepharedim entertain friendly
relations with them, yet they never intermarry, nor do they bury their
dead in the same cemetery 3 but the Ashlrenasz'm do not recognise
them, as their religious professions are not sufficiently orthodox, and
not only refuse to tender them the right hand of fellowship, but they
absolutely despise them. A small but prosperous community of
Kara'ites, who had emigrated from Jerusalem and had established itself
, two hundred and eighty years ago in the Crimea, contributes an
annual sum for their support, but they principally subsist by their
own industry and labour.
They are the oldest and the only aboriginal Jews in the holy city,
and its most ancient inhabitants since the destruction of the second
temple.1 They entertain the most profound reverence for the text of
the Bible as the only binding authority, and they follow the literal
sense with the most scrupulous exactness; while the rabbinical Jews
(Mclcebalz'm) maintain that, besides the written law, God communi-

1 The Kara'ites all left Jerusalem about two hundred and eighty years ago, in
consequence of the plague having broken out; but after an absence of twenty
years, a considerable number returned, and are now represented by their
descendants, reduced to a small society of thirty-two individuals.
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. 139
cated to Moses oral revelations, which have been handed down by
tradition, and are contained in the Mishna and the Talmud. _
Their synagogue is under one of their houses, and is somewhat
a subterranean apartment, receiving its light in part from a square
opening in the roof, and from a glass lustre containing four burning
lamps, which, while they dispel the gloomy darkness of the place, cast
their mellow light with magic effect upon the variegated tints of
beautiful carpets with which the ﬂoor is covered. A silver plate,
inserted behind the prayer-desk over the holy ark, contains, in large
letters of gold, the Jewish confession of faith: “Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord.” The book of the law (thora), which they
esteem most highly, is in book form, the text being written on parch-
ment, with the initial letters illustrated in various colours and gold,
and encircled with fanciful arabesques. When the Karaites enter
their synagogue they remove their shoes, to remind them that the
temple in which they worship is holy ground. Attired in oriental
costume, they are seated cross-legged on the carpets along the walls,
having a narrow scarf-like prayer cloth (taZit/z) thrown around their
shoulders, with the two ends hanging down in front over the breast,
blue and white tassels being attached by means of cords to the four
corners.
The principal Kara'i'te communities, besides those of the Crimea,
are found in Bagdad, Constantinople, Egypt, and Galicia. The
Turkish Karaites are independent of the Jewish commimities, and are
represented before the imperial divan by a chief of their own, who
bears the title of Zlfillet'i Bashz'.
Although the Jewish communities of Jerusalem acknowledge the
sovereign supremacy of Turkey, yet they are the most independent
corporate bodies in the Turkish empire. They are governed by their
own laws, and manage their own internal aﬂ’airs according to their
pleasure 3 but the majority of the population, especially the poorer
classes, are subjected to the most rigid authority, which is more
than despotic, because it claims to be infallible, and is enforced, not
merely by corporal punishment, but by a moral sanction of the most
terriﬁc character, that of excommunication. It is not only a decree of
banishment—for the excommunicated Jew is excluded from attending
public worship, and from communing with the chosen people of God—but
it is virtually a sentence of death, for no one will furnish him or sell him
any provisions 3 and if he is engaged in commercial pursuits, no one will
buy of him. He is cut off from all social intercourse, his wife and children
will abandon him, and his very touch is deﬁlement and pollution.
There are several select schools for Jewish boys and girls in Jerusalem,
founded and well endowed by muniﬁcent European patrons, but they
are not much favoured by the rabbis, who are opposed to all secular
instruction and enlightenment, which might diminish their power and
endanger their despotic supremacy, and consequently they are not
sufficiently appreciated and still less encouraged.
The Jewish hospital, which was established by the Rothschild family,
is eﬂciciently organised, is well conducted, and has been productive of
great good, especially among the poorer and dependent classes 3 but its
140 THE ABAMZEAN STOCK.
management is supervised by European administrators, and the medical
department is under the care of European physicians.
The law of monogamy, so rigidly observed in the West, is sometimes
disregarded by the Eastern Jews, who are allowed to marry two wives,
in case the ﬁrst wife has no children, or if her children are all girls.
If either of these two contingencies exists, the wife cannot legally
object if her husband is determined to take unto himself a second
partner; but she may refuse to receive her on an equal footing with
herself in her own house, and may insist that a separate establishment
be provided for the second wife. It is not uncommon among the
Jews of Jerusalem that girls marry at the age of twelve and boys at
fourteen. Thus children are made to assume the highest responsibilities
involved in the domestic economy of human society, before they arrive
at years of discretion, and before their physical and mental capabilities
are sufficiently developed.
The celebration of marriage among the Jews of Jerusalem is quite
impressive, and presents considerable interest. While the bridegroom
and his male relatives are engaged in prayer in the synagogue, the
bride, arrayed in a white robe, and her face covered with a long ﬂow-
ing veil, is conducted in procession to the bath, accompanied by her
female friends, the monotony of the scene being enlivened by the
shrill notes of squeaking ﬂies and the hollow sounds of rolling drums.
The marriage ceremony is performed by the Chacham Basin’, who is
attired in an ample white robe, and a white turban covers his head.
He is assisted by other chachim dressed in colours and wearing tur-
bans of bluish grey. The blooming beauty of the youthful bride is
contrasted by the heavily-embroidered silk dress, covered by a crimson
caftan adorned with golden lace and other glittering ornaments. No
wreath of orange ﬂowers encircles her head, and the absence of the
bridal crown is intended as a mark of sadness and mourning in com-
memoration of the destruction of the holy city. ‘While she stands
under the nuptial canopy of variously-coloured silk, her waist is
enclasped by her hands, to represent the girdle of virgin purity which
is soon to be unloosed. Her eyes are closed, that she may not behold
the face of her future husband before she reaches the bridal chamber.
On her right stands the bridegroom, enveloped in a white woollen
caftan, who, after repeating the usual marriage formulas, places a
gold ring on the bride’s ﬁnger. A white cassock is then thrown over
both of them, to indicate that they now belong to one another, upon
which all those present express their good wishes by exclaiming,
“May it be a good sign” (Simon too). After the marriage contract,
written on embossed paper in ornamental characters of various colours,
is read aloud by one of the rabbis, the bride, conducted by two
women at her side, steps thrice across a silver dish, containing two
live ﬁshes—the symbol of fruitfulness—the witnesses present repeat-
ing each time the passage of Scripture, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
The marriage feast which follows is altogether in the oriental style.
The men sit on the divan on one side with the bridegroom, and the
women with the bride occupy the opposite side of the room. All
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I41
indulge in the luxury of smoking the nargin'Zé or the chibougual and
sipping coffee, which is handed round among the guests. Young
girls exhibit their agility and grace in the slow and‘ stately dance to
the sound of musical instruments, which completes the evening’s enter-
tainment.
When a death occurs, the Jews assemble in great numbers to assist
in paying the last honours to the dead. The wife and daughters of
the deceased are dressed in white mourning garments, and are seated
on the ground, uttering from time to time cries of lamentation, and
piercing the air with shrieks and howls, while they beat their breasts,
their foreheads, and their checks, as if in a state of frenzy and despair.
The body, extended on the ﬂoor of the room, is wrapped in a white
shroud, and two lighted tapers are placed, one at his head and the
other at his feet, that the soul, which does not take its ﬁnal ﬂight
from the body till the ﬁrst clod of earth is cast upon it, may behold
the frail tenement of clay which it has so frequently employed in the
service of sin and pollution. A speaker, who delivers a discourse in
praise of the virtues and noble character of the deceased, is frequently
interrupted by the groans and passionate weeping of the male relatives
and friends, who are seated cross-legged on the ground and form a
circle round the corpse, as if watching whether it might not come to
life again. After the body is carefully washed, it is enveloped in a
coloured carpet and deposited on the bier, and a white fringed robe
is thrown over it. Whenever the procession is about to be formed,
one of the attendants at the synagogue passes through the streets, ex-
claiming in a loud. voice, “ Cease from work ” (Bit'ul mclacha), “ for a
prince of Israel is dead.” At this announcement all the shops are
immediately closed, and every one hastens to attend the funeral.
Before leaving the house a second eulogy is pronounced on the life
of the deceased, amidst the wailings and cries of passionate grief of
distressed relatives and sympathising friends. The women assemble
at the roof of the house, and, raising a shout of dirge-like wailing, they
stretch their hands towards heaven, and cast a last lingering look upon
the lifeless form of the dearest object of their affection. The bier-
bearers, who are relieved at short intervals, sing the Psalm: “ He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty.” Two other funeral discourses are
delivered at two different halting-places before reaching the cemetery
in the valley of J ehoshaphat. There the bier is placed at the foot of
Absalom’s tomb, and an oration from a regular Scripture text is pro-
nounced. The body is then conveyed to its last resting-place, and as
it descends into the tomb the Jewish confession of faith, acclaimed
as if with one voice, closes the mournful ceremony, and the spot is
marked with the seal of eternal silence.
Of the four holy cities of Palestine where the Talmud is studied,
Tiberias occupies the second rank after J erusalem.2 It is here where
the Grand Rabbi resides, who in former times exercised spiritual
supremacy, and commanded the implicit obedience of the Jews of the

1 Turkish pipe. 3 The other two places are Szafet and Hebron.
142 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
whole civilised world. He was the head of the Jewish nationality,
and claimed allegiance from his widely-scattered subjects 3 and his
mandates, although enforced only by spiritual sanctions, were not the
less considered as binding, and were regarded with superstitious
reverence.
There are about ﬁfteen hundred Jews in Tiberias, of which a
considerable number are Poles and Germans; all the others are of
Spanish or Syrian descent. Their quarters are situated on the shores
of Lake Tiberias, separated from the town by a high wall, having but
one gate, which is closed at sunset, so that after nightfall all commu-
nication with the outside world is cut off. The Jewish community
of Tiberias has seven synagogues and six schools, where the Talmud
is studied by the rabbis, and to which two libraries are attached,
containing many valuable Hebrew books, chieﬂy publications issued
by the Vienna and Venice printing establishments 3 but no Hebrew
manuscripts are here preserved, with the exception of some few copies
of the Old Testament and of the Talmud. Copies of the Pentateuch,
beautifully written on long rolls of leather, are kept in the Syrian
synagogue.
The Jewish communities of Tiberias are organised upon the same
plan as those of Jerusalem. The members form select and exclusive
societies, and the rabbis constitute the governing class, assisted by a
few inﬂuential men of the secular order. To attend the service of the
synagogue at the regular hours of morning and evening prayer, and to
devote the rest of their time in the discussion of rabbinical theology,
and in disentangling the subtle sophisms of the Talmud, are the
highest aspirations of the most learned and most respectable class of
the community, who are united in a bond of brotherhood to serve as
examples of piety and religious zeal, but who are strangers to every
duty of social life, whose worship is merely lip service, whose religion
consists in ceremonial forms, who scorn all actual contact with the
active, busy scenes of this profane and vulgar world, and who are
proud of their independence and of their freedom from worldly care 3
and yet they stoop to the lowest depth of social debasement by accept-
ing alms for their support from their more industrious, more thrifty, and
more truly religious brethren, who send up their voluntary offerings
from every part of the Jewish world to feed the hungry and clothe
the naked, and who are always ready to help those that are not able,
and perhaps not willing, to help themselves.
Tiberias is visited by many devout pilgrims from all parts of the
globe who shower their bounties upon these mendicant fraternities,
that, in return, they may offer up prayers in their behalf. The credu-
lous and generous stranger, carried away by religious enthusiasm, is
eager and willing to purchase at an extravagant price the privilege of
residing in a house where some saintly and learned rabbi died 3 and
he is reminded of his charitable and benevolent disposition when the
tomb of some renowned devotee is pointed out to him, or when he is
treated as a visitor of distinction by having the sacred books opened
in his presence. - _
The rabbis of Tiberias deem it a duty of the highest importance
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. 143
that every Jew should contribute from his abundance for the main-
tenance and support of the religious communities of the Holy Land,
in order to preserve the world from ﬁnal dissolution 3 for, according
to adogma taught in the Talmud, the world must return to its primi-
tive chaos unless prayers continue to be offered up twice a week in
the four holy places.
There are but few mechanics and artisans among the Jews of Tibe-
rias, and the few merchants that dwell in their midst are looked upon
as unbelievers; for, strange to say, the pursuit of commerce—the
principal source of wealth of their race—is regarded as impious and
degrading, polluting the soul and leading men away from God.
Constantinople is undoubtedly the most populous community of
Jews in the world, their number being estimated at 38,400 souls,1
without including the Jewish residents who are subjects of foreign
powers. This immense number of Jews, congregated together in a
city which occupies but the third rank in Europe in point of popula-
tion, gives them almost some national importance, as they are organised
upon the principle of self-government, and are subject only to their
own laws, administered under the supervision of the Porte, to which
they owe allegiance, and which reserves to itself the supreme autho-
rity in the last resort. The Jews of Constantinople are engaged in a
great variety of pursuits. They are proprietors of houses which they
rent to tenants 3 many of them are merchants, small traders, agents of
exchange, brokers, factors, porters, and boatsmen. Some are dealers
in glass, silver plate, and ﬁrewood. A great number of them are
employed in manufacturing industry. They manufacture gold and
silver lace, mirrors, cotton thread, cigars, and weights and mea-
sures. They are skilled in embroidered work made with gold and
silver thread, and they are goldsmiths and enchasers of emeralds and
rubies. While there is but one man who follows the profession of
engineer, there are ﬁve hundred medical practitioners, forty surgeons,
ﬁfty apothecaries, and ﬁve hundred musical performers. Of mechanics
and artisans and other occupations the Jews furnish their propor-
tionate quota. The most numerous of these are the tinsmiths and the
bookbinders, the barbers, tailors, furriers, dyers, shoemakers, nailers,
glaziers, pastrycooks, masons, distillers of brandy, tobacco cutters, gun-
smiths, ﬁshermen, and a few hothouse proprietors and rope-dancers.
The Jewish community of Constantinople is governed by the
Uhacham Bachz', who is selected by the notables and conﬁrmed by the
Porte, and who, in accordance with his bcz'rat (commission). stands in
the same relation to the Turkish government, and is invested with
the same authority, as the Greek and Armenian patriarchs. He also
bears the distinguished title of Nishcm, an order or badge of honour
conferred upon him by the Sultan on his appointment to his high
office. He holds his position at the pleasure of the government, or
he may be deposed on charges of malfeasance preferred against him
by the notables, and corroborated by the most inﬂuential men of the

1 There are in Constantinople 14,800 men and 23,600 women among the Jews,
which presents the most remarkable disparity between the sexes.
144r THE ARAMjEAN STOCK.
community. He is provided by his people with a residence suitable
to his station, and receives a moderate compensation as a regular salary
for his support.
The Chacham Bashz' of Constantinople is the representative of the
Jews of the Turkish empire in the management of their political affairs
before the government. All orders and decrees emanating from its
supreme authority are addressed to him, to be communicated to the
presiding ofﬁcer of the respective Jewish communities, and it is his
duty to see that they are properly executed. In his ofﬁce a register
is kept of all the Jews subject to Turkey who reside in the metropolis,
and their places of abode are distinctly indicated. It is there that
passports are issued to the Jews who wish to travel, which are ob-
tained by presenting a certiﬁcate from the presiding chacham of the
district where the applicant has his place of residence, stating that he
is not in arrears with the taxes due to the community, or labouring
under the suspicion of crime or any minor offence, and the passport
is conﬁrmed by the government without any other formality. Here
also a record is kept of the purchase or sale of any real estate made
by a member of the Jewish community. The Chacham Bashi may
be chosen a member of the besdz'n, but he is not so by virtue of his
office. He has the power of punishing offenders by imprisonment for
a longer or shorter period of time, according to the nature of the
offence, in pursuance of the sentence pronounced by the judicial
tribunal.
All matters of religious import are directed and controlled by a
colleague of the Chacham Bash/i. Notice must be given him of every
betrothal, and the engagement is irrevocably binding on both parties,
unless valid reasons are advanced, which must be of sufﬁcient weight
to annul the agreement. He dissolves marriages, sets aside for an
adequate cause the binding force of an oath, and inﬂicts punishment
for the violation of the religious or the ceremonial law 5 and no appeal
lies from his decision.
The Chctcham Bashi is assisted by a council, an ancient institution
which possesses initiatory legislative power. It is composed of six
members, three of whom are rabbis, who are appointed for life, and
three lay members, whose termof office expires at the end of the year.
It convenes the national assembly of notables for the election or
deposition of the Ohacham Basin, and the approval or rejection of
measures of great importance or of general interest to the community
which have been submitted to its deliberation by the council, by whom
they have been previously adopted after discussion and careful con-
sideration.
The judicial authority is vested in two tribunals, called besdc'n, each '
presided over by four rabbis, appointed for life by the assembly of
notables. Their jurisdiction extends to all civil matters and disputes
where both plaintiff and defendant are Jews, or to contested cases
arising between Jews and foreigners, provided both parties consent to
submit their differences to the decision of the Jewish tribunal. The
judges have acquired such reputation for equity, and for their impartial
administration of justice, that Greeks and Armenians, notwithstanding
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I4 5
their inveterate prejudices, voluntarily submit their disputes with Jews
to the decision of the bcsdz'n in preference to their own tribunals, while
no appeal is ever taken by a Jew from a decision rendered by a court
of his own nation to a Christian or Mussulman tribunal. The baseline
cannot inﬂict capital punishment, but they are competent to impose
ﬁnes and condemn the accused to imprisonment or the galleys, leaving
it to the Turkish government to execute the sentence on the demand
of the Uhacham Bashc'.
Besides these Iofﬁcial functionaries there is a special magistrate or
rcgz'dor in every quarter, who, as municipal police oﬂicer, is the con-
servator of the peace of the community, watches over the public morals,
enforces all regulations which are conducive to the general welfare,
exercises a kind of censorship over the private conduct of individuals,
and assumes the guardianship of their domestic relations , and in the
performance of his duties he is at liberty to enter any house, in order
to ascertain whether the inmates are at home at the prescribed hour,
and whether they lead a proper and regular course of life.
Of all the nationalities subject to Turkey, the ﬁnancial affairs of the
Jewish community are most judiciously and most economically adminis-
tered. The management of the ﬁnances is intrusted to a commission
consisting of ﬁve members elected by the assembly of notables every
second year. It is their duty to draw up annually a schedule of
imposts, and the rate of taxation is ﬁxed in proportion to the resources
of the respective heads of families. In a ﬁscal point of view, the Jews
of Constantinople may be divided into three classes :——Those who are
absolutely poor, and are entirely dependent on alms for their support ;
those who follow some trade or profession, that affords them sufﬁcient
means of subsistence, but without realising any surplus, and who are
consequently exempt from the payment of taxes 3 and those in easy and
afﬂuent circumstances, who constitute one-ﬁfth of the community, by
whom all the taxes are paid and every species of contribution is made.
The revenues from all sources amount annually to ﬁve hundred and
forty thousand piasters, and are principally derived from direct taxa—
tion, in addition to the glabela, which is a small duty on meat, cheese,
wine, and brandy consumed. A tax of one-half per cent. is imposed
on the amount of the dowry payable by the parents of the bride, and
the bridegroom is required to pay ten per cent. after the marriage. On
the sale of real estate, the buyer pays one per cent. and the seller one-
half per cent. on the purchase-money. At the death of a woman whose
heirs are only remote relations, ten per cent. of the property inherited
escheats to the community. After paying to the government the hard)’
(capitation tax), amounting to two hundred and forty-two thousand
piasters, there is still a surplus of nearly three hundred thousand
piasters to defray the current expenses of the community 3 the money
being applied to the payment of salaries to rabbis, secretaries,
tax-collectors, and other officials; to provide for the maintenance of
theological scholars; to afford suﬂicient assistance to the indigent, so
as not to compel them to have recourse to mendicity 5 to pay the
taxes for all rabbis born and educated in Jerusalem, and frequently
to grant pecuniary aid to the Israelites of the Holy Land, and to
K
146 . THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
furnish the means to poor pilgrims to visit Jerusalem. Sick paupers
are all provided with gratuitous medical assistance. Besides private
charities, the charitable institutions of the Jews of Constantinople are
highly efﬁcient and liberal in the distribution of their bounties. The
“ Ladies’ Benevolent Society ” furnishes blankets and linen to the desti-
tute, and supplies poor girls when married with dowries; it supports
poor women when conﬁned, hires and pays nurses when mothers are
unable to suckle their children, undertakes to rear and educate helpless
and motherless orphans, and obtains employment for poor women.
There are thirty-seven synagogues and ninety private places of
worship or oratories in Constantinople, situated in the Jewish quarter
and the villages of the Bosphorus; but they are supported by sub-
scription and voluntary donations, and the collections made for this
purpose are more than sufficient to cover all the needful expenditure.
Although schools are numerous, and education is almost general
among the Jews of Constantinople, yet it is entirely inadequate to the
wants and requirements of practical life. The masters, who are
rabbis of the second rank, know no other language than a patois
Spanish, intermixed with Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, and Italian words.
The children are taught to read Hebrew mechanically, without obtain-
ing the least knowledge of the elements of the language. The higher
schools attached to the libraries (yesha'roth) are endowed by wealthy
patrons, and the students who are ‘preparing themselves to be admitted
into the rabbinical order pass through a more extended course of educa-
tion, acquire a considerable knowledge of Hebrew, and devote much
time to the study of the Talmud. Of late, however, the system of
instruction in Hebrew has been improved, a French Israelitish school
has been established, and in many of the educational institutions the
youths of the Jewish persuasion are now taught Turkish and French
as a part of the regular course of study, as well as geography and
natural history. A proportionate number of Jewish students are
annually admitted into the Medical School, established and maintained
by the Turkish government. By the direction of the authorities, their
meat is supplied by a special butcher appointed for that purpose, and
a chacham resides with the young men, who directs their religious
services and watches over their moral conduct.
There are sixteen thousand Turkish Jews in Salonica who belong to
the Spanish-Portuguese branch, the descendants of the Jews who were
expelled from Spain in 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
The community has twenty-seven synagogues, in all of which public
worship is conducted according to the Spanish ritual, except two, which
follow the German and Italian mode of religious service. The govern-
ment of the community is conducted upon the same principle as that
of Constantinople.
A sect peculiar to Salonica, called Mamins (deumneh), and whose
number is estimated at from six to seven hundred, were originally
Jews who were converted to Islamism. They follow the external
ceremonials of the Mohamedan creed, but secretly they adhere to
the observance of the Jewish religion. They are entirely isolated
from every other class of the population, and intermarry only with
ORTHODOX J EWS OF THE EAST. 147
each other, but in their civil status they are assimilated to the Mus-
sulman. They are almost exclusively engaged in the purchase and
sale of smoking tobacco, which affords them ample means of support.
In the year 38 an. there were upwards of a million of Jews in
Egypt, of whom a great number emigrated to the Barbary States,
especially to Tunis. During a succession of centuries they constituted
the most civilised portion of the inhabitants of the country 3 they
followed the most lucrative professions, and monopolised the most
important branches of industry. They cultivated vineyards 3 they were
gold and silver smiths, carpenters and blacksmiths, and among numerous
other occupations they were engaged in ﬁshing and weaving. They
were not satisﬁed, however, to devote their time and talents exclusively
to the accumulation of wealth, but their love of learning ranked them
among the best educated classes of the community in which they
lived. They were not only distinguished for their Biblical and Tal-
mudical learning, but they acquired great reputation as linguists,
historians, mathematicians, and astronomers. In the beginning of
the eleventh century their schools at Kairwan, and at a later period
that of Mehediah, were in a ﬂourishing condition. Isaac-ben-Suleiman,
Israel Hushiel, Hananel and N isin-ben-J acob, Ben Zahun, men of the
greatest abilities and acquirements, were their renowned teachers.
On the expulsion of the Jews from Spain at the close of the ﬁfteenth
century, it was natural that, being banished, plundered, robbed, and
despoiled by the most Catholic and Christian nation of Europe, they
should seek an asylum and home on the shores of Africa, where many
Saracen Mussulmans, exiles like themselves, and once fellow-country-
men, were hospitably received, and where they enjoyed the same
rights and privileges as the native Mohamedan population.
The Jews of the Barbary States form large and populous communities
in Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. Many of them are mechanics
and artisans 3 but the great mass of the Barbary Jews are engaged in
commercial pursuits, as merchants, bankers, brokers, factors, agents,
and pedlars. Formerly they were the victims of the most unmitigated
oppression, not only on the part of the government, but they were
exposed to the ﬁtful outbreaks of mob violence, and were often merci-
lessly beaten by the Moors in the public streets of populous cities;
‘and while they found neither sympathy nor protection among those
who were their neighbours, who had been born on the same soil and
‘were subject to the same government, even the right of self-defence
was denied them, for it was a capital crime for a Jew to strike a
.Mussulman, an offence which was punished with certain death. Nor
\did the Mohamedan tribunals afford them any redress for injuries
.inﬂicted upon their person, or the wrong perpetrated against them by
unjustly depriving them of their property, for the judges were as
unscrupulous and corrupt as their masters from whom they held their
appointment 3 and in a contest between allow and a Jew, it was
“taken for granted that the Moor had always justice on his side, and
consequently was always the winning party. They were not allowed
‘to ride a horse, nor wear a sword 3 and as a mark of distinction they
‘were compelled to appear abroad dressedgin black, as the only colour
148 THE ARAMI/EAN STOCK.
they could select for their outer garments. They were not permitted
to leave the quarter assigned to them for their habitation after the
setting of the sun. They could not carry a stick to support their
tottering frame, though borne down by inﬁrmity and old age; ang
when they passed the sacred precincts of a mosque one profane loo
was deemed sufficient to desecrate the sanctuary, and it was most
prudent for them to walk along with averted eyes if they wished to-
escape the missiles of boys and the abuse of men.
The Jews of the Barbary States constitute the most important and
most necessary class of the native population 5 for the enterprise,
industry, thrift, and the judicious management of affairs are almost
exclusively conﬁned to them, and yet they occupy a degradedposition
socially as well as politically. They are orderly and well-disposed
members of society, and are. equal in intelligence and education to the
best class of the Moors 5 and yet in Morocco they are even now
debarred all civil honours and privileges, their grievances are left
unredressed, and their complaints remain unheeded. They are not
only enormously taxed, but their wealth, accumulated by industry
and by the exercise of their never-failing sagacity, is often taken from
them by tyrannical officials under false pretences, or upon unfounded
charges being preferred against them.
In Tunis and Tripoli they enjoy the rights and privileges of the
tcmzimat, the Turkish Magna Charta, which places the Jews on a
footing of perfect civil equality with Mussulman subjects of the
Ottoman empire. Such, at least, is the letter of the law; but as the
manners and customs of the country are still unchanged, and the popu—
lation is as greedy and fanatic as ever, theory and practice are widely
divergent, and cases of injustice and oppression are not uncommon.
In Algeria the Jews are, to all intents and purposes, Frenchmen,
and enjoy the same civil and political rights as the French Jews,
although, in a social point of view, they have not yet succeeded to-
eradicate the prejudices entertained against them by the native popu-
lation.
In personal appearance the Jews of the Barbary States surpass,
perhaps, any community of Jews in the world. They are of good
stature, well proportioned, of delicate complexion, and are ﬁne featured.
But the constant debasement and servility to which they are sub—
jected change, as soon as they reach to years of early manhood, the
mild and pleasing expression of their countenance ; and the grovelling
passions excitedxby the peculiar circumstances by which they are sur-
rounded, render many of them absolutely ugly. During childhood
their boys are exquisitely beautiful, they have the real cherub face,
and up to the age of ten or eleven are most lovely in disposition, and
most attractive in general outline of feature and form. The J ewesses
preserve the classic type of the “ fair daughters of Israel.” The rose and
lily hue of their complexion, the most delicate delineation of features,
the dark bewitching eyes, the beautifully formed forehead, the ﬁnely
arched eyebrows, the glossy raven hair, and the peculiar softness of
expression about their mouth, render them exceedingly fascinating
and attractive. But their mind is, in a measure, uncultivated; their
ORTHODOX JEWS OF THE EAST. I49
social qualities "are not sufficiently developed 3 and they are incapable
of winning the hearts and exciting the imagination of men by their
reﬁnement of manners, or the charm of their conversation.
The costume of the Barbary Jews is generally of the oriental style,
and differs but little from that of the Moors, except in Morocco, where
the law requires them to wear a black cap, black slippers, and a cloak
of black wool which conceals the under dress entirely. They shave
their heads closely and wear their beards long. Many of the younger
members of the Jewish communities have, however, assumed the
European dress. In Algiers the young dandiﬁed Jews are dressed in
gaudy fashion. Their long black hair, their crimson fez, their short.
lavender trousers, their white silk stockings, their high-heeled shoes
of varnished leather, their jacket of purple or emerald green cloth,
encircled round their waist with a rose—coloured sash, and swinging in
"their hand a gold-headed cane, attract attention, and a stranger would
consider them as the elite of the most fashionable social circle.
The Jewish maidens and matrons are attired in costly raiment and
are richly ornamented with jewels. As under-garment, they wear a
ﬁne linen shirt with immensely long sleeves reaching almost to the
ground. Over this is worn a loose jacket or caftan of cloth or velvet,
'of a colour to suit the taste of the wearer, the edges being embroidered
with gold. It reaches as low as the hips, and covers the whole body
except the neck and breast, which are left exposed. The petticoat or
gcraldc'to, of ﬁne green woollen cloth, of which the edges are set off
with golden ornaments, is fastened round the waist with a silken sash
embroidered with gold, with the ends hanging loosely down in front
in a graceful and elegant manner. Their feet are encased in slippers
‘of red morocco, richly embroidered with gold. Whenever they go
abroad they wrap round their shoulders the hatch} which is the
national Moorish dress.
The hair of the unmarried J ewesses is plaited in long tresses, which
hang loosely over the shoulders, while the head is artistically entwined
with a wreath of wrought silk tied behind in a bow. The head-dress
of the married ladies is simply a red silk kerchief, which is tied over
the hair, around which is wound, in turban fashion, a long silk sash,
of which the ends, being tied in a knot behind, hang loosely down
the back. Large gold earrings are suspended from the ear-lobes, and
two or three gold rings, set with pearls and precious stones, are
attached to the upper part of the rim of the. ear. Massive chains of
silver or gold hang round their neck or are ﬁxed to their sash ; brace-
lets and anklets encircle their wrists and ankles, and their ﬁngers are
loaded with a variety of costly rings. '
The Jews of Barbary are exclusively restricted in their amusements
and recreations to the entertainments of the .home circle. They are
affectionate fathers and exemplary husbands, and they fully appreciate
the happiness and enjoyments of family life. "While they bear the
scorn and sneers of the outside world with resignation, they ﬁnd com-
pensation in the conviction that they are loved by their wives and
._ 1 The mantle of the Moors.
150 THE ARAMjEAN STOCK.
honoured and revered by their children. Feasts and festivals are
therefore celebrated with great pomp 3 they are the occasion of merri-
ment and joy 3 the house is ﬁlled with invited guests 3 the tables are
loaded with silver plate 3 the most savoury viands are served up 3 the
goblet, sparkling with delicious wine or liquor, is handed round 3 the
social pipe diffuses a dreamy abstraction over the enjoyments of the
hour, and music and dance lend enchantment to the scene by the
harmony of sound and the elegance of motion.
A wedding is an important event in the life of a Barbary Jew.
The festivities are got up in magniﬁcent style, and the preparations
are as costly as the fortune of the host will permit. On this occasion
the bride is most elegantly attired in silks and muslins, and is most
gorgeously adorned with gold ornaments, glittering with pearls, dia—
monds, emeralds, and rubies. A ﬁne transparent veil of ﬂowered
muslin hangs negligently about her person. She is seated on a dais
ofwrich damask, as the queen of the feast. Frequently Jews, Christians,
and Arabs, forgetting for a time their mutual distrust and mutual
antipathies, sit together at the festal board to partake of the good
cheer of the muniﬁcent host, and ﬁnd pleasure in witnessing the
recreations and merry glee of the young, and the calm and quiet happi-
ness of the middle-aged and the old. Among the more humble class of
Jews, at the close of the marriage festivities, when the dancers have
retired and the music has ceased, a collection is taken up for the
beneﬁt of the bride or the musicians, and the name of each donor,
as he presents his contribution, is announced in a loud voice by the
master of ceremonies.
The Jewish communities of the Barbary States are subjected, as
regards their domestic affairs, to rabbinical rule 3 and the government
of the rabbis, partaking of a religious character, is infused with a
spirit of despotism that demands implicit obedience and brooks no
opposition. The rabbis are not only the guardians of the religious life
and moral conduct of their people, but they assume absolute control
over the most intimate relations of the family circle, and presume to
intermeddle with occurrences that transpire in the privacy of home.
Superstition is the most potent weapon to enforce religious and cere—
monial laws, and the dread and terror of excommunication are
employed to bend the most stubborn will, and to cause the proud
and haughty to bow submissively to their arbitrary power, and compel
them to do their bidding.
In Europe the Polish and Russian Jews are most numerous and
most orthodox. The Jews living in the Russian empire, including
Poland, Lithuania, and Courland, and other countries, are said; to
number, according to the latest statistics, two millions eight hundred
and forty thousand souls. The Polish and Russian Jews are the most
faithful observers of the rabbinical law, and the most ‘learned Tal-mudists
of the old school are found among them. But while they can boast
of this almost useless and sophistical learning, they are excessively
ignorant in every other respect, and their practical education, even of
the most elementary kind, is very much neglected. There are only a
few that live in the cities who are rich and are sometimes well educated,
TALMUD J EWS OF POLAND. I 51
but the mass of the Polish Jews are poor3 for in Russia the Jews are
still the oppressed, despised, and degraded outcasts of society, and there
are but few pursuits of life open to them by which they might gain a
comfortable subsistence. Many of them are so destitute that they
have become professional beggars, travelling through foreign countries
and collecting alms among the Jewish communities they may visit in
their mendicant wanderings. They are lodged wherever they go in
the Jewish community houses, and they are sent to one of the families
of the place, where they sit as the invited guests at the common
table. They are dressed in oriental fashion; they wear a long black
caftan, curled locks hang down their temples, and a cap of sable
covers their head.
The Jews ﬁrst settled in Poland about the time of Casimir the Great,
and as they possessed extraordinary privileges their numbers increased
prodigiously. They monopolised the trade and commerce of the
country, kept the inns and taverns, acted as stewards to the nobility 3
and their inﬂuence seemed to be so powerful that nothing could be
bought or sold without their intervention. Under John Sobiesky,
they enjoyed the favour of the sovereign to such an extent that his
administration was individually called the Jewish junta. They became
even the farmers of the royal demesne, and the overweening conﬁdence
of the king in their administrative capacity excited the discontent of
the nobility. After his death an ancient law was revived, which pro-
hibited the Jews from farming the royal revenues. But even in Poland,
where they were the beneﬁciaries of such liberal laws, they were only
permitted to settle in certain towns, while in other places they were
only allowed to reside at the time of the fairs or when the diet was in
session 3 these restrictive laws were, however, but rarely enforced.
Since Poland has been incorporated as a provincial dependency
of the Russian empire, the evils under which the Jews suﬂ‘ered on
account of the exceptional laws enacted to their prejudice have been
much aggravated. The inhuman and cruel treatment to which they
are subjected by the Russian government agents and their myrmidons,
is as inexcusable as it is atrocious. It is true, that in more recent
times the political rights of the higher class of Jews have been some-
what enlarged 3 and in a country cursed with a soul-destroying despotism
and governed by an absolute autocrat these small concessions are not
without their value, considering that the whole mass of the Russian
population are, with few exceptions, a herd of obedient and submissive
slaves. The Jews enjoyed everywhere, even in Rome and Constan-
tinople, perfect religious liberty; and this is the inevitable condition
of their existence, for without their religion there would be no Jews 3
and the same liberty of worshipping the God of their fathers in their
own way is also granted to them in Russia. They are married and
are divorced by their own rabbis, according to the Talmudic law.
But in civil and criminal matters they are amenable to the laws of the
country, and are tried by the ordinary tribunals. They are still
excluded from settling in Russia proper, and they are only allowed to
become proprietors of houses and gardens in places where the right of
domicile was possessed by them at the time of the conquest. The
152 THE ARAMAEAN STOCK.
are not even allowed to keep Christian servants in their families, but
they must content themselves with hiring them by the day. Their
sons are admitted to the gymnasia, academics,‘ and universities, and
they may receive a diploma 5 but they are excluded from the learned
professions, except that of physicians, and as such they can only enter
the civil or military service with the express permission of the sovereign.
As teachers and professors, they can only receive an appointment in
regions of the country inhabited by their own people. They can become
tenants of the crown lands or even’i’private lands 5 and as merchants and
artisans they enjoy the same local rights in the places where they are per-
mitted to reside, as the other subjects. They participate in the local
elections, and if they speak the Russian language they can be elected as
communal officers. They erect shops and establish manufactories, and
employ Christian mechanics and workmen, and can even enter the differ-
ent guildsl Although they do not enjoy the full rights of a Russian
subject, yet they are required to perform all its duties and bear more
than all its burdens. They are bound to serve as soldiers, and yet they
are excluded from every official position and ofﬁcial promotion. Not-
withstanding that the Jews are not placed on a footing of equality
before the law with the rest of the Russian subjects, they are never—
theless required to pay a special tax—an iniquity which an odious
despotic government only could perpetrate. The distribution of this
tax and its assessment is regulated by a board called Rahal (congrega-
tion), of which the members are elected by the community, and these
officers are responsible for the amount of the tax to the government.
The Polish Jews, though not very cleanly in their habits, are, as a
mass, a ﬁne looking race of men 5 many of them are tall and straight,
and are quite imposing in appearance. The Jewesses of the higher
classes are adorned with bands of pearls that encircle their hair, and
around their neck hangs a gold chain, from which an ancient gold coin
is frequently suspended. They are remarkably beautiful 5 their form
is faultless, and their features, though voluptuous, are graceful and
charming. They are distinguished for dignity of bearing 5 their
countenance is marked by a tender, melancholy feeling, and not unfre-
quently deep-seated sorrow is expressed in their features.
The Polish Talmudic Jews, of course, do not eat pork, but in this
respect they do not differ from the Mohamedans 5 nor do they make
use of meat unless the animal has been slaughtered by a man skilled
in the art called shochet, who has sufﬁcient knowledge of anatomy to
cut the carotid artery in the most expeditious manner, so as to cause
most of the blood to run out 5 for blood, the essence of life, is for-
bidden food to the Jew? Before the meat is fully ready for cooking,
all the bloodvessels and the nerve of the left thigh 3 must be cut out,

1 It is, indeed, a gracious condescension for a man to be allowed to employ his
money for the improvement of the country in which he lives, and support a part
of the population by hiring the labour of the poor.
2 Nearly all that is said about the peculiar customs of the Polish Jews is taken
from the work written on this subject by Mr. Wiener.
3 This is the nerve which was touched when Jacob was wrestling with the
angel.
TALMUD JEWS OF POLAND. I 53
after which it is saturated with salt, which absorbs all the liquid
blood that still remains 3 and in the course of a few hours fresh water
is poured over it until all the brine has been washed out. As meat
and milk diet cannot be eaten at one and the same meal, an interval
of ﬁve or six hours must intervene between the ﬁrst and the last.
The Polish and Russian Jews of the cities are frequently rich
merchants and bankers, and in recent times many of them are well edu-
cated, and are highly respected by their countrymen. In the country,
on the contrary, they are generally small traders, or innkeepers, or
distillers of brandy, and it is said that they are the only medium of
traiﬁc among the village inhabitants. Whatever is bought or sold,
from a glass of whisky to a herd of oxen, passes through their hands.
To each hotel a Jewish commissioner is attached, who is always ready,
for money, to perform any service that may be required of him.
Marriage among the orthodox Polish Jews is, as it is everywhere in
Europe among all classes of wealth and position, a question, if not
absolutely of money, at least of expediency, which has for its basis
the pecuniary and social condition of the parties that are to be united
in wedlock. It is but rarely that a rich man, anywhere, marries a
poor woman, and vice ocrsa, unless seduced by extraordinary beauty,
or great intellectual gifts, or a prominent social position. The young
man, who possessesthe means and the capacity of decently supporting
a family, requires that his future wife, who is the equal of her hus-
band and is no longer the slave of the household, should contribute
something to improve their social position and render their circum-
stances more easy. N o,blame can be attached to the practice of the
Polish Jews to try to marry their sons and daughters under the best
possible circumstances, to render their home comfortable and their
union‘ happy. To obtain the necessary information as regards the
character and standing of the parties, a middle-man (shadchz'n) is
employed, who ﬁnds out all that is necessary to know, and the nego-
tiations about the dowry are brought by him to a successful conclu-
sion. The Polish Talmud Jews formerly married their children at the
age of fourteen or ﬁfteen, but at the present day they are much more
prudent, and marriages are contracted at a more advanced age. On
the marriage day, the women who are invited asv guests go to the house
of the. bridegroom’s parents, to conduct him to the dwelling of the
bride’s father. Here the bride is seated on a chair; and while a
poetaster makes a sentimental speech and a musician plays the ﬁddle,
the bridegroom (chosen), accompanied by his father, approaches the
bride (kalah) and covers her head and face with a white veil; at the
same time the women who are present as wedding guests throw
handfuls of cats, hop-blossoms, or roses at him, symbolic of future
prosperity. Towards evening the bridegroom proceeds to the place in
front of the synagogue where marriages are celebrated, but the bride
still remains at the house, where she executes with her female friends
the kosher dance. In conformity with the promise of God made unto
Abraham, “ that his posterity shall be as numerous as the stars of
heaven,” all marriage celebrations take place in the open air after
‘nightfall. Here a kind of baldachin (chuppe) is stretched on four
154 THE ARAMEAN s'rocx.
poles, round which the bride with her companions marches seven
times, and then enters and places herself by the side of the bride—-
groom, who awaits her arrival. The scene being lighted up by the
ﬂickering glare of burning torches, the bright ﬂame casts a magic
charm over the newly-married couple. The ofﬁciating rabbi, with a
goblet of wine in his hand, over which he pronounces a blessing,
hands it to the bridegroom and the bride, who sip each in turn the
consecrated liquid. The bridegroom then gives validity to the nuptial
union by putting a gold ring on the index ﬁnger of the right hand of
the bride, saying, “By virtue of this ring you are married to me
according to the law of Moses and Israel 3” and throwing the wine-
glass upon the ground it is dashed to pieces, in commemoration of the
destruction of J erusalem.1 The marriage contract, written in the
Syro-Chaldean, is then read, in which the bridegroom addresses the
bride in these words: “I pay for thy virgin purity two hundred
pieces of silver, which are due to thee according to the law 3 and I
bind myself to supply thee with food, clothing, and household uten-
sils, in conformity with the usages of the world.” After the rabbi
has recited the nuptial prayer, the married pair once more sip together
some wine handed to them in a goblet, which closes the ceremony.
Dancing forms a prominent part of the festivities which take place at
the house, where the guests are regaled according to the fortune of
the parties.
Among the Talmud Jews the hair of the newly-married wife was
formerly cut short, and she was required to wear a wig of black or
brown silk, parted in the middle by a white stripe, which was covered
with a stylish white lace cap ornamented with bright coloured ribbon
and artiﬁcial ﬂowers.
Divorce is extremely rare among the orthodox Jews, but it is said
that among the poor and destitute Polish Jews it is very common.
The consent of both parties is necessary to give validity to the separa-
tion, and a writing (ghet) must be executed to perpetuate the record
of the divorce.
According to the Mosaic'law, a man is bound to marry the childless
widow of his deceased brother 3 but if he refuses to do so, which, by
the prescription of the Talmud, is even made imperative, he is
required to submit to the ceremonial formality of the chalz'fza. His
sister-in-law unbinds and draws from his foot a leather sandal with
which he has been invested for the occasion, and, spitting upon the
ground, she says: “ Thus is treated the man who refuses to build up
the house of his brother 3 his house shall henceforth be called in
Israel that of the barefooted.”
Among the orthodox Polish Jews, after the birth of a child the
friends of the family offer their congratulations to the mother by
wishing her much happiness (masel too), and an open prayer-book is
laid on her bed, with the 121st Psalm, which is written on a sheet of

1 This ceremony is founded upon the following verse of the Psalms :——“ May my
right hand forget its cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my month,
if I ever forget thee, O Jerusalem ! ” Ps. cxxxvi. 5, 6 (Vulgate version).
TALMUD J EWS OF POLAND. 155
paper in the Hebrew language, headed by the superscription, if the
child is a boy, “ Much happiness to the male ” (masel too Zsachar). At
the lower margin are traced two half-triangles or half-squares, repre—
senting the house with the mother and her nursling. On the side
margin of one half are written the names of Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, and
Lea, and on the other half Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which
are intended as protectors of the mother and child. A curse is
superscribed above this ﬁgure-tracing in these words: “Lord, tear
Satan (Shaclaz' hamh Satan) 3 may Lilis 1 and her companions remain
outside.” Beneath this is written, in six diﬂ‘erent inversions, the passage
of Scripture : “A witch thou shalt not let live ” (machashefo Z016
shechat'a). If the infant is a girl the psalm is headed by: “Much
happiness to the female” (masel too Zneirefo). A psalm (Shi'i-
hama'z'los) of great eﬂicacy is hung up over the bed of the mother,
over the cradle of ‘the child, over all the doors and windows, as well
as the chimney. A black line is drawn along the walls of the room,
which is supposed to serve as an insuperable barrier (mechz'zo) beyond
which the witches and evil spirits cannot pass. Evening prayers are
read before the bed of the mother for seven successive days, invoking
the sevenfold protection of the four archangels Michal, Gabriel,
Uriel, and Raphael. If the new-born infant is a boy, he is admitted
on the eighth day, by virtue of circumcision, into the congregation
of the Lord (brz's adona‘i). The operation (mile) is performed by a
professional mool in the presence of a full—prayer congregation, who
respond by “Amen ” to the usual blessing pronounced by the operator.
After a name has been given to the child and congratulations have
been offered on all sides, the relations return to the house, where they
partake of a feast which is more or less sumptuous according to the
fortune of the parents. If the father belongs to the priestly family
(hohn), he is bound to ransom his ﬁrst-born son by paying a sum of
money into the treasury of the congregation.
At the age of four, boys are sent to school (cheater), where they are
taught to read the Hebrew, to enable them to learn by rote the prayers
and Psalms. They are next instructed in reading and translating the
Pentateuch (chumesh), and they are initiated into the subtleties of
Talmudic learning by the study of the commentary (rashz') annexed
to the text. If the scholars are boys of parts, they are exercised in
the sophistical reasonings and juridical argumentation of the Gemamh
or Talmud. As soon as a boy reaches the age of thirteen he becomes a
responsible member of the Jewish congregation 3 and, as an act of con-
ﬁrmation (baZ mz'zvoh), his name is for the ﬁrst time called by the reader
of the synagogue (chasan) to ascend the reading-desk, where he pro-
nounces the usual blessing and reads a marked-out chapter of the Scrip—
tures with all the peculiar intonations proper to the words of the text.
The occasion is celebrated by a feast, and in the course of the repast,
to which all the friends are invited, the young man delivers a disserta-
1 According to the Talmud, Lilis was Adam’s ﬁrst wife, and as a demon agency
she is held to be the authoress of abortion.
156 . THE ARANIZEAN STOCK.
tion on some Biblical subject which has been written out for him and
which he has learned by rote.
_When the Talmud Jew is about approaching his last end, he is told
that it is time for him to think about the salvation of his soul and repeat
the minor and major confession of sin.1 A prayer-congregation of ten
men is then called together, who watch the agonising struggle of the
dying person, and during the last moment, when life is about becom-
ing extinct, they recite in a loud voice the confession of faith of the
Jewish religion: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord”
(She-mah Israel Adona'i Elohemt Adona't echod). Whenever a death
occurs in a house all the water is poured out 5 for it is supposed that
Samiel, the angel of death, deﬁles the water by washing off the poison
drops that adhere to his sword—his weapon of destruction. The
body is carefully washed, and is dressed up in the white linen burial
robe and cap which were worn on the day of marriage 5 and, thus arrayed,
it is deposited in a simple coffin of four unplaned planks fastened
together with iron nails. Before the lid is nailed down, the rabbi of
the place pronounces a eulogy on the life of the deceased, if the dead
was a person of character and distinction 5 and each of the relations
and friends approaches, in turn, and, taking hold of the great toe of the
corpse, pronounces three times the following consecrated formula :—
“ If I have offended thee during life, if I have committed any wrong
against thee, pardon me, pardon me.” The rabbi or some near friend '
performs the mournful duty of tearing the lappet of the coat of the
sons, which is the symbolic expression that some great misfortune has
happened. Persons of wealth procure a bag ﬁlled with earth brought
from the Holy Land, which serves as a pillow to be laid under the
head of the dead. After the plank lid is nailed down, the coffin is
carried on the shoulders of the men of the community, who from time
to time relieve. each other, and while the funeral escort is slowly
marching along, the village beadle passes through the ranks and
presents to each an alms-box with the sacramental words, “ Charity _
averts death.” At the cemetery the coffin is consigned to the grave,
and the sons of the deceased throw down the ﬁrst shovel-fill of earth,
followed in turn by the other relations and friends, as the last service
they can render to the dead. The rabbi then recites the last prayers,
and terminates with this verse: “The Lord will for ever destroy
death 5 He will dry the tears from every human face 5 He will cause to
disappear from the face of the earth the humiliation of His people 5 for
He, the Eternal, has spoken it. ” The oldest son then recites, for the
ﬁrst time, the orphan’s prayer (kad'ish). The mourners are conducted
to their home by the funeral escort, but before entering the house a
pitcher of water is brought out to enable them to wash their hands.
The mourning ceremonies are equally as lugubrious as the obsequies.
In the mortuary chamber the window curtains are closed, the mirrors

‘ 1 These prayer formulas, which are only repeated during the penitential period,
commencing at the day of trumpets and ending with the day of atonement,
invoke the pardon of a merciful God for every species of crime or offence, speci-
ﬁcally named, which a man is capable of committing.
TALMUD JEWS OF POLAND. I 57
and paintings are carefully covered with white sheets, and an egg is
broken upon the nails of the coffin lid and its contents are emptied
upon the ﬂoor. The members of the family are seated round in a
semicircle, on bags ﬁlled with hay, shoeless, and with their clothes
torn. over their breast, upon the table stands the alms-box for the
poor, in a corner ﬂickers the mysterious light of a burning lamp, which
only adds increased poignancy to the gloomy sadness and desolation of
the household. Every kind of work is prohibited, for work is an act
of recreation. For seven days the nearest relations of the dead must
keep the house, and the days are passed in silent prayer, from time to
time interrupted by visitors who pronounce a few words of praise
about the life of the deceased 3 but the whole community—friend or
foe—perform the sacred duty of paying the visit of condolence to the
afflicted family. Each morning and evening a prayer-congregation
meets at the mortuary dwelling, to give the sons an opportunity of
reciting the orphan’s prayer, which is a kind of Hebrew liturgy, of
which each verse is responded to by the Amen of the worshippers.
The hadz'sh is daily repeated during the whole year of mourning 3 and
on the anniversary day sons commemorate the death of their parents
by fasting and praying upon the tomb of those to whom they owe their
existence, and sometimes even their prosperity. Like the Catholics,
some Talmud rabbis pretend that prayer (hadz'sh) can deliver the
soul from the purgatory of ﬁre in which it must be puriﬁed for a
period of twelve months ,' and both Catholic priests and Jewish
rabbis are liberal enough to assert that, after their purgatorial penance,
the orthodox members of their own confession are readily admitted
into paradise, where saints and whitewashed sinners are equally welcome
to the joys of eternal bliss.
The religion ‘of the orthodox Jews, though founded on the Mosaic
books, is no longer the religion of the ancient Hebrews. The practice
'of offering sacriﬁces has ceased since the destruction of the temple,
and the caste of the priesthood only exists in name, for it does no
longer exercise sacerdotal or religious functions. The purity of the
Mosaic faith has been disﬁgured by introducing into the Jewish
household numerous oriental superstitions brought from Assyria and
Babylonia, and even from Greece and Rome and other pagan countries.
The rabbis have added precept upon precept, line upon line, until
their religious observances have become so tedious and burdensome,
that even the most pious Jews ﬁnd themselves under the necessity of
evading the most stringent Talmudic prescriptions.
One of the most onerous duties imposed upon the Talmudic Jews is
the strict observance of the Sabbath. The day of rest begins at sun—
down on Friday evening and ends at sundown on Saturday. At six
o’clock the Polish Jews begin to shut up their shops or stop their
work, and the men proceed to the next water-course to perform their
weekly ablutions. Both sexes array themselves in their holiday
costume, and before going to the synagogue to attend to the evening
prayer, a certain number of lamps or candles are lighted by the
housewife, who pronounces the customary blessing. The scriptural
injunction, “Thou shalt do no work on the Sabbath-day,” is carried
158 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
to such an extreme that the orthodox Jew never combs his hair on
that day, nor washes himself with soap, nor does he even clean his
shoes. In cold weather the ﬁre in the stove has to be kindled by a
Christian neighbour 3 and as no cooking is allowed to be done, all the
prepared articles of food are sent to a public oven, where they are kept
warm until needed. It is even interdicted to light a candle, to smoke
the pipe, to cut, tear, or break anything, except the food that is eaten,
and even the opening of a letter is considered a violation of the
Sabbath rest. The pious never touch, nor receive, nor pay out any
money on that day. The carrying beyond certain bounds (area) of
any object of secondary use, such as a watch, keys, umbrellas, and
even a handkerchief, is also contrary to the Talmudic Sabbath law.
To ride on horseback or in a carriage, or to travel on foot to a
distance exceeding two thousand paces, is strictly prohibited. The
most pious Jews pass the day in repeating the prayers in the synagogue
and in the study of the Pentateuch and the Talmud, but the young
are allowed to spend the afternoon in idleness, or in paying visits to
their friends and acquaintances.
The Jews keep all the festivals of the ancient Hebrews, besides the
half festival of the consecration of the second temple (chanulta), and the
half festival of Purim, in commemoration of the deliverance of the Baby-
lonian Jews from destruction through the intervention of Esther.
During the eight days of the Passover (pesach) cooking vessels
and a table service expressly set apart for this purpose are used; and
to banish from the house the least speck of leavened breadstuff', all
the rooms, utensils, and household ware are thoroughly cleaned. The
unleavened bread, baked with the necessary precautions, consists of
thin round ﬂat cakes (mazus), made of pure wheat ﬂour and water,
without the addition of salt or any fermenting material. The drinking
of beer, which is made of malt, is interdicted, and the wine used
during the festival days is required to be derived from grapes gathered‘
and pressed under Jewish superintendence. In the evening, after
returning from the synagogue, the head of the family dresses himself
in his white linen burial robe, and taking his seat by the side of a '
cushion (seder), with all the members of the household and the invited
poor arranged round the table, he consecrates the wine by pronouncing
the usual blessing upon it (kidz'sh). Upon the sealer are placed a hard
boiled egg—the symbol of delivery from oppression—a glass of salt
water, and a bunch of persil, to commemorate the calamity of Egyptian
slavery 3 a piece of horse-raddish and a silver cup ﬁlled with preserves,
compounded of mashed apples, nuts, cinnamon, and other ingredients
which represents the loam of which the brick was made. 3 A half-
roasted mutton bone symbolises the paschal offering. The story of
the delivery of Israel from Egyptian bondage is read in Hebrewgby
the chief of the house from a book called the agadafwhich is inter-
woven with hymns of praise and thanksgiving, and it also contains
some legendary chapters entirely ﬁgurative in their sense and composi-
tion. After all have washed their hands, the housefather distributes
among all his guests small morsels of the articles lying upon the sealer,
which are eaten by each one, previously pronouncing over them certain
TALMUD JEWS OF POLAND. 159
thanksgiving formulas. This ceremony is followed by a plentiful
repast of the choicest articles of food that can be procured, which are
washed down by copious draughts of wine. Pentecost (shevoelh), or
the harvest festival, commemorates the joyous event of the delivery of
the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The new year’s festival
(rosh-hashonah), or the feast of trumpets, occurs on the ﬁrst day of
the month Tishri. On this day, according to the Talmud Jews, God
sits in judgment over angels and men, to make a record of their deeds
done during the last twelve months 3 their acts are weighed and
scrutinised, the sentence is pronounced which is sealed on the great
day of atonement, and all are predestined for the coming year either
unto life or unto death. An adverse judgment can always be averted,
if the rabbis are to be believed, by true repentance and a meritorious
conduct. The religious worship is varied by blowing a ram’s horn
(shophar), and the worshippers of both sexes are dressed in their white
burial robes. In the evening the whole community proceeds to a run-
ning stream, into which each one throws some crumbs of bread and pro~
nounces an invocation, that the water may carry away his sins (tashlech).
Eight penitential days intervene between the day of trumpets and the
day of atonement, which are devoted to early morning prayer, and are
passed fasting till mid-day. On the day preceding the day of
atonement, a cock is swung round the head of each male and a hen
round each female member of the household, which is killed and
eaten as an expiatory offering (haporeth) to redeem the sinner from
merited death.
The day of atonement (g/Om-hz'pur) is the most solemn festival of
the year 3 it is the great fast-day, and is kept holy like the Sabbath. It
is initiated by various preparatory religious exercises. Every house-
father takes a bath (decal) and submits to the humiliating practice of
lying on the ground on all fours, while a fellow-penitent, with a leather
strap in his hand, inﬂicts upon him, as an offender before God, forty
stripes less one (malcoth). The eve of the festival and the whole of
the following day is passed in the synagogue, where the worshippers
are dressed in their white linen burial robes, stripped of their shoes or
boots, and covered with the prayer-mantle (talc'th). They abstain
from every kind of food and drink, and are continually reciting,
generally in a chanting tone of voice, penitential prayers, hymns of
praise and thanksgiving, and liturgies, at times marked by bowings
and prostrations.
The feast of tabernacles (suhhoth), which is celebrated during nine
days, begins on the ﬁfteenth day of Tishri, on which all orthodox
Jews eat in booths covered with green branches. The interior is
generally ornamented with laced paper work, and various kinds of
fruits which are suspended from the ceiling. During the ﬁrst seven
days the worshippers are provided with a closed-up palm frond (lake),
to which a few willow and myrtle branches are tied 3 and with a species
of lime or citron (es-reg) it is waved to and fro, upwards and down-
wards, by the worshipper, who pronounces a certain prayer formula.
On the eighth day (hoshatna-mboh) the luloo bunch is untied, and
the,,leaves of the willow branches, of which fresh ones are furnished
160 THE ARAMEAN STOCK. '
on that day, are beaten off, and henceforth the palm frond is divested
of all its sanctity. On the ninth day, called the joyof the them
(simchath thora), the thora rolls are carried round the synagogue in a
dancing step, while the reader is singing hymns of praise. '
The Tahnud Jews have, like the Christians, adopted certain articles
of faith, to which every member of the congregation must subscribe
before he is admitted to make a part of the “ Israel of God.” These
articles are thirteen in number, and read as follow :—
1. I believe (at'm' maa'mz'n) with perfect faith that the Eternal——
blessed be His name—has created all that exists in nature 5 that He
watches over all things 5 that He governs all.
2. I believe, with perfect faith, that the Eternal our God is one;
there is no unity similar to His 5 that He is, that He has been, that He
always will be our God.
3. I believe, with perfect faith, that God is not a body, that He
has nothing corporal, that nothing can represent Him. .
4. I believe, with perfect faith, that God has been the ﬁrst, that He
will be the last.
5. I believe, with perfect faith, that to Him alone we ought to
address our prayers.
6. I believe, with perfect faith, that Moses is the greatest of all the
prophets.
7. I believe, with perfect faith, that all the words of the prophets
are true.
8. I believe, with perfect faith, that the law, both written and oral,
which we follow, has been given by God to Moses.
9. I believe, with perfect faith, that this law will never be changed.
10. I believe, with perfect faith, that God knows all the actions
and thoughts of men.
11. I believe, with perfect faith, that God recompenses those that
follow His laws, and punishes those that transgress them.
12. I believe, with perfect faith, that God will send the Messiah at
a ﬁxed time, which is known to Him alone.
13. I believe, with perfect faith, that the soul is immortal, and that
one day God will resuscitate the dead and call them unto judgment.
“I hope in Thy aid, O Eternal l”
AUTHORITIES .
Letters on Turkey. By M. A. Ubicini. 18 56.
An Account of the Jews of the East. By. Ludwig A. Frankl._ 1860.
Nineveh and its Remains. By Austin H. Layard. 1850.
Dawning Light from the East. By Rev. Henry Stern. 1854.
Voice from North Africa. By Nathan Davis. 1860.
Morocco. By Beauclerc. - 5
Travels in Morocco. By James Richardson. 1859.
A Tour through the Dominions of the Emperor of Morocco. By Wm,
Lempri‘ere. . _ _ . “
Description de Tums. Par Louis Franck. (UniversPittoresque, tom. v11.)
TALMUD J EWS OF POLAND. :6!
Algeria. By John R. Morrell. 1852-53.
Russia as it is. By A. D. Gurowski. 18 54.
Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. By Wm. Coxe.
1787.
Poland. By Harrings. I8 34.
Russian Poland. By Anderson. 1864.
Israel und die Gojim. I880.
Perle (roman) Scenes de Moeurs J uives (dans le Journal “La Paix”),
December 1880.
Travels in Syria. By J. Lewis Burckhardt. 1852.
162 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
.-~._,..-__-_.-._-.a-—--— —- - -
LIBYO-ARAMZEANS.
GENERAL CHARACTER.
THE parent stock of the Arameeans had vastly increased in numbers,
in the cradle-land of their original home, long before their language
was sufficiently developed in verbal utterances and in grammatical
organism. They gradually overstepped their original boundaries, to-
seek new homes and form new tribal communities at a distance from
the spot where they passed the infancy of their national life. They
had crossed the Euphrates and extended their migrations to the banks
of the Tigris, and pressing southward they multiplied themselves into
numerous tribes of huntsmen, who became wandering hordes along-
the coast of the Red Sea. As they were constantly engaged in
inter-tribal warfare—for they frequently encroached upon each other’s
hunting-grounds—many of them were gradually driven across the-
Isthmus of Suez, where they found a safe retreat from the pursuits
of their enemies in an unoccupied territory which was then in the
exclusive possession of the beasts of the forests.
The Nile basin was still conﬁned to Upper Egypt and Nubia, and
it was then a narrow but fertile valley whose alluvial soil had been’
formed, in comparatively recent time, after the bottom of the Sahara
sea had been upheaved, and its waters had been emptied into con--
tiguous ocean basins. The present delta was still partially submerged,
or covered by inaccessible swamps and marshes, and it was only by
continued deposits of soil-materials swept down from the mountains
by the impetuous current of the Nile, that it was gradually converted
into dry land of sufﬁcient elevation to form an effectual barrier against-
the swelling waters of the sea. This contracted valley, which was
destined to be the infant nursery of the highest civilisation, was
uninhabited 3 for the races of the N igritian stock were hemmed in to-
the north by the Sahara Desert, and to the east they were prevented
from advancing by the periodical inundations which, at that period,
still took place in Upper Egypt, and they had neither the courage and
daring, nor the ingenuity and skill, to cross what to them was an
impassable ocean of water or an illimitable waste of sand.
Having once passed the barren strip of land which separates the
Mediterranean from the Red Sea, the Libyo-Aramaeans wandered
away into the fertile territory lying at the foot of the Atlas Moun-
tains; and extending their migrations northward towards the Medi-
terranean coast they pursued a westward course until the mighty
waves of the Atlantic impeded their farther progress. In the central
LIBYO-ARAMEANS. I6 3
and western part of North Africa they found their onward march in a
southern direction obstructed by the sandy plains of the Great Desert,
which, at that early period, no mortal man had yet traversed. But
the eastern Libyan races, whose hunting-grounds were rather con-
tracted, approached the Nile regions slowly and by gradual advances 3
and as the annual overﬂows became more and more circumscribed by
the slow and imperceptible elevation of the lowlands, they eventually
took possession of Ethiopia 1 and Upper Egypt.
In North Africa the Kabyles, the Berbers, the Tuaregs, the
N ubas, and the Copts are the only surviving remnants of the
aboriginal races of Libyo-Aramaean origin; for the primitive Libyans
and ancient Egyptians were either exterminated by cruel and bloody
conquerors, or they were blended with the succeeding race, or were
forced to take refuge in the desert wilds of the interior, or were com-
pelled to escape the doom of slavery by retreating to neighbouring
islands, and the hidden glens and dark recesses of inaccessible
mountains. Their nationality, their religion, and even their language,
have been supplanted by conquering hosts of Saracen Arabs—the
highest type of the Aramman stock.

1 Nubia is known under the ancient name of xEthc'opz'a supra Egyptum.
164 THE ARAMzEAN s'rocx.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS.
"WHEN the Egypto-Libyans 1 ﬁrst established themselves in Lower
Nubia and the Thebai'd, the Nile, with its slimy deposits, had already
raised its banks sufficiently high to serve as an effectual barrier which
kept conﬁned within a comparatively‘ narrow channel the rippling
current of its vast expanse of water after the annual inundation had
subsided. The extreme portion of Lower Egypt in the direction of
the Mediterranean was still submerged, and many ages rolled down
the tide of time before the area of the delta was converted into dry
land and became the ﬁt abode for the habitation of man. Being pro-
tected on all sides against sudden hostile invasions by the nature of
the country by which they were surrounded, the Egypto-Libyans early
lost the restless spirit of the roving warrior 5 and, though skilled in
the manipulation of the bow and the ﬂint or bone-headed arrow, yet
they employed their weapons only when engaged in the exciting exer_
cise of the chase, or when their homestead was disturbed by the hoarse
roar of the lion, the shrill howl of the hyena, and the hollow tramp
of the elephant. They hunted the spotted leopard for his skin to
cover their naked bodies 5 they pursued the swift-footed ostrich and
the larger antelopes for their ﬂesh 5 they followed the rhinoceros to
his haunts for his horns, which they shaped into ornaments and
trinkets 5 nor did the hippotherium, the wild ass, and the zebra escape
their murderous art. At a much later period they abandoned, by de-
grees, their migratory life 5 and the natural fertility of the land, which
spontaneously produced the cereals and fruit trees without cultivation,
gave them the ﬁrst idea of the tillage of the soil, with the object of
immeasurably increasing the aggregate quantity of production capable
of supporting their constantly increasing population. Wheat, barley,‘
and sorghum (dhoara), being of indigenous growth, were transplanted
upon prepared soil, and they reaped plentiful harvests, which supplied
them an abundance of bread-materials. The date-palm was here of
spontaneous growth, and they were already acquainted with the nutri-
tious qualities of its fruit. As their knowledge of the natural pro-
ductions of the country increased, they discovered the economical use
of ﬂax, of the sycamore ﬁg, the lotus, and the papyrus. In the infant
state of their colonisation their dwellings were rude, displaying neither
ingenuity nor taste in their construction, but they were adapted to the
1 The name of Egypto-Libyans has been adopted to distinguish the ancient
from the modern Egyptians 5 they called their country Kem or Kami, signifying
black land.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. '16 5
circumstances by which they were surrounded. Some selected the
limestone caverns at the foot of the mountains as the most convenient
shelter. Others, with the fragments of stones scattered over the
surface of the hills, built up rugged walls covered with intertwining
branches, and thatched with sedges and leaves of trees. In the low—
lands, lumps of clay dried in the sun were the only available material
to rear the primitive hut which served as a family retreat, and afforded
protection from the summer’s scorching heat and the winter’s drench~
ing rains. Their social organisation was still loose, and was wanting
in compactness. All were social equals; every house-father was the
absolute ruler of his household, and had unlimited control over his
own domestic affairs. 'Within the precincts of his home he exercised
not only judicial authority, but he was a consecrated priest, and per-
formed all religious ceremonies and solemn rites. Gradually, however,
the most inﬂuential heads of families assumed the title of chiefs, and
introduced the ﬁrst germ of rank and class distinction by claiming
their dignity and power as an hereditary right. This aristocratic class,
which had been eliminated from the mass of the people by an imper-
ceptible internal development, constituted also the priestly order ; they
possessed superior knowledge, they exercised legislative and judicial
functions, and to give sanction to their usurped authority they asserted
that they stood in direct communication with the gods. The dis-
sociated tribal communities became more closely united by a system
of religious dogmas recognised by all as of binding force ,- and as it
became interwoven with all the concerns of social life, it strengthened
the power of the priesthood and rendered it irresistible. The priestly
hierarchy, whose members were the representatives of the tribes of
which, in the aggregate, the nation was composed, organised the state
upon a permanent foundation, gave to the government a more conso-
lidated form, reserving to itself supreme authority as the divinely
appointed ministers commissioned to execute the will of the gods, the
tutelary patrons and protectors of the nation. Nothing was left unto
the people but to yield implicit obedience, and to bow in submission
to the irrevocable decrees vpromulgated from time to time by the divine
manifestation of absolute power. After the lapse of many centuries,
when the priesthood had greatly increased in numbers, it was deemed
necessary, in order to harmonise clashing principles and reconcile dis-
cordant sentiments, to raise the most worthy member of their own
body to the dignity of sovereign pontiff, and at the same time invest
him with kingly power as the executive chief of the nation. This
was the keystone to the arch which gave additional strength and sta-
bility to the Egypto-Libyan state. The government was henceforth
an absolute despotism, and the population was divided into the
governing and the subject class. This was the starting-point of the
higher order of the Egypto-Libyan civilisation.1

1 Historically considered, Egypt has been divided into four distinctive periods.
The ﬁrst period, which is called the ancient empire, includes the ﬁrst dynasties,
This is the age of the pyramids, and at the end of this period Abraham had not
yet been born. The second period comprised the centuries which extend from the
166 THE ARAll’l-ZEAN STOCK.
Mena of This, a town of Upper Egypt, was, historically speaking,
the ﬁrst king of the Egypto-Libyans. His name marks the dawn of
the historic period, and the rise and progress of the nation. He
already ruled over a well-organised state and a partially-civilised
people as early as four thousand four hundred and ﬁfty—ﬁve years
before the Christian era, which is over seventeen hundred years before
the time of Abraham, and ﬁfteen hundred and nineteen years before
the arrival of Jacob in Egypt.1 He is the reputed founder of Memphis,
and it is said that he diverted the course of the Nile and built the
new city within the ancient bed of the river. The rude manners of
the Egypto-Libyans became more polished by the introduction of the
arts of luxury, as well as the use of tables, couches, and carpets.
Ceremonial forms of a more popular character rendered the worship of
the gods and the offering of sacriﬁces more solemn and impressive;
and the establishment of magniﬁcent public festivals developed the
public sentiment of national unity, gave rise to social intimacies, and
fostered friendly intercourse and a kind and generous disposition
among the people. Mena is reported, upon traditional authority, to
have been torn to pieces by a hippopotamus—the emblem of crime.2
He was succeeded by his son, Athotis or Tota, who wrote a book
on anatomy and acquired reputation as a physician 3 for it was at
Memphis where rEsculapius was worshipped, and to Athotis is attri-
buted the building of the royal palace at the new capital, which fur-
nishes the ﬁrst monumental record of the existence of an advanced
civilisation during the earliest period of the old monarchy. During
the second dynasty Apis began to be worshipped at Memphis, Mnevis
at Heliopolis, and the goat at Mendes 3 and Egypt was even then the
land of miracles 3 for it is said that for eleven days the waters of the

eleventh to the eighteenth dynasties, and this is called the Middle Empire. Joseph
is the minister of the last king of this period‘. This also includes the time when
the shepherd~kings conquered Lower Egypt. The third period, which is called
the New Empire, commences at the eighteenth dynasty and ends with Alexander.
This is the age of Moses, who lived during the nineteenth dynasty. When Sesac
took Jerusalem, Egypt was already in its decline. The fourth period, which is
known by the name of the Low Epoch, includes the Greek dynasty and the
governments of the Roman conquerors. “ Itinéraire de la Haute Egypte,” par A.
lVIariette-Bey, p. 20.
1 The ﬁrst dynasty is supposed (by Boekh) to have been established about
5702 13.0. Brugsch ﬁxes upon the year 4455 B. 0., which has been adopted in the <
text; Lepsius brings it down to 3896 13.0., and Bunsen to 3623. Mariette-Bey,
who may be considered as one of the best authorities, ﬁxes, for the ﬁrst dynasty,
upon the year 5004 B. 0.
The remains show the handiworks of man brought up from a considerable
depth: sculptured granite, architecturally carved limestone, human and animal
ﬁgures, coloured mosaic vases, jars, a copper knife 3 and at a depth of 72 feet, bricks
and fragments of pottery 3 at 3 3.12 feet a tablet with inscriptions was found. All
evidence that exists seems to point to ﬁve inches per century as fully representing
the average amount of elevation given by the Nile mud to the bed of the Nile and to
surrounding country covered by the annual inundations. Renouf’s Lectures, p. 5 1.‘
This would show the presence of civilised man in Egypt at a period varying
from 8000 to 17,300 years.
2 The introduction of the corruptive arts of a higher civilisation was considered
by his enemies as a criminal act, and this accounts for the manner in which his
death was allegorioally represented.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 167
‘Nile, in their seaward course, were mixed with honey. In the reign
of N echerophes, a king of the third dynasty, the Libyans, who were
tributary to Egypt, revolted, and only laid down their arms and
acknowledged their obligation as a dependent state on account of the
terror excited amongst them, by the unusual appearance of the moon.
Important improvements in the architectural art were introduced in
the reign of Sesorthos. The public buildings were no longer con-
structed with rough-hewn and angular blocks of stone of irregular
outline, but they were carefully squared and polished, so as to present
an even and smooth surface. The hieroglyphic designs were also more
neatly and more distinctly traced, which marked a new epoch in the
art of writing. _
The fourth dynasty is distinguished for its grand and sublime
monuments which it bequeathed to posterity. In the year 3577 B. o.
Suphis and his brother Sensuphis erected the pyramids of Gizeh, the
only monuments constructed by the hands of man that have withstood
the destructive agency of decay and the ravages of time, and have
been the dumb witnesses of the rise and downfall of empires. Egypt
then stood already at the head of civilisation. Its government was well
organised in its military as well as civil department 3 its religion was
an elaborate system of theology, universally recognised as comprising
the knowledge of all things spiritual and divine. It is to this period
that the origin of the worship of Osiris is traced, for the regal dignity
of the deceased king, Menkeru, is indicated by the bee and the palm
brancln'withlthe epithet “ of living for ever” preﬁxed. Hieroglyphic
writing had also attained the highest degree of perfection.
In the sixth dynasty N ictoris, a woman of great personal attraction
and intellectual endowments, ascended the throne of Egypt. She suc-
ceeded her husband, who had been assassinated, and whose death she
avenged. She is the reputed builder of the third pyramid of Gizeh.
Sesostris, or Usurtasen II., the fourth king of the twelfth dynasty,
established the reputation of Egypt as a military power. He conquered
all Asia and Europe as far as Thrace in the course of nine years, leav—
ing in every country through which he passed with his conquering
army memorials engraved with the emblems of his victories. The
Labyrinth, the great national palace in which the provincial assemblies
were held, was constructed during the reign of this monarch. He was
held in high esteem by his people, and his memory was cherished with
a reverence second only to that entertained for Osiris.
During the early period of the Egyptian monarchy, Lower Egypt
was invaded and held in subjection for two hundred and ﬁfty-nine
years by the Hycsos or shepherd-kings.1 They occupied Memphis,
where they established the seat of government, and founded Abaris, a
new city situated in the Sethroite home, which served as a military

1 The title of shepherd-kings applies neither to the Assyrians nor to the Phoe~
nicians, for there is no reason to suppose that either of these nations was devoted
to pastoral pursuits, or led a nomadic life, after their military spirit had become
sufficiently developed to enable them to make foreign conquests. The Arabs, on
the other hand, were shepherd warriors from the earliest dawn of their national
organisation; and under a bold and daring leader they could, without the least
168 THE ARAMzEAN STOCK.
“bumgmiab. “new a’.

encampment to keep up the spirit and discipline of their soldiers by
means of military exercises and occasional reviews 5 for it was only by
keeping intact a well-organised army of their own countrymen that
they were enabled to maintain their power. The kings of the ﬁfteenth
dynasty waged a war of extermination, but during the period of the
sixteenth and seventeenth dynasties, the sovereigns of Thebes and
Xois exercised all the privileges and powers of royalty, and were only
required to pay a stated tribute to the Memphite monarchs. Joseph is
supposed to have been brought by the Midianite caravan to Egypt,
where he was sold as a slave under the Hycsos king N ub in the year-
1750 13.0. Egypt was then already distinguished for art, reﬁnement,
and a high degree of commercial activity. The beauty and durability
of her linen fabrics were then unrivalled 5 she was already acquainted
with the art of making glass, and transforming the crude materials into
vases and drinking-cups. Her artisans were skilled in carving and
polishing ingenious woodwork, as well as fashioning gold into elegant
and costly ornaments. Her agricultural resources were well developed,
and she was even then the granary of the Eastern world. The amuse-
ments and diversions of her people indicated intellectual progress
and the cultivation of sociability. The young men were engaged in
gymnastic exercises, and the middle-aged and the old passed their
leisure hours in playing draughts, or sought recreation in the more
exciting game of ball. ‘
With the eighteenth dynasty commences the era of the new
monarchy, in the year 1628 13.0.1 The Hycsos were expelled and
divested of their usurped authority, and as they differed from the native
inhabitants in manners, language, and religion, they left no permanent.
traces behind 5 and as they held only military possession of the
country, their origin as well as their nationality is unknown, which is
a problem to this day that still remains unsolved.
Amenophis I., or Amenhotep I., in 1666 13.0., is entitled to the
distinction of being called the second founder of the monarchy. He
was a warlike and enterprising prince. His successful campaigns in
Ethiopia and in Asia restored Egypt to her former rank and dignity,
and gave a new impulse to the extension of her power, and the pro-
gressive development of her civilisation. Architecture was the ﬁrst-
born of the ﬁne arts, and its original classic models were ﬁrst traced
out in the valley of the Nile. The ﬂuted columns and the colossal
statuary are the ancient relics of an architectural style which was
grand yet simple in its outline, massive yet chaste and pure in its
conception. Thutmes I., in 1633 13.0., perpetuated the historic renown

“w-;.,_w,n__»;>_ ‘salve-1.1.1.0
difficulty make a sudden irruption into Lower Egypt, which was then but thinly
inhabited, and hold possession of it with the aid of an army of warlike hordes,
partly collected in garrison towns, and partly scattered over the whole region of
country extending from the banks of the Nile through the Isthmus of Suez into
Arabia. '
1 According to Brugsch, it was Aahmes, in 1700, who was the founder of the:
eighteenth dynasty that conquered Memphis and drove the Hycsos into the
fortiﬁed camp of Ha-Uar. Thutmes I. completed the conquest, and freed Egypt
from the domineering power of the invaders.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. . 169
of Thebes for grandeur and magniﬁcence by the construction of that
splendid and immense pile of buildings known as the palace of
Karnak 3 and the obelisks erected in the centre of the vast area of its
enclosure, which are inscribed with his name, furnish the monumental
record of the artistic taste and social reﬁnement of this period.
One of the greatest monarchs of the nineteenth dynasty was Thutmes
III., in 1600 13.0. He extended the frontier line of the Egyptian empire
beyond the second cataract. Ethiopia was a provincial dependency,
and was governed by a royal prince. Four principal nations were his
tributaries. Numerous tribes of the N igritian stock did homage to
him by laying at his feet the richest treasures of their country,
consisting of blocks of ebony, ivory tusks, strings of precious stones,
ostrich eggs and feathers, gold and silver in ingots, or in the form of
ring-money, or stored away in bags. WVild as well as domestic animals
formed also a part of this tributary contribution. Among these were
apes, leopards, an oryx, a giraffe, a gazelle, together with dogs and
cattle. The “Nations of the South,” of a much higher order of civi-
lisation, contributed as their offering vases of gold and silver, of grace-
ful form and elaborate workmanship. Other tribute-bearers brought
ring-money of gold and silver, elegant vases, precious stones, rare
woods of different colours, tusks of ivory, an elephant, and a bear.
This monarch was held in such high veneration that his name was
engraved on amulets and scarabeei. It was during this and the pre-
ceding reigns of the eighteenth dynasty that the Israelites were sub-
j ected to the compulsory labour of making bricks, under the supervisory
direction of tyrannic taskmasters, with the object of constructing
fortiﬁcations to strengthen the frontier line on the side of Arabia and
Palestine. Amenophis III. was the patron of art. He built the
palace of Luxor, and the dromos of crio-sphinxes by which it was
connected with Karnak. Two monolithal shrines, dedicated to Sebek,
the crocodile deity of Ombe, are ascribed to him. The Syenitic granite
quarries of Silsilis, which furnished the principal materials for Egyp-
tian ediﬁces and monuments, were extensively worked during the reign
of this monarch.
In the year r366 30., Ramses II., whose victories and triumphs
are recorded in historical pictures, had a well-organised army, which
had made considerable progress in the art of war. In siege operations
it was bold in attack, and, by forming a testudo, it approached the
enemy's works, and ascended the walls of fortiﬁed places by means of
scaling ladders.
Ramses III. (I 200 13.0.), the Sesostris of Herodotus,1 was the greatest
of all the Egyptian kings. He enlarged the boundaries of the empire
by conquest, and increased the general prosperity of his people. It is
related by ancient historians that his father, in consequence of a dream
or an oracle, which foreshadowed the future greatness of his son, had
brought together from every part of Egypt all the male children born

1 Some authors aﬁirm that Ramses II. was the Sesostris of Herodotus, and that
the Egyptians, on account of his great fame, have combined or identiﬁed the name
of the son, who was Ramses III., with that of his father.
170 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
on the same day with the young prince, supposing that, being reared
and educated with him, and thus becoming his intimate friends and
associates, they would prove in after life faithful warriors and trusty
and devoted counsellors. That he might become inured to the hard-
ships and privations incident to warlike expeditions, he was sent by
his father, together with his companions in arms, into the Desert of
Arabia, where he subdued the wild wandering hordes that had never
before submitted to a conqueror 3 and, in the west, he effected the
subjugation of the greater part of Libya.1 On the death of his father
he assumed the reins of authority, and, being persuaded by his
daughter Athyrtis, who was endowed with superior sagacity above all
other women, and was skilled in the art of divination, he began his
most remarkable military career.2 His exploits were extensive, and
his expeditions by land and by sea were numerous. Forming the
grand design of conquering the world, he collected an army of six
hundred thousand foot, twenty-four thousand horse, and twenty-seven
thousand armed chariots, which were commanded by seventeen thousand
ofﬁcers, who were the companions of his youth.3 He marched into
Ethiopia, and exacted a tribute of gold, ebony, and ivory 3 he van-
quished the Scythians, and carried his conquests as far as Thrace/1
With his ﬂeet of four hundred sail he made himself master of the
coast of Phoenicia, and took possession of many of the Cyclades. He
returned home laden with the spoils of subjugated nations, and nume-
rous captives followed in his train. He enriched his country with
magniﬁcent works‘; he built the most sumptuous royal palace, called
the Ramaseion, as well as the temple of Memphis, and erected two
splendid obelisks and colossal statues of marble in the temple of Phtah
(Vulcan). He dug canals to subserve the purpose of irrigation, and
to regulate the distribution of the waters of the Nile 3 he raised dykes
and embankments to protect houses and lands during the inundation.
It is said that he constructed a wall, passing by Heliopolis, along the
edge of the desert, and extending from Pelusium to a distance of ﬁve
hundred stadia, or one hundred and eighty-seven Roman miles, to
defend the frontier from the invasion of the Syrians and Arabs.5 N o
native Egyptian was employed in erecting these magniﬁcent structures
and monuments, but the work was exclusively accomplished by the
compulsory labour of captives. He also re-organised the political
administration of the state by dividing all Egypt into twenty-six
provinces or 720777.88, each of which was placed under the supervisory
control of a governor. He distributed the lands, and assigned to each
man his “rood of ground,” and imposed a tax for the enjoyment of
the possessory right.
During the period of the twentieth dynasty Egypt ceased to be a
conquering power, which had already reached its climax and was
now on the decline. Ethiopia, which was the home of the ancient
colonies of Egypto-Libyans, and was inhabited by a kindred people,
had fallen off and had established its independence. During the

1 Diodorus, lib. i. 53, 2, 5, 6. k2 Ibid. i. 53, 6, seq. 3 Ibid. i. 54, 6.
4 Ibid. i. 55, 4, 6. 5 Ibid. i. 57, 4.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 171
twenty-ﬁrst dynasty Solomon married the daughter of one of the
latest of the Tanite kings, and received Gezer, a town in Palestine,
which had been recently conquered, as dowry. Sesonches, the ﬁrst
king of the twenty-second dynasty, having entered into a defensive
and offensive alliance with Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes of Israel,
invaded J udea, and taking possession of Jerusalem without meeting
. any resistance, he plundered the city and carried off the treasures of
the temple and of the royal palace. He also reduced Libya and
Ethiopia to obedience. Bochoris, the last king of the twenty-fourth
dynasty, was celebrated for the wisdom of his laws and the equity of
his judicial decisions ,' and it is said that he was burned to death by
order of Sabaco, king of Ethiopia, who invaded Egypt, and thus
established the ﬁrst Ethiopian dynasty.
The accession of an Ethiopian king to the throne of Egypt did not
change the social or political condition of her people ; it was simply a
change of dynasty. In the eighth century before the Christian era
the Ethiopians were nearly as far advanced in civilisation as the Egypto-
Libyans 5 and though they spoke a different dialect, yet the system of
hieroglyphic writing was identical with that of Egypt. They were
closely allied in race, manners, and religion. Ammon and Osiris were
worshipped in both countries 3 they were equally honoured at Thebes
and at Meroe.
Psammeticus I. was the founder of the twenty-sixth dynasty,
670 13.0. With the aid of Grecian and Phoenician mercenaries, who
enlisted in his service, he defeated the twelve kings set up by the
Ethiopians in the twelve provinces, and made himself sole master
_ of Egypt.1 He vrewarded the Greeks by granting them a district
on the Pelusian branch of the Nile for their exclusive possession, and
gave them the privilege of erecting fortiﬁcations for their protec-
tion. He established a Phoenician camp at Memphis, chieﬂy for
commercial purposes, and opened the Egyptian harbours to foreign
ships. He cultivated friendly relations with the Greeks, had his
own son instructed in Greek learning; and Egyptian children were
placed under the tuition of Greek masters, that they might obtain a
thorough knowledge of their language; and these formed, at a later
period, the distinct caste of interpreters. By timely entreaties and
presents, he succeeded in averting the threatened invasion of the
Scythians, who occupied Palestine in 6 32 no.2
Psammeticus was succeeded by his son N echo in 612 B.o. He was
a warlike and enterprising monarch. He waged war against the
Assyrians and the Jews, killed Josiah, king of J udea, and captured
Jerusalem. He re-opened the canal which connected the Nile with
the Red Sea 5 but being warned by an oracle, the work was inter-
mitted, and was only completed much later under Ptolemy. His
alliance with the Phoenicians, who were then the ﬁrst naval power in
the world, procured for him building materials for the construction of
a ﬂeet ,' and availing himself of their experience in navigation, he
ﬁtted out an expedition for the purpose of exploring the coast of
1 Herodotus, ii. 151—153. 2 Ibid- 1- 155-
172 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
Africa, and to him belongs the honour of the ﬁrst discovery of the
peninsular conformation of the African continent, twenty-one hundred
years before the Cape of Good Hope was doubled by Vasco de Gama]-
Amasis or Aahmes, in 572 B0, was the ﬁrst king of plebeian origin,
and when he ﬁrst ascended the throne he was despised by the priest
and soldier class on account of the meanness of his birth? But he
won over the grandees and nobles by his wisdom and moderation. He
admonished them that men ought not to be honoured on account'of
their illustrious descent, but they should be judged by their merits and
abilities, and that they should only be entitled to consideration and
respect for their services which they rendered to society. He melted
down a golden footbath in which he and his guests were accustomed
to wash their feet previous to their sitting down to their banquets,
and fashioned from the molten metal the statue of a god which he set
up in a public place to receive the homage of the people. The image
of the deity was duly reverenced, although formed of material which
formerly subserved abject and ignoble purposes. “My lot,” said he,
“has been the same 5 I was once a plebeian, I am now your king;
and you must honour and respect me accordingly.” He employed his
time principally in business and pleasure, and neglected the religious
ceremonies which were usually performed by the king in his priestly
capacity. On being reproached for dereliction of duty, he replied,
“ Those who have bows string them when they want to use them, and
unstring them when they have done 5 for if they were always strung
they would break, and be useless when they were wanted. And such
is the case with man 5 if he were to attempt to be always serious and
never relax with mirth, he would insensibly become mad or lose his
faculties. Aware of this, I give a part of my day to business and a
part to amusement.” During his reign Egypt enjoyed a high degree
of prosperity. He conquered Cyprus from the Phoenicians.3 His
internal administration was wise and judicious. His liberality towards
strangers encouraged Solon to visit Egypt to study its laws; and
Pythagoras of Samos was initiated in the knowledge of the mysteries
and acquired all the learning of the priests. Amasis was no less
distinguished for his artistic taste. He not only enlarged and adorned
the temple of Neith (Minerva) at Sais, but the propylaea which he
erected were unrivalled for their magnitude and the quality of the
stone of which they were constructed, while the dromos exhibited
androsphinxes and other statuary of the most colossal form.
After the death of Amasis, which occurred in 526 13.0., his son
Psammenitus took all precautionary measures to place his Egyptian
and Grecian forces on a warlike footing, to be able to resist the host
of the Persian army who, under the leadership of Cambyses, the son
of Cyrus, were about to invade Egypt. ‘The battle which decided the
contest was obstinate and bloody, but the Persians ﬁnally triumphed?
Memphis surrendered to the conqueror, and the Persian king generously
granted his life to Psammenitus, which he afterwards forfeited on

'1 Herodotus, iv. 42 5 ii. 158. 2 Ibid. ii. 172.
3 Ibid. 11. 182; Diod. i. 68, 6. 4 Ibid. iii. 10, seq.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 173
attempting to raise the standard of rebellion during the absence of
Cambyses in Ethiopia. The Persian king not only treated the priest-
hood with the greatest contumely, and showed his contempt for their
religious rites and dogmas, but he plundered the temples of their
treasures in gold, silver, and ivory, and burned them to the ground.
Henceforth Egypt became a dependency of the Persian empire, which
was itself shattered into fragments by the iron hand of Alexander the
Great. The Macedonian conqueror, having advanced with his victorious
army as far as Memphis (332 12.0.) without resistance, looked upon
Egypt as one of his permanent conquests, and left it to one of his
generals to organise and administer the government. Ptolemy Lagus
ﬁnally established on the banks of the Nile a Greek dynasty that
maintained itself in power during two hundred and ninety-four years,
Cleopatra closing the list of famous names of this royal stock of
Egyptian sovereigns.
Although the Egypto-Libyans did not leave many written records
giving an account of their customs, manners, and the character of
their social institutions and domestic economy, yet they bequeathed
to posterity more imperishable monuments, which portray, in sculp-
tured forms and hieroglyphic symbols, the most faithful picture of
their social and political life, and trace the most important events of
their historic development, not only in their general outline, but often
with perfect accuracy of detail. They were the earliest and most
advanced pioneers on the highroad to a progressive civilisation. They
possessed a high order of intellectual activity, which imparted energy
to their native capabilities, called forth original types of creative art,
and gave to the world speculative theories of philosophy, and intricate
problems of science which the genius of later generations, and of races
still more gifted, could alone elaborate and solve. The Egyptian civi-
lisation was a purely internal development, and, uninﬂuenced by social
and commercial intercourse with foreign nations, it received its impulse
of action exclusively from the peculiarity of the mental constitution
of its people, the external condition of soil and climate, the natural
resources, the physical characteristics, and the general conformation of
‘the country.
The physical constitution of the Egypto-Libyans does not admit of
being accurately indicated; its external outlines can only be superﬁ-
cially traced from the forms delineated by their sculptors and painters.
From these sources a summary view of their bodily conformation may
be obtained, from which it may be assumed that they had long limbs,
thin legs without calves, ﬂat feet, square shoulders, large eyes oblique
at the exterior angle, large mouth, low forehead, nose slightly crooked,
and open nostrils.
The moral character of the Egypto-Libyans is equally problematic,
and can only be inferred from what is known of their general customs
and their ordinary mode of life. It may be assumed, however, with-
out fear of successful refutation, that they were of a gay and cheerful
disposition, fond of amusement and pleasure, loving life such as it
was, and very happy in their social and domestic relations. As fathers,
they’ were as affectionate as they were conscientious; they never
174 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
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neglected the duties which they owed to their children, and parents
no less than teachers never spared the rod when circumstances required
it, for they said “that boys had their ears on their back.” Children
were generally obedient, and highly venerated their parents. They
were ambitious, endeavoured to excel each other 3 at the same time
they were excessively proud, showed much enterprise and energy,
and displayed great valour in war. Their sense of justice was very
remarkable, and to lead a pure and virtuous life was the highest
aspiration of the noble and the good. They were liberal to the poor,
and they were always ready to supply the wants of the suffering and
relieve the miserable and the distressed. They not only held sacred
the memory of the dead, but, like all Arameean races, they had their
- religious temperament very highly developed. On the other hand,
they were much given to hatred and envy; and, among many of the
governing classes, intrigue, haughtiness, a spirit of revolt and contradic-
tion, and, on occasions, even cruelty and avarice, became predominant
passions.
The Egypto-Libyans, being devoted to systematic labour and engaged
in sedentary occupations, lived together in ﬁxed and permanent habi-
tations, and their houses were collected in regularly laid out towns and
villages, whose streets were narrow, many of them being hardly wide
enough to admit the passage of a chariot. There was no uniformity
either in size or general plan and arrangement of the towns 3 some
were situated at the mouth of mountain ravines 3 and the bed of the
torrent, which was dry during the hot season, formed the main street.
Crude bricks, baked in the sun, constituted the principal building
material for private dwellings, the enclosure of gardens and granaries,
and even the construction of family tombs. With the exception of
temples and monuments, crude bricks were also employed in the
erection of public ediﬁces and structures of every kind, such as the
walls of fortiﬁcations, and of the sacred circuits encompassing the
courts of the temples. In private houses, which were rarely more
than two stories high, the rooms were arranged around a central court,
or on both sides of a long passage, which was connected with the
street by a portico supported by a single or double row of columns,
whose capitals were decorated with streamers or banners; and the
interval between the columns was sometimes ﬁlled up by colossal
statues of the king. Over the entrance the name of the owner was
written, to which a lucky sentence, such as the “ good abode,” was
added to propitiate the fates in behalf of the inmates. The lintels
and the door-posts of the royal palaces were often engraved with a
profusion of hieroglyphics representing the ovals and titles of the
monarch. The interior of the rooms as well as the outside walls
were stuccoed, and the ceilings and side walls were ornamented with
a variety of artistic devices, gorgeously and often tastefully painted in
different colours. The most usual decorative patterns were the lotus,
the square, the diamond, the circle, but more especially a geometrical
arrangement of scrolls and squares within squares. The doors were
either of one or two valves, they turned upon metal pins, and were
securely closed by bars or bolts 3 they were frequently polished and
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 1 7 5
stained so as to imitate foreign woods. The window openings were
small, they were closed with carved and panelled folding-doors or
shutters richly ornamented with coloured devices. The ground ﬂoor
contained the storerooms, in which furniture, clothing, and other
articles of domestic use were kept. Here amphorae of wine and oil
were arranged in regular order, from which the daily supply was
drawn by the butler or steward. In the upper story, which was
reached by a stairway from the inner court, were the family rooms,
the sleeping apartments, and the halls for the reception and entertain-
ment of guests. The terrace on the top of the house, which was
protected by a roof-like covering resting upon columns, served during
the hot summer evenings both as a place of exercise and recreation as
well as repose. The front of the house was shaded by a line of ever-
green trees which gave to it picturesque beauty, and afforded protection
from the rays of the sun.
The smaller houses were constructed upon the same plan. They
were provided with three or four storerooms enclosing an interior
court, and a ﬂight of steps led to a single upper chamber which was
reserved for family use. The terrace on the roof, which was either
open or covered, was always protected by a balustrade.
When luxury and reﬁnement became prevalent throughout Egypt,
the wealthy and the great men of the nation built villas on eminences
in the vicinity of the Nile. There they enjoyed the picturesque
scenery by which they were surrounded, and were refreshed with
the cool breezes coming from the mountains, ﬁnding at the same time
sufficient recreation in the social pleasures of home life within their
airy and capacious mansions. Or when weary of seclusion, they ram-
bled through their spacious gardens, luxuriant with tropical vegetation,
intersected by canals which communicated with the Nile, and pro~
vided with lake-like basins of water for purposes of irrigation and the
rearing of ﬁsh, which afforded them amusement by angling. Or they
engaged in more active exercise by taking a boat excursion on the
Nile, or spearing ﬁsh in the tanks within their own enclosures.
The furniture of their reception rooms and chambers was exquisitely
beautiful, displaying elegance of form as well as taste in the selection
of materials and combination of parts. The fauteuils were of ebony
or other rare wood, ingeniously inlaid with ivory and covered with
rich stuff. Their chairs were generally only large enough to hold one
person 3 but they had in every room a two-seated chair, which was
occupied by the master and mistress of the house. Stools of various
kinds were in common use. Some were very low 3 others were framed
like camp-stools with legs, in imitation of those of the goat or the lion,
and covered with a cushion or a leopard’s skin, or leather painted with
flowers and other fanciful devices. Sometimes the seat was made of
interlaced string-work, neatly and skilfully interwoven. Footstools
were common articles of furniture in sitting—rooms. On the toilet
table of ladies of rank were arranged hand-mirrors of burnished bronze,
beautifully carved boxes of wood or ivory ﬁlled with cosmetics, and
bottles containing perfumes, ointment pots and flower vases, which
were of alabaster, glass, porcelain, granite, basalt, porphyry, or breccia.
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The ottomans, which were square sofas without backs, were sufficiently
high to be nearly on a level with the chairs, and were covered with
leather or cotton stuff richly coloured. The throne or chair of state
was the most elegant and costly production of Egyptian art. Its back
inclined backwards in a graceful curve 5 a .crollchinglioniormed its
arms, its sides were carved with emblematical devices, or with the
representation of captives bound beneath the throne of the sovereign 5
it was richly gilt or painted, and most luxuriantly cushioned. The
repasts of the Egypto-Libyans were served on circular tables supported
on a single shaft cut in the ﬁgure of a man representing a captive.
The large tables were either square or oblong, stood on three or four
legs, or were supported on solid sides 5 they were generally made of
wood, but sometimes of metal or stone. The couches were of tasteful
workmanship, with one end raised and receding in a graceful curve,
while the legs were carved, shaped like the feet of wild animals. The
bedroom was furnished with a pillow of polished wood or oriental
alabaster in the form of a half-cylinder, resting on a ﬁnely grooved or
ﬂuted shaft, ornamented with hieroglyphics, carved in intaglio, and
painted in blue colours. The bedstead of the lower classes as well as
that of the priests was made of wickerwork of palm branches, and
their pillow was of pottery or stone. The poor were seated cross-legged
on the mat-covered ﬂoor, or crouched upon the ground, or squatted
upon their heels when in the presence of their superiors.
The national dress of the Egypto-Libyans universally worn by all
classes was an apron or kilt, lapping over in front, and bound round the
loins with a girdle. Even the priest and the king could not dispense
with the Egyptian kilt. The royal apron was richly ornamented with
lions’ heads and other symbolic devices 5 a row of asps, the emblem of
royalty, frequently formed its border 5 and it was sometimes embroidered
with the royal name enclosed within two asps. In addition to the
ordinary apron, some of the people of the lower orders were clad in
short drawers, reaching half-way to the knees; or they wore a loose
shirt with tight or loose sleeves, which was tied at the neck with
strings. The kilt of the higher classes was fastened round the waist
by a girdle or sash tied in a bow or knot, and sometimes the overlapping
folds were covered by a centre piece falling down in front. The outer
dress was an ample robe of ﬁne. linen provided with large sleeves and
reaching to the ankles. When the poor were engaged in laborious
occupations they simply passed a broad strip of linen between their
legs, which was fastened to the back and front of the girdle, while the
upper part of their body was bare and uncovered.
The priests and persons of rank were, in addition. to the usual
under—garment, wrapped in a loose robe with full sleeves, tied with a
girdle round the waist 5 or, if they wore the short tightsleeved shirt,
they simply-threw the loose robe over it, leaving the right arm
exposed. The loose robe of some priests was often fastened by a band
round the neck, and extended from below the arms to the feet 5 while
others, when marching in sacred procession, were entirely enveloped
with this robe, keeping their arms and hands closely concealed. The
dress of the sacred scribe or hierogrammat was distinguished. by its
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. I7 7
more ample drapery, and by being composed of ﬁner materials; and
he sometimes wore two feathers in his head as a mark of his ofﬁcial
rank, while the princes were known by a single plaited lock of hair
which fell down over the ear, or by a peculiar badge of honour attached
to the side of the head, which descended to the shoulder, and was
frequently adorned with a gold fringe. The head-dress of the king,
which he wore on state occasions, and even in battle, was the double
crown of the Upper and Lower Country, emblematic of their union.
It was called the pshent, and was formed of a high conical inner cap
terminating in a knob, was painted white, and was surrounded by a
lower outer covering of a red colour. When engaged in religious
ceremonies his priestly head-dress was striped, descending in front
over the breast, and terminating behind in a queue-like appendage
which was bound with ribbons.
People of rank paid much attention to the beauty of their sandals,
but on certain occasions the middle classes preferred walking bare-
footed ; and the priests frequently stripped themselves of their foot-
covering while performing religious ceremonies. Palm leaves and
papyrus stalks, neatly interlaced and closely interwoven, were the
materials of which the sandals were usually made ; some were, how-
ever, of leather, lined inside with cloth, on which the ﬁgure of a
captive was painted. Those of the upper classes were generally
pointed, and, skate-like, they were turned up at the toes.
The Egypto-Libyans kept their heads closely shaved, and as a pro-
tection as well as an ornament they wore wigs, in the form of a skull-
cap of reticulated texture, on which the hair was artistically arranged,
sometimes in a succession of plaits increasing in length downward,
but more often curled at the crown, and plaited at the sides and
towards the lower end. 'When invited as guests to private festivities
their head-dress was enwreathed-with chaplets of ﬂowers, and scented
ointment was poured on the top of the wig. Their habits of cleanli_
ness were so remarkable that even the heads of children were shaved,
leaving but a few locks unshorn ; and it is only as a badge of mourn-
ing that they permitted their-hair and beards to grow, indicating that
the ordinary enjoyments and indulgences were for a time dispensed
with. Caps, some of large size, others ﬁtting tightly to the head,
were occasionally worn by all classes, though the lower orders gene-
rally worked in the sun without any head-covering. The Egypto-
Libyans not only took great pride in adorning themselves with false
hair, but they tied false beards under their chins, which differed in {
form and length according to the rank of the wearer, and which was
regulated by an established law that no one ventured to contravene.)
The beard of private persons was scarcely two inches long; that of
the king was of considerable length, and was cut square, while the
beard aﬁixed to the ﬁgure of the gods was turned up at the lower end.
The dress of the womenof the lower classes was a gown or shirt
with tight or loose sleeves, fastened round the neck by a string, and
reaching to the ankles. Over this was worn a petticoat tied round
the waist with a girdle, which also constituted the exclusive mourning
costume when bewailing the death of a near relative. Ladies of high
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178 THE ARAMLEAN STOCK.

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rank and position were attired in a petticoat of costly stuffs, richly
coloured in a variety of patterns, secured by straps extending over
the shoulders, and bound round the waist with a ﬁgured sash. The
outer dress was an ample robe of the ﬁnest linen, with full sleeves,
and was tied in front under the breast in such a manner as to allow
the wearer to withdraw the right arm from the sleeve at pleasure and
leave it exposed while witnessing certain religious ceremonies.
The most attractive head-ornament of the Egypto-Libyan ladies
was their hair, which they wore in long triple plaits, with the ends
dishevelled and loosely ﬂoating in the air. A number of bunches of
hair woven into strings hung down the back of the head, reaching
below the shoulders; and strings similarly intertwined descended on
each side, separated by a comb or ornamented band, and falling over
the breast. A__lp_tus bud,,.attached to-the ornamental ﬁlletxwhich
encircled the headiwaidb'rned the forehead. The head-dress of the
queen was a cap in the form of a vulture, the emblem of the goddess
Maat, the “great mother.” The ladies displayed equal taste in their
cosmetic applications, and in the selection and arrangement of the rest
of their toilet. They perfumed their hair with scented ointment,
gave brilliancy to their eyes by means of a collyrium, the effect of
which was greatly increased by staining their brows and eyelids black
with a pencil dipped in prepared stilipum.1 Their earrings were of
solid gold, circular and hooplike in form, from one and a half to two
and one-third of an inch and upwards in diameter 3 or they were com-
pounded of six rings permanently connected; while persons of rank
suspended from their ears an asp set with precious stones. The
ﬁngers were enclasped by two or three rings, either simple or set
with a scarabeeus or precious stones 3 and even the thumb shared this
ornamental distinction. Men as well as women wore armlets, brace-
lets, and anklets, and hung round their neck simple gold chains, or
elegant and richly ornamented necklaces of gold, beads, amethysts,
and pearls, to which were attached symbolical ﬁgures of scarabaei, the
vulture, the eye of Osiris, and even the images of the gods. The
collar of investiture worn by the king was of gold studded with
precious stones and enriched with enamel; it was broad in front and
covered the upper part of the breast.
The food of the Egypto-Libyans was substantial, extremely varied,
and often prepared with great nicety of manipulation. The bread of
the rich was made of wheat ﬂour. Beef and goose were their favourite
meat; but they were supplied with an abundance of ﬁsh and game,
and the ﬂesh of the ibex, the oryx, and the gazelle was much relished
and was in great request. To this they added a profusion of vege-
tables and fruits. A soup or pottage of lentils was a common dish.
Esculent roots, which grew spontaneously in the marshy lowlands,
onions, and several kinds of melons, and other cucurbitaceous plants,
were served up at every regular meal. The sycamore ﬁg and fresh
and dried dates were highly esteemed as articles of food. Milk and
cheese were the favourite aliment of the middle classes, and their

1 Sulphuret of antimony, ordinarily called kohl.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 179
ordinary bread materials were barley and clhoum ﬂour, while the
poorest were often contented with the seed of the lotus and the fari-
naceous root of the papyrus.
Wine was the only alcoholic beverage which the great and the
wealthy used at their principal meals; it was usually kept in am-
phorae coated internally with resin or bitumen as a preservative
means, and with the object of improving its ﬂavour. The wine of
Mareotis was more especially adapted for table use; its colour was
white, and although light and sweet, its quality was excellent and its
bouquet was pleasantly fragrant; it was devoid of astringency and
had no tendency to affect the head. But the Teniotic wine was far
more highly esteemed; it was slightly astringent, but its ﬂavour was
exquisite, and its fragrance was so delightfully diffusive that it pos-
sessedsome of the volatile quality of an aromatic. A less costly and
a more common drink was the zg/th-u-s beer, which was scarcely
inferior to the juice of the grape and beer made from barley; and
artiﬁcial fruit wines were luxuries frequently indulged in by the
middle classes.
The Egypto-Libyans were generally sober and temperate, but their
cheerful disposition and their sociable character led them to occasional
excesses, and men as well as women were sometimes carried home
from a feast by their servants in a complete state of intoxication.
Their kitchen arrangements and mode of cooking indicated a high
order of social progress. Their meats were either boiled or roasted,
and dressed with various condiments and spices. A large caldron,
placed on a metal tripod, was constantly seething over the ﬁre;
numerous servants were in attendance, each performing some par-
ticular task to aid in the culinary operations. One regulated the heat
by lifting the ﬁrebrands with a poker, or working the bellows with
his feet; another, with a spoon in his hand, skimmed the watery
froth from the boiling meat, or stirred the bubbling liquid with a
large fork; and a third pounded in a large mortar the pepper and
salt and other aromatic ingredients which were from time to time
added. Many kinds of liquids, preserved in large jars, stood always
ready for use, and were drawn off with a siphon when needed. In
another part of the establishment the baker and confectioner were
busily at work, being aided by several assistants. Some sifted and
mixed the ﬂour, others kneaded the paste with their hands ; or when
the kneading process was laborious, they performed it with their feet
in a large wooden trough placed on the ground. One formed the
paste into rolls and cakes, and sprinkled the upper surface with
aromatic seeds, such as nlgella, sesamum, or caraway; and another
carried these, arranged on a tray or a board, to the oven, where they
were taken charge of by the baker.
The Egypto-Libyans either sat on the ground while eating, or on
chairs or low stools around a circular table, a large dish containing
the cooked food being placed in the centre. A piece of bread,
doubled up and held between the ﬁngers of the right" hand, which
they dipped in the dish, served them as fork.' To eat their soup or
other liquid food they used spoons and ladles made of ivory, wood,
180 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
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bone, bronze, or some other metal. Their private entertainments and
family festivities were as magniﬁcent as they were attractive. Here
the proprieties of life and the amenities of social intercourse were
cultivated in the most charming and unobtrusive simplicity. Those
of the invited parties who arrived in chariots were‘ attended by a
number of footmen, who carried a stool to aﬂord facilities to alight, a ‘
writing-table ‘to take note of important occurrences, and other articles
of luxury and convenience that might be called for by their master
and mistress. On entering the house a servant unloosed and slipped
05 the sandals, and to those who ‘came from a distance water was
brought to wash their feet. At the upper end of the festive-hall sat the
master and mistress of the house, on two chairs or on a large fauteuil,
and the guests presented themselves to receive the congratulatory
welcome. Each visitor, as he seated himself, was attended by a
servant, who anointed his head with sweet-scented ointment contained
in elegant alabaster or porcelain vases, and alotus-ﬂower was presented
to him, which he held in his hand during the wholev of the entertain-
ment. Servants were constantly engaged to supply fresh ﬂowers from
the garden, and weave necklaces, and crown the heads of the guests
with ﬂowery garlands, with a lotus-bud, or a ﬂower in full bloom
attached in front, gracefully suspended over the forehead.
As soon as the introductory arrangements were completed, white
male slaves presented the wine to the men in single-handled goblets,
or in vases of gold or silver or some other costly material; but to the
maidens and matrons it was handed by female slaves, who poured it
out into small drinking-cups. It'was the privilege of the white slaves
to offer refreshments to the guests, and it was the duty of the black
slaves, by whom they were attended, to take away the empty vessels,
and bring in the various dishes from the kitchen, and wine and oil
from the storeroom.
While dinner was preparing the musicians and dancers, hired for
the occasion, were introduced, who made their obeisance previous to
the performance of their part. The harmonious melodies of the harp,
the lyre, the guitar, the tambourine, the ﬂute, and other instruments,
imparted life and spirit to the animated scene, and the graceful motion
and pantomimic displays of the dancers excited the enthusiastic
admiration of the ‘assemblage’; while the mellow and plaintive notes of
the song ‘calmed the exuberant outbursts of applause by their melan-
choly sweetness. Before dinner was announced, all those present who
were invited to the feast washed their hands, water having been pre‘
viously brought in ewers and poured into basins, which among the rich
were frequently of pure gold. The dinner consisted of a great number-
of dishes 5 besides the ordinary variety of meat in daily use, game and
rare birds dressed in many different ways were served up, and vege-
tables and fruits of every kind were supplied in wasteful abundance.
While the white wine of Mareotis and the fragrant nectar of the 'Teniotic
were circulating, conversation, which was the charm of accomplished
society, gave a softer tone and imparted a more genial spirit to the
mirthful laughter and merry joys of the gay and thoughtless 5 while
those more digniﬁed entertained each_ other with the light gossip of
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. ’ 181
the day, or expressed their appreciation of the amusements of~ the
season, or they turned their thoughts to the more serious topics of
public affairs, or exchanged their views on matters of business.
As a salutary restraint to excessive indulgence, and to check the
‘boisterous merriment of pleasure-loving revellers, it was a custom of
the Egypto-Libyans to introduce into the room where the guests were
assembled during and after the repast a wooden image of Osiris, in
the form of a human mummy, elaborately painted and gilt, a cubic in
height, standing erect in a case, or lying on a bier. As the image was
shown to each visitor, he was addressed with the admonitory counsel 5
'“ Looking on this, drink and enjoy thyself, for such thou shalt be
when thou art dead.” 1 He was thus reminded of his own mortality
and the transitory nature of human pleasure. His mind was impressed
with the important truth, that at some future day not very remote his
life-pulse would cease to beat, and that his body, now in the vigour of
health, would, like the symbolic ﬁgure of death before him, become a
stiff and motionless object of inanimate clay. But it conveyed also
another meaning, and taught a lesson of a less censorious and of a
more cheerful philosophy. It gave rise to the reﬂection that death
was an inevitable necessity which none can escape, and that moderate
indulgence in the pleasures of society was a legitimate object of human
desires. After the dinner was concluded, the musicians again struck
up their most lively and spirit-stirring tones, and the sweet melodious
voice of the singing-girl resounded in measured cadence through the
banqueting-hall, while the men and women amused themselves in
performing feats of agility, vof which swinging each other round by the
hand, ball-playing, and ingenious tricks of jugglery were the most
interesting.
The social recreations and amusements of the Egypto-Libyans were
‘varied, and afforded pleasant excitement without requiring much exer-
tion or mental effort. They tried their luck in odd and even, or in
more, which was played by two persons throwing up a certain number
of ﬁngers at the same instant, and one of the parties guessing the
sum of both; or they engaged in the more sedate game of draughts,
and thus taxed their power of quick perception. The ladies played
ball while mounted on each other’s back, the missing party being
condemned to bear the burden. Others, dressed in tight trousers,
exhibited extraordinary suppleness and pliancy of limbs. They bent
their inverted body in the form of an arch, touching the ground
both with their feet and the back of their head; or they stood on
their head with their heels in the air ; or being placed back to back,
they looked their arms together, and alternately lifted each other from
the ground. Among the lower classes wrestling, raising weights, cock
and bull ﬁghts were favourite sports. They also played single-stick,
with their left arm guarded by a wooden shield. But the usual diver-
sions on festival occasions, of which the most reﬁned and intelligent
were passionately fond, were the performances of ambulant musicians,
and the saltatory exercises of hired troops of dancers. Ladies did not
1 Herodotus, 78.
r82 1 THE ARAMZEAN s'roox.
exhibit their musical skill in the social circle, nor did they attempt to
enhance the charms of their unaffected gracefulness and natural beauty
in the studied attitude of the dance 3 this part of the performance was
always ﬁlled up by professional artists, or by household slaves expressly
trained for this purpose. Their musical taste was already sufﬁciently
cultivated as to appreciate the harmonious concord of the triple sym-
phony. Their band music, as well as their vocal music, was based
upon a regular system of an harmonious co-ordination of sounds, and
the instrumental accompaniment was always adapted to the melody of
the song.
Their dances were rather displays of graceful motion and panto-
mimic gesticulation, than exhibitions of agility or pliancy of limbs.
Their ﬁgures and their attitudes were often of the most classic type.
Male and female dancers sometimes joined in the same performance,
but more frequently they acted in separate groups. The dances of the
men were often brisk, lively, and even fantastic, and their quick and
elastic step sometimes overleaped itself and approached a bounding
motion. But the dancing and singing girls were most admired. Their
matchless beauty and elegance of form made them personally attractive,
without the embellishment of art. Their natural charms were still
heightened by being wrapped in a loose ﬂowing robe reaching to the
ankles, and gathered round the waist by a girdle, ornamented with
beads or some costly jewels 3 and being of the ﬁnest texture, perfectly
light and transparent, it rendered visible the shadowy outline of the
graceful form, and the bewitching movement of the limbs of the
dancer. .
The Egypto-Libyans were not only devoted to hunting and other
ﬁeld-sports as a recreation, but they considered it a manly exercise,
preserving in a manner the martial spirit of their ancestors, invigorat-
ing the body, developing the force and energy of mind, and ﬁtting
man for the active pursuits of life. The rich collected a variety of
wild animals in enclosed parks of considerable extent, and here the
amateur huntsmen assembled with all their retinue of servants and
arm-bearers to indulge in the pleasures of the chase. In their hunting
excursions they were accompanied by dogs. Lions were trained to
assist in the pursuit of game, and the natural vigilance of cats, and
the instinctive rapidity with which they dart upon their prey, were
turned to advantage by training them to catch birds. The chiefs, who
were renowned for dexterity and courage, traversed a vast range of
hunting-ground which extended to the edge of the desert. They pur-
sued the ibex and the wild goat to the precipitous cliffs of the moun~"
tains; they followed the oryx, the antelope, and the gazelle to the
plains; they encountered the wild ox in the marshes; they sought
out the haunts of the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the hyena, and the
leopard in the deepest recesses of the forest; they watched the ichneu-
mon on river banks 3 they tracked the bare, the porcupine, and wild
sheep (Iccbsh) to the thicket; they attacked even the hippopotamus
in shallow lakes, and they stalked the ostrich in its desert home.
They ﬁshed with rod and line, with a drag-net or a bident spear,
and obtained an abundant supply from the lakes, the pools, and the
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 183
canals. They killed birds with bows, slings, and the throwing-stick, or
caught them in traps and nets. Ducks, geese, and quail were hunted
for food. There was a class of professional huntsmen in Egypt who
attended the rich in their hunting tours. They took charge of the
leash of dogs, conducted them to the ﬁeld, andstarted them at the
proper time for the chase. They assisted in securing the game, and
brought it home for the use and beneﬁt of their patron. They also
followed hunting as a regular occupation, affording them the necessary
means of subsistence; for much of the game they killed was highly
prized for table use. They were entitled to a reward for destroying
hyenas and other noxious animals; and the lucrative chase of the
ostrich supplied not only eggs which were used as food, but the
beautiful plumes and feathers of commerce which were articles of
great value, and commanded a ready sale.
Boatsmen were also employed by the grandees and the distinguished
men of the nation to manage their sailing craft and their pleasure
boats; they plied the oars, acted as steersmen, and when the wind
was favourable they raised the mast and expanded the sail. They
were also engaged in navigation on their own account; they sailed in
vessels of burden on the waters of the Nile and the adjoining lakes,
conveying goods and articles of trafﬁc to the towns situated on their
banks.
Egypt owed her prosperity and wealth exclusively to agriculture;
and the fertility of her soil was entirely due to the periodical inunda-
tions and alluvial deposits of the Nile. To develop this fertilising
process of irrigation, and extend its beneﬁcial effects beyond the range
of its natural limits by a system of artiﬁcial constructions, was the
highest ambition of her wise and efﬁcient rulers who controlled her
destiny during the earliest period of her national life. To carry out a
plan so grand and comprehensive rendered it indispensably necessary
that the proprietary right to the land should be vested in the state,
and that permanent occupancy should only be granted to those who
were able and willing, by judicious management and effective co-
operation, to organise all the scattered elements of labour, and produce
corresponding results by the increased energy of united action. Those
who held the possessory title, and were virtually the landowners, leased
their improved landed estates to the rich farmers, who employed the
poor peasant labourers for triﬂing wages to attend to the tillage of the
soil. The farmer possessed extensive practical experience and profes-
sional skill in the management of business and in properly conducting
agricultural operations. It was for him to determine in what mode
and manner the land should be cultivated, and what grain it would be
most judicious to select for sowing, and which would be most suitable
to the season. The cattle employed in the plough and for other agri-
cultural purposes were the property of the farmer; but the large herds
and ﬂocks which were scattered over the extensive clover-ﬁelds, or
were driven away into the marshes, formed a part of the patrimonial
domain of the rich landowner, and were given in charge to herdsmen
and shepherds, often superintended by the peasants who were respon-
sible to the steward for the number and condition of the stock. Sheep
184 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
were reared in great numbers, as the ewes were extremely fruitful.
The wool was coarse and of a short staple, and the ﬂesh was but little
esteemed ; and in the Theba'id, where the ram was held sacred, it was
a proscribed article of food. Horses, placed under the care of the
grazier, were also extensively produced, not only to furnish the home
supply for the army, but for foreign export. They were never em-
ployed in the operations of husbandry, while the ass was the ordinary
beast of burden. _
The whole of the landed estate was surrounded by a circuit wall,
and contained within the area of its enclosure all the buildings, out-
houses, and sectional divisions of a well-regulated agricultural establish-
ment. Here was the family mansion, the usual summer retreat during
the dry season, or the spot selected for retirement when town-life
became irksome, and it was a relief to exchange the din and bustle
of public festivals and private entertainments for the quiet pleasure of
a rural home. In the inner part of the main building were the stables
for the horses as well as the coach-house, in which the travelling
chariots and the plaasto'a were kept.
The gardens which surrounded the dwelling were beautifully laid
out 5 they were intersected in every direction by shady walks planted
with rows of stately trees, fragrant ﬂowers covered the parterres with
their variously-tintedvelvet bloom, and clumps of evergreen shrubs
formed the temple ‘ dedicated to Khem—‘—the god of gardens—who
represented the generative principle. A statue sculptured in human
form, bearing the head of an asp, was the symbolic representation
of the goddess Ranno, who was the protecting genius of the place,
embowered under a canopy of foliage of acacias, myrtles, tamarisks,
and mimosas. The orchard was planted with a great variety of fruit
trees, and was cultivated with great care. Here ﬂourished to perfec-
tion the sycamore ﬁg, the olive, the pomegranate, the almond, the
peach, and the Egyptian plum. But the date-palm held the ﬁrst
rank, and was the most valuable of all the fruit-bearing trees. Dates-
were one of the principal articles of food of the Egypto-Libyans.
They were not only eaten in the mature state when gathered in
August, but they were dried and preserved so as to retain their nutritive
quality, and were considered a delicious dish at every other season.
Both the doum palm (Oaczfera Theba'vjca) and the dachel (Palma
dactg/Zz'fcra) were cultivated. The trunk of the date-palm supplied
beams for the construction of houses, the branches furnished materials
for wickerwork; they were employed for the ceiling of rooms and
the manufacture of coops and bedsteads 5 the leaves were converted
into mats, baskets, and brooms, and the ﬁbrous teguments at the base
of the branches, as well as the ﬁbres of the stalks, were twisted into
ropes.
The vineyard formed an important part of the cultivated, ground.
The vines were supported by notched poles, or their stem and branches
spread over espaliers and bushes. They bore most luscious grapes,
which, when not used for ordinary consumption, were gathered in
baskets for the wine-press in the form of a long vat, the wine being
obtained by treading; and to increase the downward pressure, the
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. I 8 5
men lifted themselves by ropes suspended over their head. After the
ﬁrst running the mashed pulp was put in a bag of matting, which
being twisted by means of two poles, one attached to each end, and
twined in a contrary direction, the juice oozed through the interstices
and was received in a vase standing underneath. The must, after
having been cleared by subsidence, was ‘poured off into other vessels
to undergo the process of fermentation, and the wine was preserved in
oblong jars for future use.
The farmyard was surrounded by a separate? enclosure, to keep the
cattle conﬁned and prevent their straying away into the cultivated
ﬁelds ; they were housed in sheds during the night for protection, and
when fed in the daytime they were tied to rows of rings ﬁxed to the
walls. A canal, which was supplied with water from the river, skirted
it on the outside, and as it passed through the whole extent of the
ground it afforded facilities for irrigation, the water being distributed
by means of buckets balanced at the two ends of a pole and carried .
on men’s shoulders. Here were also the granaries, which were of sub-
stantial construction. Some of them had vaulted roofs, and they were
ﬁlled through an opening near the top to which men ascended by
steps, while the supplies needed for consumption were taken out from
a door at the base.
The management and administrative duties of the estate, as well
as the superintendence of the house, were intrusted to stewards, who
exercised general control over peasants, herdsmen, shepherds, and gar-
deners ; regulated the tillage of the unleased lands; attended to the
sale of the surplus products ; received the returns of the number and
condition of cattle and sheep ; settled all accounts, and punished
delinquent labourers.
A soil so rich and fertile as that formed by the alluvial deposits of
the Nile required but little assistance from art to render it productive.
In ancient Egypt agricultural labour was light, and the instruments
of tillage were simple. After the waters had subsided, and the land
was dried up by the sun and the strong blasts of the north-west wind,
the ground was prepared for the seed by breaking it up with the
plough, or pulverising it with the hoe. But in the lower levels,
where the soil was still slimy and soft, the seed was scattered broad-
cast over the surface, and was either turned in with the hoe, or covered
over by means of bushes dragging the yielding mud along by a kind
of sweeping action, and a number of cattle, asses, pigs, goats, and
sheep were driven into the ﬁeld to tread down the grain.
The plough was made entirely of wood, and was very simple in its
mechanism. It had a share and two converging handles, to the base
of which the beam or pole was attached, and a rope by which it was
connected with the heel rendered it more compact and ﬁrm ; the
forward point of the share was probably armed with a metal seek;
it was unprovided with a coulter, nor was its sliding motion assisted
by the contrivance of wheels. The plough was drawn by two oxen,
which were guided and urged forward with a goad or whip either by
the ploughman himself or by an assistant driver. The yoke was
nothing more than a cross-bar about ﬁve feet long, provided with a
186 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
projecting knob in the middle, which corresponded to a similar pro-
jection at the end of the pole, to which it was ﬁrmly strapped, and as
an additional fastening a ring was occasionally passed over them. To
each end of the bar was ﬁxed a ﬂat or slightly concave piece of a semi-
circular form, which rested on a pad placed upon the withers of the
animal. The shoulder pieces, which formed the collar, were forked
bars thickly padded so as to protect the shoulders from friction; they
were united at the lower end by a broad band which passed under the
throat, and were connected with the cross-bar by thongs which were
inserted into holes on each side of the semicircular projection. The
hoe was of wood, the handle was round, smooth, of uniform thickness,
and formed an acute angle with the blade, which was slightly curved
inwards, and terminated either in a sharp point or a round cutting
edge. The blade was frequently inserted into the handle, and they
were bound together by means of a twisted rope.
After the land was properly prepared for cultivation, either with
the plough or the hoe, the sower held a basket ﬁlled with seed in his
left hand or carried it suspended on his arm, while with his right
hand he scattered the seed loosely over the surface.
The agricultural productions of Egypt were of such great variety,
and the yield was so abundant, that they supported a large population
and supplied articles of luxury and reﬁnement of an advanced civilisa-
tion. The cereal grains which were used as bread-stuffs were wheat
(Trz'zfz'eum satz'cum), barley (Hordeum 'vulgare), dhoura (Holcus sor-
ghum), and millet (Holeus saecharat‘us). Vegetables, which served
as food to man and domestic animals, were extensively cultivated in
the ﬁeld as well as in the garden. Among the great number in com-
mon use those most highly esteemed were beans (Vicz'a faba), peas
(Pisum aruense), lentils (Emum Zens), vetches (Cicer arietinum), French
beans (Dolz'chos Zubc'a), sweet peas (Lathyrus satz'oum), radishes (Ra-
johanus satz'uus), onions, leeks, and garlic (AZZz'um ccepa), lettuce
(Laetuca satz'ua), cucumbers (Cueumz's satc'uus), water-melons (Oueur-
bita citrullus), and bania or okra (Hibiscus eseulenta or proeeow).
Their most useful forage plants were clover (Trafolz'um Alexandra'uum),
lupines (Lupinus terminus), and trigonella (Trigonellafceuum greeeum).
They had but few aromatic seeds, and they were of no great value.
They were, however, much employed for condiments and seasoning.
Of these cummin (Uummz'num cymz'nu'm), coriander (O'om'andrum
satz'oum), and poppy (Papauer somm'ferum) were most extensively
produced. Much of their agricultural labour was bestowed upon
plants which were grown for industrial uses and other economic pur-
poses. Flax (Lc'num usz'tatz'ssz'mum), hemp (Canabis satz'oa), and
cotton (Gossypium herbaeeum) supplied the textile ﬁbres for the
manufacture of the woven fabrics for which ancient Egypt was so much
distinguished 3 indigo (Indigofera te'uctm'z'a) and safﬂower (Carthamus
tinetorz'us) furnished valuable dye-stuffs ; sesamum (Sesamum orientale)
and coleseed (Brassz'ca olezlfera) were valued for their oil, and henna
(Lawsom'a spz'uosa or z'uermz's) was highly prized as a cosmetic.
The dhoura was pulled up by the roots, and the earth having been
struck off, it was bound into sheaves, which were drawn through an
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. I 87
instrument armed at the summit with metal spikes to strip off the
grain. The wheat ripened in ﬁve months, and was reaped with the
sickle. It was carried loose in baskets or rope nets to the threshing-
ﬂoor, which was a well-swept circular area, where the ears were depo-
sited and the grain was trodden out by oxen led by peasant labourers,
who, to relieve the tediousness of the threshing process, sang in joyful
chorus the merry notes of the harvest song. The grain was winnowed
with wooden shovels by being thrown into the air from baskets; it
was then put into sacks and stored away in the granaries for future
use. Flax was chieﬂy grown in the Delta, and at Tentyra in Upper
Egypt. It was one of the staple products of the country, by which
its wealth and prosperity was greatly increased. When ripe it was
pulled up by the roots, the linseed was stripped off, and it was then
steeped and heckled ready to be spun into thread. The lotus and
papyrus, although spontaneous productions, were cultivated to increase
their yield and improve their quality. The bean-like seeds of the
capsule of the lotus, when ground into a coarse meal, kneaded with
water or milk and baked into bread, furnished a wholesome article of
food to the poorer classes. The root and upper part of the stalk of
the papyrus were eaten raw, or they were previously boiled or roasted.
In the development of the manufacturing industry and the arts,
Egypt was far in advance of any other country. It not only displayed
artistic skill in new branches of industrial pursuits, but carried them
to a high degree of perfection. It gave proof of a high order of
inventive genius in the construction of machines, in the fashioning of
tools, and in the means of transport of large and heavy masses. It
originated the classic arts, and furnished models for imitation which,
under the inﬂuence of the more elastic and independent spirit of a
nation gifted with still higher intellectual endowments, were elaborated
into life-like resemblances of real objects, distinguished for ﬁdelity of
outline and accuracy of proportion, and were marked with the peculiar
characteristics of representative types.
The invention of the siphonl clearly shows that the Egypto-
Libyans must have possessed a knowledge of the elementary principles
of hydraulics. They evinced much mechanical ingenuity in the con-
trivance of the bellows, which consisted of two leather bags ﬁxed in a
wooden frame, and provided each with a metal tube directed towards
the ﬁre. Working by alternate action, one was ﬁrst exhausted by the
pressure of the foot of the operator, while the other was inﬂated by
pulling a string he held in his hand. When the Greeks were still
scattered tribes of Pelasgian huntsmen and Arcadian shepherds, the
Egypto-Libyans had already attained such a high order of civilisation
that the appliance of weights and measures became necessary for the
accurate adjustment of commercial transactions. The balance was
composed of an upright standard, which supported a horizontal beam
turning on a pin at the summit, to the ends of which the scales, in

1 The siphon was shown to have been invented in Egypt at least as early as
Amunoph II. The bellows was used under Thotmes III., the contemporary of
Moses. Gardner Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt,” vol.
p. 338.
188 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
. _,~,,-—\--o
' u_““"-="~n:.\-,-;,4... . . _

M,.\W.
....,_.,§x_ _ _ _’_ _ .
“‘"'Wmw.-.> AMI? '‘ "X. - -- .rMnx.A-.~j1_w~,,.-¢~w var-‘W?’
. hundred years ago.
the form of ﬂat boards of wood or plates of bronze, were afﬁxed by
four converging ropes. When grain was bought or sold, its precise
quantity was determined by a legally established measure, made of
metal or of wood bound with hoops. '
Their mills for grinding corn were composed of‘ two circular stones,
placed horizontally one above the other, and connected by a shaft
ﬁxed to the centre of the immovable nether millstone upon which the
upper one turned. The grain was poured in through an aperture cut
in the upper stone. The operation of grindingawas performed by a
woman, who initiated rapid circular motion by pulling a perpendicular
handle ﬁrmly attached to the upper edge. I
The art of producing glass, by the fusion of sand mixed with potash or
soda, was known to the Egypto-Libyans upwards of three thousand ﬁve
They displayed not only great ingenuity in blowing
it into bottles, vases, and pots, but their skill in staining it with various
colours was so perfect that they successfully counterfeited the purple
amethyst, the green emerald, and other precious stones. The tints of
their variegated devices passed in straight lines through the whole
thickness, and the ﬁgure was distinctly marked both on the internal
and the external surface of the glass. They produced beads of various
hues, and ﬂat pieces of stained glass were used to inlay the compli—
cated patterns of mosaic work. They possessed the knowledge of
cutting glass, either with crystallised quartz or diamond, from a very
remote period. They were also acquainted with the chemical properties
of the metallic oxides to subserve the purpose of colouring materials.
Their porcelain was of a glass-like translucent texture, coloured either
blue or green, and diversiﬁed with lines or devices of red, white,
yellow, black, light or dark blue and green, scattered in every direc-
tion and penetrating half the thickness. ,
Flax and cotton were indigenous plants in ancient Egypt, and their
economic use was known to the Egypto-Libyans at the very infancy
of their national existence. In their original home in North Africa
they had already learned how to convert wool and camel’s hair into
thread by means of the spindle, and to weave it into cloth in a
primitive loom. When they established their colony on‘ the banks of
the Nile, their ﬁngers had not lost their cunning, but with superior
materials of a vegetable origin, they produced not only a ﬁner and
more compact thread, but a woven tissue of more beautiful texture.
The linen of Egypt was the most famous production of the loom
during the earliest stages of the higher civilisation of mankind. 5 It
was the most costly dress material, and was chieﬂy worn by the rich
and the great.” It was held in such high estimation that the bandages-
in which the dead were wrapped were made of the ﬁnest linen tissue.
Cotton yarn was also manufactured into cloth, which was in common
use among all classes. The articles of dress of the poor were generally
of wool, but even the priests and many of the higher classes were
sometimes wrapped in the ﬁner qualities of woollen drapery. For
the purpose of enforcing the habit of cleanliness, it was strictly pro-
hibited to wear under-garments of wool. The dress stuffs and tissues
of the Egypto-Libyans were woven in the loom in various patterns of
EGYPTO-LIBYAN S. 1 89
different colours; but the process of dyeing and printing cloth was
carried to such a high degree of perfection, that the variously tinted
designs equalled in beauty and elegance the best productions of em—
broidered work—an art which was well known and much practised.
The labour of weaving generally devolved upon the men, but spinning was ordinarily the work of the women. Flax and cotton;’
were twisted into thread with the aid of the spindle, which was small?
and generally made of wood; and to increase the impetus in its turning
motion, it was surmounted by a circular head of gypsum, of composi-
tion, or of light plaited work of rushes or palm leaves. The coarser
ﬂax ﬁbres which were rejected. for the web of the loom were twisted
into ropes, strings, and various kinds of twines. The Egyptian loom
was rude and simple. It was merely a quadrangular frame placed in
perpendicular or horizontal position. A stick hooked at each end
served as shuttle, and the threads of the warp were kept apart by
intervening laths, which were the substitute for treadles.
As-the Egypto-Libyans were probably the ﬁrst nation that practised
ideographic writing traced in symbolic characters so as to render ‘it
legible, they devised an ingenious method for procuring a light and
cheap material to perpetuate the record of important events, and
transact the ordinary business of life with greater despatch and regu-
larity. The C’Z/pcv'us papyrus, a gigantic sedge plant that grew in
greatest abundance in the swampy lowlands of the Nile, in shallow
brooks, and-artiﬁcial lakes and ponds, was found to contain a soft
and elastic inner rind which, after the outer covering had been
removed, was cut lengthwise into thin slices, and these being laid in a
contiguous position on a ﬂat board, they were covered with an adhe-
sive substance, while other slices similarly disposed were laid at right
angles across the ﬁrst layer. The requisite pressure was then applied,
and the Egyptian papyrus was thus produced of uniform consistency
and smooth texture; and its name has been perpetuated in almost
every language of the civilised nations of modern times. When this
branch of industry had acquired considerable importance, the govern-
ment reserved the monopoly of exclusively cultivating the plant and
manufacturing the sheets of papyrus ; and the proﬁt derived from its
sale became a considerable source of revenue. '
Tanning and the preparation of leather was one of the most ancient arts
in which the Egypto-Libyans greatly excelled. A part of the process
consisted in steeping the skins or hides in a strong infusion of the pods
of the Acacia 'Jz'ilozfz'ca, which was cultivated for its timber and its gum.
The trade of the leather-cutter required considerable skill and ingenuity
in the use of tools. For ornamental leatherwork the straps were ﬁrst
cut with a semicircular knife, and were then embossed with stamping
instruments, which left impressions in relief of great beauty and design,
and some were marked, in addition, with the name of the reigning king.1
Clay, well tempered and reduced to a proper plastic condition, was


1 The beauty of the ﬁgures stamped upon the straps placed across the bodies of
mummies satisfactorily proves the skill of the leather-cutters and the antiquity of
embossing, some of these bearing the names of kings who ruled Egypt about the
period of Exodus, or 3300 years ago. Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s “Manners and
Customs of Ancient Egypt,” vol. iii. p 155.
190 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
Max:294‘, PM.) ____
Jr‘. _—_,_ ,- . _ .
‘drawn, ‘ m ,5‘ ~ ,5 ‘v‘-.m-s ,_., ,,__. ‘
converted into kitchen utensils, water vessels, as well as pots and
vases. A mass of convenient size was placed upon the simply con-
structed potter’s wheel, and during its revolution the vessel was
moulded into form by the ﬁngers. After having been dried in the
sun, the best ﬁnished pottery-ware was marked with ornamental trac-
ings or devices, which was effected by means of a wooden ‘or metal
instrument, and it was then subjected to the ﬁnal process of being
burned in a slow ﬁre.
The ornamental woodwork of the Egypto-Libyans was elegantly
designed and tastefully executed. Foreign and rare woods were em-
ployed to give a ﬁne ﬁnish to the best style of furniture, and add
greater beauty and durability to the decorative embellishments of
houses. Coffins, doors, and boxes were made of deal or cedar imported
from Syria. Chairs, tables, and sofas were frequently made of ebony,
skilfully inlaid with ivory. The native sycamore and acacia, when
converted into articles of household use, were veneered with thin
layers, or ornamented with carved devices of ﬁnely grained and richly
coloured woods, either superﬁcially applied or nicely let in like mosaic
patterns. Fancy boxes of wood and ivory, which contained cosmetics,
and were designed for the dressing-table, were carved in a most exqui-
site ornamental style, representing the lotus-ﬂower with its buds and
stalk 3 or tracing, in relief, the characteristic outlines of a goose, a fox,
or a gazelle. The grain of the ﬁner woods was imitated by tracing the
serpentine and curved lines on the painted surface of a thin coating of
stucco applied to the coarser varieties of wood previously prepared for
this purpose.
The tools used by the carpenters of ancient Egypt indicated con-
siderable advance in the mechanic arts. Those most commonly
employed were the axe and the adze for splitting and ﬁnishing 3 the
use of the hand-saw was known from a very early period. Other
mechanical contrivances were the chisel 3 the drill, a kind of plane in
the form of a chisel, and another subserving the purpose of a rasp.
The subsidiary appliances were the ruler, the plummet, the right angle,
and a leather bag containing nails, a hone, and the horn of oil. The
Egyptian carpenters were well acquainted with the adhesive qualities
of glue, and its practical use was well understood.
The Egyptian boats differed not only in size and the uses to which
they were applied, but also in the materials of which they were made.
A light and exceedingly elastic ﬁshing-boat was made of ﬂat-stemmed
water-plants or osiers bound together with bands of papyrus stalks
and other sedges, or of thongs woven into shape so as to resemble
wickerwork. Large vessels of transport or boats of burden, which
were generally provided with spacious cabins, were constructed of
sontwood-planks1 fastened together by nails and pins, and caulked
with papyrus. The Nile boats were of different construction accord-
ing to the purpose for which they were intended. In shallow water
or near the banks, the canoes (punts), which were without masts and
even without rudder, were pushed forward with poles; but in places
where the channel was deep they were propelled with the paddle, the
1 Acacia nilotica.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 191
rowers'being seated on the ﬂat deck which covered the interior from
the head of the stern, and the forward motion of the craft was effected
by pushing instead of pulling its oars. Large boats had generally a
pleasure-boat in tow, and two rudders at the stern. They ﬂoated
down the stream sideways, with their masts raised and their sails
expanded. In up-river navigation against the current the sails were
unfurled whenever the winds were favourable, unless the sudden
change of direction, induced by the abrupt sinuosities of the stream,
made the plying of the oars necessary. When adverse winds pre—
vailed or during an ordinary calm, the boat was pulled forward by the
men on shore by means of a tow line. For crossing the river or other
light service narrow and sharp canoes were employed, made of papyrus
rush, and rendered water-tight by bitumen; and large vessels of
earthenware were used for the same purpose. The oars were in the
form of along round wooden shaft, terminating in a ﬂat, oval, or circu-
lar board, and were turned on toll-pins or in rings ﬁxed to the gunwale
of the boat. When the number of rowers was large, a man stood
near the middle who gave the time for the stroke, while the pilot
seated at the stern attended to the steering; and one of the crew,
stationed at the bow, sounded the depth of the water with a pole.
The sails, which were generally square, were sometimes checked or
striped, or they were painted with rich colours, or embroidered with
fanciful devices representing the Phoenix, ﬂowers, and emblematic
heraldry. They were hoisted or lowered by means of ropes running
through rings. The mast was struck when, during high winds, it
impeded the progress of the boat as it ﬂoated down stream.
Gold was a native production of ancient Egypt. Persons convicted
of heinous crimes were condemned to work in the gold-mines, and
being loaded with fetters, they were doomed to labour without inter-
mission, and without possibility of escape. Sometimes men were sent
to the mines after having been formally tried upon false accusations,
to gratify a spirit of vindictiveness, or soothe the passion of private
revenge.
The Egypto-Libyans had already skilful artisans at a very remote
period of their social organisation. They were acquainted with the
process of casting and beating gold into form. They used the blow-
pipe to keep up a continuous ﬂame, and applied the forceps to effect
the more delicate prehensile manipulations. They displayed con-
siderable ingenuity in designing elegant jewellery and other tasteful
ornaments of gold, and setting them off with precious stones. They
understood the art of engraving, of inlaying, and of gilding the baser
metals or the surface of woods with ﬁne gold-leaf. Their vases of
gold or of silver inlaid with gold, were of the most elegant form, and
were models of classic beauty.1 Some of them were ornamented with
tasteful designs of heads of animals, or of ﬁgures of the oryx, the
ibex, the gazelle, and even of captives. Their silver cups were
engraved with the most artistic ornamental tracery and hieroglyphics,
and were studded with emeralds, amethysts, and other rare gems.

1 Some date back as early as Thotmes III., who lived 1490 13.0.
myrrh“ news-nann-
19.2 ‘THE ARAMZEAN s'roox.
Although iron is the most useful metallic substance supplied by
nature, yet copper and bronze were employed for economic and war-
like purposes at a much earlier date.1 Weapons and tools of bronze
are of a far higher antiquity than those made of iron; and what is
most remarkable, the Egypto-Libyans hewed the hardest granite rocks
with chisels of tempered bronze,2 and sculptured them into massive
monuments of ﬁne polish, inscribed with deeply cut hieroglyphic
characters and other symbolic devices.
The Egypto-Libyans had not only acquired considerable proﬁciency
in many of the mechanic arts, but their knowledge of the sciences, as
far as they were applied to practical purposes, was as creditable to
their understanding as it was conducive to the prosperity of their
country and to the development of its resources. They are the
reputed originators of the elements of geometry, which forms the basis
of mensuration. To equalise the distribution of the Nile water, the
excavation of canals, the construction of sluices, and the raising of
dykes, rendered an accurate survey of the grounds and the determi-
nation of the precise level indispensably necessary. But their early
acquaintance with mathematical science was not only of the greatest
utility in developing their agricultural resources, but it was called in
requisition in the application of mechanical principles to the execu-
tion of those vast designs which produced the gigantic monuments
that still continue to excite the wonder and admiration of the civilised
world. The transportation from the quarries and the hoisting into an
erect position of the lofty obelisks3 which were hewn out of a single
block of granite, could only have been effected by mechanical con~
trivances which must have been as ingenious as they were powerful
in practical operation 5 while the pyramids near Memphis, which were
constructed at a much earlier period, evince equal mechanical skill, and
are the ﬁrst regular and symmetric outlines of the architectural arts.
The Egyptian priests had always been famous for their knowledge
of astronomy. In their religious processions the horoscopus was
recognised as second in rank; and as a mark of dignity and .to indi-
cate his profession, he carried in his hand a horologz'am (sundial)
and a palm branch, the emblem of the year. He was also required to
commit to memory the Hermetic books on astronomy, some of which
related to the distribution and the grouping of the constellations, the
conjunction and opposition as well as the rising of the sun and
moon. It was incumbent upon the hierogrammat to understand the
order of the sun and the moon and of the ﬁve planets. The study

1 It is supposed that iron was known about 1370 13.0., 1885 years before the
Trojan war. Gardner Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt,”
vol. iii. p. 234. 5
2 This is somewhat doubtful, for it has recently been ascertained that the
weapons represented in the tomb of Ramses IV. have a blue colour like that of
steel. “Kenrick’s Pharaohs,” p. 218.
3 Many of the obelisks, each of a single block of granite, had already been
hewn and transported from the same quarries as early, at least, as the reign
of Ositarsen I., whom I suppose to have been the contemporary of Joseph.
Gardner Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt,” vol. iii. p. 82.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 193
of the science was ﬁrst suggested by the coincidence of the annual
return of the inundation with the heliacal rising of Sothis or the
Dogstar. As during the earliest period of Egyptian colonisation the
year was divided into lunar months, they closely observed the perio-
dical changes of the moon, noted down the exact recurrence of solar
and lunar eclipses, and, after long experience and many experimental
efforts, they were enabled to calculate eclipses with a considerable
degree of accuracy. They succeeded in tracing a meridian line with
the utmost precision. Solar months of thirty days each were also
substituted for lunar months, and to complete the solar year of three
hundred and sixty-ﬁve days, ﬁve intercalary days were added to the
last month, which brought the divisions of the year, of four months
each, in regular correspondence with the return of the three seasons,
known as the seasons of water plants, of ploughing, and of the waters ;
being hieroglyphically represented by a ﬂowering plant as the time of
growth, the character for house and mouth as the season of ingather-
ing or harvest, and a cistern as the period of inundation. Each month
had a distinct name, and, like the days of the year, each had its
tutelary god.
In their arithmetical calculations the Egypto-Libyans followed the
decimal system, and had speciﬁc names for ten and its multiples as
high as a hundred thousand.
Medical science had already attained considerable development.
Its knowledge was not conﬁned to the priests, but many of the secular
class were engaged in the practice of the healing art; and each prac-
titioner attended exclusively to a speciﬁc class of diseases restricted to
some particular bodily organ. The principles concerning the mode of
practice and the manner of treatment were laid down by men of
learning and reputation of ancient times, and were contained in the
sacred books. I11 studying these the physician became acquainted
with the structure of the body, the diseases to which it was subject,
the nature and use of medical and surgical instruments, the property
and administration of medicines, and details of practice relating to
the eye, and diseases of females. The prophylactic method prevailed
to a considerable extent, and dietary regulations were prescribed in
every kind of ailment, for it was supposed that food was the great
source of disease, and to counteract its ill effects the patient, besides
taking the medical nostrums, was often required to fast.
The education of the Egypto-Libyans was exclusively practical.
They were taught by their parents all that was necessary to acquire
proﬁciency in the exercise of the trade or profession which was the
hereditary pursuit of the family. Only a few of the better class of
artisans received some slight instruction in literature. It was reserved
for the children of the priests to be educated in all the branches of
learning to which the highest order of Egypto-Libyans could aspire.
They were not merely made acquainted with a thorough knowledge of
hieroglyphics, but they were instructed in the art of hieratic writing,
which was entirely conﬁned to the priesthood. At a later period the
more cursory mode of writing called demotic, principally founded
upon the phonetic principle, was added. They were also taught the
‘ N
194 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
sciences of geometry and astronomy, as well as arithmetic, to enable
them to mark out the boundaries of the landed proprietors which were
annually effaced by the inundation 3 to conduct judiciously the ﬁnancial
administration 3 to observe the motions, periods, and stations of the
planets, and study their astrological import; and to act as annalists
and historians by observing every remarkable event, either political
or physical in its character, making a record of the circumstances by
which it was attended, and the consequences by which it was followed,
that on the future occurrence of a similar event the result might be
conﬁdently predicted.1
The ancient Egyptian language still survives in the Coptic,2 much
altered, and having lost much of its original purity by contact with
more ﬂexible and better developed languages introduced by the Greek,
Roman, and Arabian conquerors. It was one of the earliest offshoots
of the original Aramaean mother-tongue, and had preserved more than
any other of the same stock its monosyllabic character and its early
primitive structure. It was spoken by a people who, in' their habits
and disposition, were extremely conservative, and as it was the language
in which the record of the religious and civil laws was preserved, to
be transmitted to the latest posterity, it was considered sacred 3 no
artistic reﬁnements were allowed to change its idiomatic expressions,
and no innovation was tolerated which might have introduced more
complicated processes of development. It was deemed far more
important that the text of the sacred books should never become
antiquated, than that the simple root-words should be transmuted
beyond recognition by a complex system of substitution and contrac-
tion of syllables and interpolation of euphonic letters. To form its
derivatives, the more simple method of affixes and preﬁxes of charac-
teristic particles was adopted, to effect all the modiﬁcations of the
root-words required by the accident of time, place, or surrounding
conditions.
At a very early period of their history the Egypto-Libyans devised
a method of communicating their thoughts and perpetuating the record
of important events, by the arrangement and combination of pictorial
characters rudely drawn and traced upon light materials or engraven
upon stone. This was the ﬁrst germ of the art of writing by means
of phonetic letters. When hieroglyphics were ﬁrst introduced they
simply constituted an inartiﬁcial system of picture-writing 3 the idea
was expressed by the delineation of the object, which conveyed no
other meaning beyond what it actually represented. Gradually pic-
torial writing became developed into the symbolic; the character used
was still the same, but the sphere of its application was extended, and
the idea it conveyed to the mind was more comprehensive. It did
not merely point out the object in its simplest expression, but it sug-
gested a notion of abstract qualities or accessory properties, or it indi-
cated some mode of action or manner of thought naturally associated
with it. Thus the hawk represented royalty and divinity on account
of its lofty ﬂight and the brilliancy of its eye 3 the crocodile denoted

1 Herodotus. 2 For Coptic language, see infra,vp. 251.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 1 95
darkness ; the outstretched hand and arm expressed the act of giving ;
the crescent signiﬁed a month; the palm-tree was the symbol of a,
year, because it is said that it puts forth a new branch every month;
the bee symbolised a people obedient to their king ; the vulture was
‘expressive of the idea of maternity 3 and the ostrich feather, from the
equality of all its ﬁlaments, was typical of truth. But the phonetic
characters of hieroglyphic writing were by far the most numerous and
most extensively employed, and they were the precise equivalents of
alphabetic letters. To determine the phonetic value of hieroglyphic
forms required considerable practice and ingenuity. Pictorial repre-
sentations of the object intended to be designated were often subjoined
to render the phonetic group of characters more intelligible. To the
word erp, meaning wine, two jars were added. A woman on her
knees with a child was subjoined to the verb signifying to nurse or to
bring up. Another mode of ﬁxing the vocal character of a hiero-
glyphic letter was to adopt, as exponent of the sound intended to be
expressed, the picture of the object whose name in the spoken language
began with that sound. Thus an eagle stood for at, its Coptic name
being cahom; a lion for Z, being Zabo in Coptic; an owl for m, in
Coptic moulad; and a knotted cord for h, expressed by halce in
Coptic. When two or more signs represented the same letter, which
are called homophones, the selection of these equivalents was deter-
mined by certain rules, or, in default of these, by symmetry. A
character which in the symbolical writing stood by itself for a whole
word was used phonetically for the initial of that word, but in no
other combination. Thus a god was symbolically represented by the
sacriﬁcial axe which stands for the initial letter n in the Coptic word
Nutar, God, when phonetically written, but it occurs in no other
phonetic group. None of these three modes of writing was used
:singly, exclusive of the others, but all three were promiscuously com-
bined in the same inscription with a decided predominance of the
phonetic.
The lines in which the hieroglyphic characters are arranged were
either drawn in a perpendicular or in a horizontal direction, and the
beginning as well as the connection of the lines was sometimes at the
right and sometimes at the left side, at the upper or at the lower
margin; but the direction in which the lines should be read was
always indicated by the direction in which the heads of the ﬁgures of
the animals were turned.
The hieratic character is a modiﬁcation of the pictorial and symbolic
forms, which were but sparingly used to adapt it to a more cursory
mode of writing, for which the phonetic system was principally
employed. It was always written in horizontal lines. Its use was
not restricted to purely religious subjects, but it was also employed to
conduct the business relations of the sacerdotal class, such as related
to the treasury of the temples, the genealogical registers, and the copy-
ing of portions of the funeral ritual.
The demotic or enchorial character, which was introduced at a late
period, still more nearly approached the purely phonetic system. It
was directly derived from the hieratic, and was better suited to rapid
196 THE ARAMrEAN s'rocx.
writing. The language it represented was more closely related to the
Coptic. The transactions of which it formed the record were chieﬂy
of a civil and judicial character.
The Egypto-Libyans possessed a literature of a high order of develop-
ment 5 and the mutilated scraps and fragments that have come down
to us engraven upon marble and granite, or traced upon papyrus,
assign to it a rank second only to the sacred literature of the Hebrews.
With the exception of a few narrative compositions, and the heroic
poem of Pentaur,1 almost all the other literary productions which have
been preserved are of a didactic or a religious character, and they were‘
either engraved on the walls of the great temples, or they were inscribed
upon the cofﬁns of distinguished men, to serve as panegyries and as
passports to the world of the blessed. The beauty of the Egypto-
Libyan literature does not consist in the elegance of diction and in
the classical reﬁnement of its phraseology, but in elevation of thought
and simplicity of expression.2
The architectural art of the Egypto-Libyans was far in advance of
that of any other people of their time. It is distinguished for its
originality, its colossal proportions, and its majestic grandeur. - The
pyramids are undoubtedly the most gigantic structures human genius
has ever devised, and human industry, combined with indomitable
energy, has ever been able to bring to a ﬁnal completion. The
heaviest blocks of granite were transported from Syene to Memphis;
they were squared with the most accurate mathematic precision 5 they
were polished with such unwearied persistence that they became as
smooth as glass 5 and after being thus prepared they were raised to an
immense height and were set with such wonderful accuracy, that after
thousands of years had passed over them they still form a ﬂawless,
compact mass—the wonder of ages and the admiration of the world.
The great pyramid of Gizeh, known as the Pyramid of Cheops, stands
on a rocky platform which rises 100 feet above the level of the plain,
at a distance of ﬁve miles from the banks of the Nile. Its square
base formerly measured 764 feet, which is now reduced to 746 feet,
and its original perpendicular height of 480 feet is reduced to 450.
The original opening in the northern face is 45 feet from the ground,
and is ﬁlled in by an immense block of stone which supports four
others arranged in the form of a pointed arch. This entrance connects
with a passage which is roofed with ﬁnely wrought and well-ﬁtting
stones, and descending at an angle of 26° it divides into two branches.
The upper branch ascends at the same angle for 12 5 feet, when it gives
off a long horizontalpassage 3 that terminates in the queen’s chamber,

1 This epic celebrates the heroic exploits of Ramses II.
2 Song of King Antuf of the eleventh dynasty :-“ Fulﬁl thy desire while thou
livest. Put oils upon thy head, clothe thyself with ﬁne linen, adorned with pre-
cious metals. . . . Yield to thy desire, fulﬁl thy desire whilst thou art upon earth
according to the direction of thy heart. The day will come to thee when one
hears not the voice—when one who is at rest hears not their voices. Feast in‘
tranquillity, seeing that there is no one that carries his goods with him.” Renouf 1S
Lectures, p. 69. _.
3 This passage is 110 feet long.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 197
which is situated immediately under the apex of the pyramid. It
is 17 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 20 feet high, and is roofed with
smooth blocks meeting in a point. From this chamber an immensely
long gallery1 runs upwards, and passing a vestibule it leads directly
to the principal apartment, called the king’s chamber. This capacious
vault of solid stone is 34 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 19 feet high.
Its ﬂat roof is formed of slabs of granite, supported by side walls of
the same indestructible material. It contains no other mementoes of
its sepulchral character than an empty sarcophagus of red syenite, un-
adorned by hieroglyphic devices, and even without ornamental covering.
In their internal arrangements and their accessory and subordinate
parts, the Egypto-Libyan temples reﬂected the mysterious silence, the
solemn grandeur, and the reverential awe which the presence of an all-
pervading divinity inspires, and excited in the worshipper the most
profound emotions, which strengthened and conﬁrmed his religious
convictions. The temples were surrounded with groves of lofty and
majestic trees, and with consecrated pastures decked with the green
sward of nutritious grasses and fragrant herbs. On each side of the
lofty gateway of the sacred enclosure was a wing constructed in
pyramidal form, which served as family dwellings for the accommoda-
tion of the priests and the porters. This outer gate, on which was
inscribed the emblematic device of the sun supported by two asps
with outspread wings—the symbolic representation of Hor-hat or the
“good genius ”——led to a spacious open court surrounded by colon-
nades. The inner gateway entrance led to a second hypoethral court,
or it gave admittance to a lofty hall lighted by small openings near the
top of the walls, with its roof supported by closely-ranged columns.
This was the naos where the worshippers assembled on festival occa-
sions. It was resplendent with gold and silver ornamentation, and
sparkled with amber and variegated gems from India and Ethiopia.2
A dromos or double row of sphinxes led from here to the sehos or
temple proper, with its entrance adorned by two granite obelisks, or
by colossal ﬁgures grave and serious in aspect and imperturbable in
attitude. The temple hall, whose walls glittered with snowy marble,
was sometimes divided into several compartments; and at the end
most distant from the entrance was the ad-g/tum, where the god, con-
cealed from view by a gold-embroidered curtain, stood on his monoli-
thal shrine, or was represented by a sacred animal, which was accepted
as the vicarious manifestation of his presence. The Rameseion was
grand from its dimensions, and beautiful from its design; but the
palace-temple of Karnac was perhaps the noblest effort of architectural
magniﬁcence ever produced by the hands of man. The hypostyle hall
of Manepthah is most remarkable for its grandeur. The beauty and
massiveness of the forms, and the brilliancy of the coloured decor-a.-
tions, all combine to stamp this as the greatest masterpiece of the
architectural art.
The Egyptian sculpture was distinguished by the colossal forms of

1 It is I 50 feet long, 20 feet high, and 6% feet wide.
2 See Clemens Alexandrinus.
."vrw --:~ ~ ‘rm-n“: Qyﬂpt-‘ﬂgvﬁﬁ .. _
198 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
_,. <~¢-r~ ""‘ " J
l“ __,._.l.r-~ r~
its statues, which, while they failed to excite feelings of sublimity,
conveyed to the mind the idea of grandeur and power if placed in
harmony with surrounding conditions. One of the most striking
examples of this character is the sphinx standing isolated and alone
on its rocky eminence amidst the surging sands of Gizeh. The sphinx
is peculiarly Egyptian, and is a wild creation of a fanciful imagination,
round which are clustering unexplained mysteries of a civilisation.
whose secret springs of action have been but partially disclosed and
are but imperfectly understood. The human element is here combined
with the animal nature of the lion and the ram, and physical strength
and intellectual power are here represented in symbolic outline 3 and
as if conscious of its inherent self-sufficiency and capacity of resistance,
its attitude is that of fearless quietude and calm repose, still heightened
by the majestic expression of its ﬁne~chiseled features. This huge-
leviathan in stone measures 62 feet in height, and its body is 140
feet long in a horizontal direction. A cap covers its head, and a beard
once protruded from its chin. The space within its paws, which
extend 50 feet, served as a temple where sacriﬁces were offered to its-
mysterious divinity. 1 _
The works of art of Egyptian sculpture were remarkable for precision
of outline and elegance of ﬁnish 3 and the patience and perseverance-
called into requisition in the accomplishment of the task was truly
wonderful, especially when it is considered that the hardest materials,
such as granite, serpentine, breccia, and basalt, were made to yield to-
the strokes of the chisel, and the rough unhewn blocks were smoothed
into symmetric geometrical ﬁgures, or transformed into resemblances of'
natural objects. The granite sarcophagi found in the interior of the
pyramids are elaborately polished, and even the earliest obelisks of
Heliopolis show an advanced state of mechanic ingenuity and artistic
skill.
‘ > Although the style of art of the Egypto-Libyans was stamped with
originality and exhibited much artistic genius 'in outline-decoration
and the symmetry of geometrical ﬁgures, yet it was merely rude sketch-
work when compared with the elaborate and ﬁnished masterpieces of
art of the Greek sculptors and architects. The ~same conservative
spirit which rendered the civil, political, and religious laws unchange-
able and immutable, equally pervaded every branch of Egyptian art,
and conﬁned it to long-established models of unvaried sameness and
uniformity. Progress and improvement were proscribed as revolu-
tionary heresies, and the introduction of novelties was denounced as-
sacrilege. The artist could only copy what was approved as orthodox
by the ruling authorities 3 he was not allowed to exercise his inventive
faculties, and give unlimited range to the ﬂights of his imagination.
They had no conception of the proper grouping of parts, or the com—
bination of natural objects ranged in order round a central ﬁgure, each
contributing to support the main action, or assisting to produce the
general effect. All their ﬁgures had but one cast of features, the»
expression never varied, there was neither soul nor spirit 3 the play of
emotions and the contortions of passion were never marked by charac-
teristic lines—the slight touches of the pencil, or the delicate strokes
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 199
of the chisel, which alone can produce a striking resemblance. The
same picture presented under a change of circumstances and in different
situations retained the same inanimate, inexpressive outline ; and the
altered relations of the main ﬁgure were only indicated by accidental
accessories, or the peculiarities of costume. Every part of a group was
an isolated link, complete in itself, without graduating shades of har-
mony and proportion required by the rules of perspective. The human
form was but rudely and stifﬂy drawn, it was devoid of the character-
istics of life and motion. The features are never lighted up by the
fervent glow of intellect, nor animated by the gentle emotions, or the
ﬁerce pangs of passion. The general harmony of anatomical structure
is entirely disregarded, the play of the muscles is never marked in
the outline of the ﬁgure, the limbs are shrivelled, and the delicate
tapering of the ﬁngers is exaggerated by unnatural proportions. Even
the drapery that decks the body is deﬁcient in that artistic arrange-
ment of folds and graceful curve lines which invests the naked contour
of a statue with such inexpressible charm and dignity. _
The Egyptian painting displayed neither skill nor genius; it was
simply a mechanical grouping of parts without regard to the delicate
blending of colours, the nice gradations of light and shade, or the law
of perspective. To obtain a smooth surface, the board or wall upon
which the picture was to be spread was coated with a thin layer of
lime or gypsum. After the outline was sketched with red chalk,
traced over with black lines to correct the rude drawing, the painter
proceeded to the more artistic part of his work. The colours which
he used were red, yellow, blue, green, and black; they were chieﬂy
metallic oxides,.and were brilliant and durable. These he triturated
into ﬁne powders, mixed them with a due proportion of water, placed
them in his pallet, which hung from his wrist, and applied them to
the surface on which the outline ﬁgures had been previously traced.
He was the most faithful copyist of the minutest details ; and though
his pictures were in the highest degree realistic, they resembled the
natural objects which they represented innothing except the mecha-
nical exterior and the colouring of parts.
Music was cultivated in Egypt from a very early time. It was
used in the temple to excite the worshipper to devotion; it accom-
panied funeral processions to give solemnity to the occasion. At
festivals it diffused life and spirit among the assembled multitude.
Its performances in the festive hall contributed in no small degree to
the pleasure and enjoyment of the guests, and even in the domestic
circle it was a means of recreation, and lightened the burden of the
labours of the household.
The moral inﬂuence of musical harmony upon the minds of the
young was fully appreciated by the Egypto-Libyans ; and to avoid all
fanciful perversions and licentious excesses in the musical art, a
uniform system. of music was established most favourable to virtue,
and no innovations were allowed to gratify a love of variety, or to
pander to the caprices of individuals.1 The authorship of the sacred
1 Plato.
200 THE 'ARAMI/EAN STOCK.
.ww'uf'lu-5~._‘I.T1JY&~‘PZF‘ 1,, 1""HP: a-wsqﬁ; ...
as many wives as their circumstances would permit.
hymns which were sung in the temple in honour of the gods was
attributed to Isis. Music had already acquired some degree of
scientiﬁc development. Numerous instruments played in concert
together, and the laws of harmony must have received a considerable
share of attention. Time was beaten by the hand, and formed an
.important part of musical composition. Some of the instruments were
not only of elegant form, but they must have been highly perfected
.in their capacity of producing pure and agreeable musical notes.
The harps were of different sizes, and were strung with cords of
catgut varying in number from three to thirteen, and some instru-
ments had as many as twenty-two strings. The use of the lyre pre-
ceded the very earliest period of Greek civilisation by many centuries.
The three-stringed guitar was capable of producing all the notes of
the octave by the pressure of the ﬁngers to shorten the strings. The
ﬂute was single, double, or oblique, and its soft and plaintive tones
were heard during temple service, at funerals, and on occasions of
festivities. The loud clangour of the cymbals, the shrill clack of the
castanets, and the hoarse monotonous sound of the tambourine, were
well adapted to produce a high pitch of excitement among large
masses of the population, stir up their fanaticism in behalf of their
favourite god, and excite their animal spirits as they passed from
village to village in bacchanalian procession. The sistrum, with its
rattling wires, was the favourite instrument of the votaries of Isis.
The military bands led the warriors to battle with the stirring notes
of the drum and the tinkling sound of metal rods or bronze cymbals.
The women of ancient Egypt were treated with the highest con-
sideration and respect. They were at times invested with royal
authority, ﬁlled most important offices of trust and responsibility,
and exercised supervisory control in the management of public affairs.
They were not forced, by social usage, to lead a life of seclusion; but
at some of the public festivals their attendance was deemed in
accordance with the strictest rules of propriety, if accompanied by
their husbands or relatives. In the domestic establishment the wife
occupied a commanding position; in the family circle her authority
was supreme, and it was one of the conditions of the marriage
contract that, in the intimate relations of home life, her husband
should yield unresisting compliance to her demands and be governed
by her experience and superior knowledge of affairs. She was never
wanting in the proper performance of her household duties 5 she never
wasted her time in idleness, for after having attended to matters of
importance, she still found a spare hour to devote to spinning with
the aid of the distaff, and to weaving by the use of the loom.1
The priests alone were restricted to one wife, but otherwise poly-
gamy was a legalised institution 5 and although ordinarily men were
contented with one partner for life, yet they were allowed to marry
The Egyptian
law connived at, if it did not expressly authorise, marriages between
brothers and sisters. Concubinage was also legally recognised, and
1 Professional weavers were always men.
EGYPTO-LIBYA NS. _ ~ 20 I
the women thus introduced into the harem became members of the
family, and were only subordinate in rank to the legitimate wife and
children.
In the education of the young strict attention ‘was paid to
their moral training. Parents considered it their sacred duty
to guard their children against the corrupting inﬂuences of bad
and vicious examples. It was their constant endeavour to instruct,
guide, and direct those who had not yet reached to years of dis-
cretion, that their looks, gestures, and motions might conform to
the rules of decency and social propriety. The verses and songs
which they were required to commit to memory were carefully
selected, with a view of serving as inspiring themes to stimulate them
‘ to the practice of virtue, and to inculcate the principles of honour and
‘moral responsibility ; and in order that nothing should mar this laud-
able and beneﬁcent purpose, the odes and dances introduced at their
public festivals and sacriﬁces were subjected to certain regulations for
the guidance of those who were charged with their execution. The
youthful mind was impressed with the cardinal principle that the
recognition of superior authority was one of the ﬁrst requisites for the
maintenance of a well-regulated society; and the young were therefore
required to show respect for old age on all proper occasions, to yield
precedence to their superiors in years, and if seated to rise at their
:approach.
As the father was looked upon as the sole progenitor of the race,
the mother being regarded simply in the light of a nurse, all the
children enjoyed the right of inheritance, and were equally entitled to
a distributive share in the parental succession.
The masses of the people, whose time was occupied with vulgar
pursuits, were uninstructed in the mysteries of religion. Their
principal restraints which induced them to command their passions,
and the chief incentive which stimulated them to the practice of
virtue, were the strict and impartial execution of effective laws, the
trial of the dead in this world and in a future state of existence,
and the fear of a degraded condition and the hope of a happy state
of immortality after death.
The ancient religion of the Egypto-Libyans, which had a system of
metaphysical philosophy for its basis, and their religious rites and
ceremonies, which were instituted “with a view to promote the
morality and happiness of those whose duty it was to observe them,”
although of great antiquity, still they are simply the natural develop-
ment of more rude and less complicated religious impressions which
originated in the home of their ancestors, and were gradually trans—
formed into a primitive creed whose fundamental articles of faith
were few and simple, and well adapted to the untutored mind still
incapable of grasping the reﬁned abstractions of transcendental super-
naturalism. But when they grew and multiplied from a few insig-
niﬁcant tribes into a great and powerful nation, when their form' of
government by degrees assumed the character of a centralised power,
when class distinctions were insensibly established, growing out of
the division of labour and the rapid increase of national prosperity
202 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
and private wealth, the priesthood, who represented the cultivated
intellect of the nation, and who exercised a controlling inﬂuence
in the management of public affairs, devised an elaborate system
of religious symbolism, represented by gross, palpable, material
forms, which were looked upon by the ignorant and uncultivated
as the real images, the actual types, of the divine originals;
while to those who were initiated in the sacred mysteries of the
order, they were merely signs of ideas, the hieroglyphic ﬁgures-
of the deiﬁed attributes of supreme intelligence, omnipotent power,
and inﬁnite goodness of the divine mind, and were worshipped as ,
the great gods; or they were outward marks of the spiritual ema-
nations of the one undivided, uncreated, and eternal godhead. One-
of these, in the exercise of some speciﬁc office, was always adopted as
the tutelary or presiding deity of a city or a province, whose assistance
and protection was particularly invoked 3 but two others were generally
associated with the patron deity, who formed together a distinctive
triad, and they were equally reverenced and worshipped in the’
temple, and prayers were addressed to them under the name of
contemplar gods.
The inferior divinities were the typical representatives of the
natural forces, the generative or destructive agencies of creative power ‘3
or they were abstract ideas, indeﬁnite mystic conceptions, whose rank
was determined by their nearer or more remote connection with the-
divine original. Physical objects which, by their beneﬁcent minis-
tration, excited feelings of love and gratitude 3 or those which, by
their malevolent action, were regarded as the demoniac agencies of evil,
and gave rise to a sense of indeﬁnable horror and dread, received divine
honours to secure their continued favour or avert their fearful
retribution. Superstition thus assigned sacred rank to useful animals
or noxious plants, which contributed to the preservation of the former-
and the careful avoidance of the latter. Some animals were wor-
shipped as emblems of the gods, others were regarded with a holy
awe as the receptacles of the souls of the wicked in their ever-changing
career of transmigration.1
The gods were frequently represented as standing on boat-like
pedestals or arcs, which was a convenient mode of exhibiting them in
public processions to the gaze of the superstitious and credulous
multitude. Their nature, office, and character were indicated by
distinctive emblems, such as the ﬂagellum, and the emblem of life
and stability, the hooked staff of the gods, the lotus-headed sceptre of
the goddesses, the staff of purity, the psheut or the double crown of
Egypt, and the uroeus or double asp used as a frontlet.
The Egyptian theogony, as understood by the most learned of the
priesthood, was under the semblance of monotheism, a reﬁned system

1 Many animals were worshipped because they were chosen as emblems of
deities. Some were sacred to prevent them being killed for food, as the ﬂesh was
unwholesome. The animals they held sacred, which partook more immediately
of the divine nature, were distinct from those into which the souls of wicked
persons passed during the period of their transmigration. Cicero.
EGYPTOv-LIBYANS. 203
of pantheism represented under an inﬁnite number of symbolic forms.
The Nutar,1 the abstract conception of “power,” is the universal
soul that pervades all nature and governs the world. “Nutar, One,
Sole and Only, no other with Him. He is the only Being living in
truth. Thou art One, and millions of beings proceed from Thee. He
has made everything, and He alone has not been made.” 2 This
unity of divine power from whom all things proceeded was not a
personal god, but he was the indwelling spirit, the essence of matter,
as the soul is the life of the body ; and all the other gods, as well as
men and animals, were direct emanations of this divine soul. This
divine power or universal soul was supposed to be eternally active,
eternally reproducing itself in external manifestations represented by
material forms which, in their aggregate, constitute the universe of
matter that is ever changing and yet is ever the same.3 Power and
substance are identical actualities ; they are the source of all existence ;
the , inherent force that animates nature, eternal and unchangeable,
revealing itself in the visible manifestations of objects of extension
that ﬁll the universe. Many of the gods were regarded as supreme
divinities in the eyes of the worshippers, according to the locality in
which they were objects of adoration. The local divinity was the

1 Nutar, the word generally translated “god” means “power,” but it never
becomes a proper name. It was indeed restricted in its use as far back as our
knowledge of the language enables us to trace it, but it never ceases to be a com-
mon noun, and was applied indifferently to each of the powers which the Egyptian
imagination conceived as active in the universe, and to the power from which all
powers proceeded ; but a power without a name or mythological characteristic is
constantly referred to in the singular number. Renouf’s Lectures, p. 98.
2 “Funeral Hymns,” translated by E. de‘,v Rouge ; see “Conference sur la
Religion,” p. 74.. Nutar is translated God with the object of establishing the
monotheism of the ancient Egyptians; and still the same author tells us in the
same treatise that this “ God makes himself God, perpetually producing himself,”
as'Father and Son; but, as the Holy Spirit is wanting, he adds, “the Egyptian
triad deviates most widely from the Trinity of the Christian Church.”
3 Iamblicus has preserved several passages which purport to be quotations from
the Hermetic books, but, having passed through so many hands for translation,
if not for interpretation, their genuineness may be much doubted, though in the
main they agree with the passage of the funeral hymn cited in the text : “ Before
all things that actually exist, and before all beginning, there is One God prior even
to the ﬁrst god and king, remaining unmoved in the singleness of his own Unity ;
for neither is anything conceived by intellect inwoven with Him, nor anything
else; for he is established as the exemplar of the gods, who is good, who is his
own Father, self-begotten, and his only one parent. For he is something greater
and prior to, and the fountain of all things, and the foundation of things con—
ceived by the intellect which are the ﬁrst species. And from this One the self-
originated God caused himself to shine forth ; for this reason he is his own
_ Father self-originated. For he is both a beginning and a God of gods; a
nomad from the One prior to substance and the beginning of substance,
for from him is substantiality and substance, whence he is also called the
beginning of the things conceived by the intellect. Cory’s “Ancient Frag-
ments,” p. 283.
The seventeenth chapter of the Book of the Dead contains the following :—
“I am Tmu, who have made heaven and have created all things which are;
and I exist alone, rising out of Nu (sky). I am R5. (the Sun) with his diadem,
when he began the kingdom which he made.” According to a gloss, the self~
existent God is Ra-Nu. Renouf’s Lectures, p. 198.
204 THE‘ ARAMZEAN s'roox.
sole god, the creator and preserver, and the tutelary protector 5 to him
the suppliant turned with the conﬁdent assurance that relief would
be granted to him in adversity, and that the desires of his heart
would be realised by actual fruition. He was the Natar, the power,
that was unlimited in his action and absolute in his domain. As the
male principle, he frequently symbolised the active and productive
capacity of nature; while the female divinity associated with him
was the highest expression of the passive agency of development
and growth.
The pantheon of ancient Egypt is the prototype of that of Greece 5
but the Egyptian mythology, while it is much less natural and less
poetical than that of Greece, is, on the other hand, more metaphysical,
more mystic, and more obscure. In the Greek pantheon men were
raised to the rank of gods, and were distinguished by their intel-
lectual and moral characteristics, by the powers they exercised, and
the functions that were assigned to them. The Egyptian divinities
were represented in a multiplied diversity of forms seemingly capri-
cious and often grotesque, a combination of emblematic ﬁgures, a kind
of picture-writing, expressing in mystic characters the nature, the
attributes, and the inherent power of the deiﬁed abstraction. Men,
animals, and plants made part of these symbolic forms by which the
gods were recognised, and which, singly or in combination, were so
many heraldic devices by which their ofﬁce, their rank and dignity
were indicated. The Egypto-Libyan deities were innumerable 5 there
were countless gods in heaven above and in the earth below. Every
town and village had its local patron divinity 5 and even special gods
presided over the months, the days, and the hours. These gods, being
merely emanations of the universal soul, were manifestations made
visible in material forms, and they were represented as having bodies,
souls, and passions 5 they were subject to the necessities of nature and
the constant changes of organic matter, they suffered from hunger and
thirst, they were afflicted with disease and the inﬁrmities of old age,
and they were not even exempt from the apprehensions of fear and
the repinings of sorrow. “Poison takes possession of their ﬂesh as
the Nile takes possession of the land.”
The gods of the Egypto—Libyans were divided into three orders.
The highest class of gods were eight in number, who were succeeded
by twelve of their descendants. These were followed by the inferior
deities, among whom Osiris occupied the ﬁrst rank.1 These minor
gods were probably ancient kings who ruled over different names in
Egypt at some very remote period, whose memory was highly vene-
rated as the benefactors of their race 5 and being regarded in the light
of deiﬁed mortals, the traditional history of their real character and
origin was effaced from the memory of men, and by the lapse of cen-
wturies they became symbolic representatives of divine power, and
formed a prominent part of the mythological system of the Egypto-
‘Libyan state. It was said that Horus, the son of Osiris, was the last
‘god that reigned over Egypt, and it was supposed that this divine

1 Herodotus, ii. 144.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 205
dynasty exercised unlimited power ﬁfteen thousand years before the
reign of Amasis.
Among the deities of the ﬁrst order N eph1 occupied a distinguished
position. He was the typical conception of the Spirit of God. The
deiﬁed attribute of his creative power, by which the physical world
sprang into existence, was represented under the name and character
of Phthah, who was equal to the original god. The generative prin-
ciple, the demiurgic faculty inherent in the creator by whom the
human race was produced, was deiﬁed under the symbolic type of
Khem, who ruled over the generations of men, and the perpetuation
of the species was placed under his divine guardianship. N eph was
represented with a ram’s head with horns projecting upwards, or
curved downwards and surmounted by a vase, which was the hiero-
glyphic initial of his name, or by an asp, which was sacred to that deity,
and sometimes constituted the only head emblem without any other
ornament. This divinity was principally worshipped on the island
of Elephantine, throughout the Egyptian colonies of Ethiopia, and
among the native population of the southern Thebaid.
Amun or Amun-rat held the same rank as the Jupiter of the Greek
mythology, for he bore the title of “king of the gods.” Amun-r5.
formed with Maat and Khonso the great triad of Thebes, where he
was highly revered, and the horned snake (Vc'pem cerastus) was sacred
to him.2 His oracle had acquired great celebrity. It was delivered
through the mouth of a prophetess who slept in the temple where the
god was believed to pass‘ the night, and where he bestowed upon her
the gift of divine inspiration.3 As he performed various offices and
possessed several deiﬁed attributes characteristic of a great divinity,
he assumed the emblematic forms of Ra, N eph, Khem, and even of
Osiris, according to the character in which he was represented; but
then he was known by the distinctive hieroglyphic which marked his
own personality. As Amun-ra he was the type of the intellectual
sun, as distinguished from Ra, who represented the physical orb. At
Thebes he was not only worshipped as Amun-ra, but as Amun—r5.
Generator, and he was then invested with the attribute of Khem, the
god of generation. The ﬁgure in which he was recognised as Amun was
that of a man adorned with a head-dress of a red colour, surmounted by‘
two long straight feathers, his body being of a light blue, emblematic
of the sky, as if to indicate his exalted and heavenly nature.
Phthah, Pthah (Hephaestus, Vulcan), was a demiurge, and repre
sented the deiﬁed attribute of creative power. He was the artisan
and leader of mundane artisans or the heavenly gods. He bore the
distinguished title of “the father of the gods.” He is “ the architect,
the former, the constructor ;” “he is the chief of the society of the
gods who created all beings ; all things exist after he exists ; he is the
master of truth and the king of gods.” He is also called “the father
of all beginnings, who has created the egg of the sun and the moon.”
Pthah gave birth to the gods; he made towns and organised pro-

1 He was known among the Romans as J upiter-Ammon. Herodotus, ii. 42.
2 Herodotus. ii. 54. k3 Ibid. i. 182.
206 _ THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
vinces.” “ To him is due the working of the hands, the walking of I i
the feet, the hearing of the ears, the breathing of the nostrils, the
fortitude of the heart, the vigour of the hand, activity in body and in
mouth of all the gods and men 3 and of all living animals, intelligence
and speech, whatever is in the heart and whatever is on the tongue.”
The scarabaeus or beetle was particularly sacred to this god, being an
emblematic expression of the world—the work of creative power. He
was accompanied by the goddess of justice and truth, and bore the
title of “lord of truth.” Like Osiris, this deity assumed the form of
a mummy, but without the ﬂagellum and crook, bearing simply the
emblems of life and stability with the staff of purity, and wearing as
head-dress a cap without any ornament. He occasionally appeared in
a modiﬁed form with the disk and lofty ostrich feathers of Osiris, and
holding in each hand the staff of purity; or he was clad in the symbol
of stability, surmounted by a winged scarabeeus supporting a globe or
sun, which was itself supported by the arms of a man kneeling on
the heavens.
Pthah-Sokari-Osiris was a pigmy ﬁgure of Phthah, and under this
form he was worshipped at Memphis. He was frequently represented‘
with a hawk’s head, but his usual emblem was the scarabeeus which
crowned his head, sometimes carrying the crook and ﬂagellum of .
Osiris. The capricorn, which was dedicated to him, was the orna-
mental ﬁgurehead of the prow of his boat or ark, which was invested
with great sanctity, and occupied a conspicuous place in the temple.
The ceremony of exhibiting it in solemn procession was one of the
most sacred religious rites connected with Egyptian temple worship.
Whenever he assumed a sitting posture he was attended by Isis, “the
potent mother—goddess,” who protected him with her wings. When
Osiris appeared under the ﬁgure of this god, he was then considered
as having risen from the dead after he had terminated his temporary
sojourn upon earth.
Khem-Chemmo (Pan) was the typical representation of the
generative principle; and although particularly worshipped at Pano-
polis, he was highly reverenced throughout all parts of Egypt. He
was not only the guardian divinity that promoted the procreation and
watched over the perpetuation of the human species, but his superin-
tending care was extended over the vegetable world. He was held in
such great honour that his statue was surrounded with trees, ﬂowers,
and other plants; and kings not only presented their offerings, con-
sisting of the herbs of the ﬁeld, upon the altar of the deity, but, to
secure his favour, they cut the corn in his presence, or were employed
in tilling the land and preparing it to receive the benign inﬂuence of
his generative power. Khem also represented the generative and
fructifying agency of the sun, the only source of heat indispensably
necessary for the production, the development, and the preservation
of the various existing species. He is distinguished by the Phallus.
His right hand is lifted up with a scourge bent at an angle over the.
ﬁngers, and bandages wrapped round his body conﬁne his left arm.
Thriphis, who, it appears, was one of the lion-headed goddesses, was
the favourite contemplar companion of Khem. I
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 207
- Sate (Juno) always accompanied N eph, to whom divine adoration
was paid throughout Nubia ; and with this god and Anouke she formed
the second member of a triad. Sate presided over the lower part of
heaven,1 and was represented as a female ﬁgure wearing on her head
the crown of Upper Egypt ornamented with projecting cow’s horns,
and holding in her hand the usual sceptre of the Egyptian goddesses.
Maat, whose name signiﬁes “ rule or law,” was the symbolic repre-
sentation of Mother Nature, and constituted the second member of
the Theban triad. She bore the titles of “mistress of heaven” and
“ regent of the world.” She is called the daughter of Ra ; and while
the great gods are said to be nab macit, “lord or master of Maat,” it is
equally said “that she knows no lord or master ;” the winds are com-
manded by Toth, the god that measures and maps out the universe,
and they are obedient to Maat, the divine personiﬁcation of law. It
is not certain whether this goddess is identical in ofﬁce with Buto, the
Egyptian Latona, or whether they represent two characters of the
same deity. Buto was held in great honour in Egypt, and her oracle
was regarded with more superstitious reverence, and the solemn‘awe of
vdivine inspiration, than any other in the world. As this goddess was
the type of the darkness that covers the deep,2 the mygale was sacred
to her which was supposed to be blind, and darkness was considered
more ancient than light.3 Buto successfully eluded the pursuit of Set
under the form of the mygale, and the protection thus afforded
imparted to it the characteristic virtues of a divine emblem. Maat
appeared in the form of a female ﬁgure invested with the pshent or
double crown, not placed one within the other like that of the king,
' but side by side. It was attached to a cap which was ornamented
with the head, body, and wings of a vulture. When Maat was repre-
sented with the head of a lion or a cat, she probably assumed the
character of Pasht, or Bubastis, or Thriphis.
Pasht or Bubastis (Diana) was distinguished by the head of a
lioness or a cat surmounted by a disk, from which issued the mucus
or royal asp, and she held in her hand the sceptre characteristic of the
Egyptian goddesses. Or when her ﬁgure was reduced to a bust, she
held the sistrum in her right hand, and a lion’s head with the disk
and asp in her left, while she carried a basket in her arm.4 The cat
was sacred to her. Pasht formed a member of the great triad of
Memphis, the contemplar companion of Phthah, by whom, as indi—
cated by the hieroglyphics, she was said to have been “beloved.”
She received divine honours in the Upper Country and at Thebes,
where she held the ﬁrst rank among the contemplar gods ; but she was
principally worshipped in the Delta and in Lower Egypt, and parti-
cularly in the city of Bubastis, of which she was the patron deity,
and where she was enshrined in a beautiful temple. One of the
greatest festivals of Egypt, in honour of this goddess, was annually
celebrated at Bubastis. To witness this religious celebration and take
part in the social festivities, a great number of Nile boats were con-

1 Harapolla. 2 Champollion. 3 Plutarch, Fragmenta, p. I8.
4 These busts are often of a late date.
208 THE ARAMJZEAN STOCK. .
stantly plying their oars, or were sailing up and down the river,
crowded with passengers of both sexes, some of the women performing
on the c-rotala, accompanied by the ﬂute played by the men, while
the rest were clapping their hands and singing. When they passed a
town they appeared near the banks, some of them still continuing
their musical performances, while others were vociferating in a loud
voice as long as they could be heard, uttering reproaches against the
town people, who began to dance as a mark of recognition, a compli-
ment that was returned by the voyagers pulling up their clothes in
a scoﬂing manner.1 On this occasion of public rejoicing at Bubastis
seven hundred thousand people of both sexes, exclusive of children,
were sometimes assembled. The entertainment was kept up by the
great number of victims that were sacriﬁced, and the consumption of
wine was so great that it exceeded the whole year’s supply laid up in
store for private use?
Neith (Minerva) bore the title of “ mother of the gods” or “ god-
dess mother.” She was the deiﬁed personiﬁcation of the air, was
produced from the head of Amun, the Egyptian Jupiter, was elevated
high above the world, and her virgin purity was as incorruptible as
the element which was her native sphere of action. She was known
under the name of “ thrice—born,” because she thrice changed her
nature at different periods of the year, which corresponded with the
three seasons, spring, summer, and winter,3 the prevalent climatic
division which regulated Egyptian agriculture. During the night of
the festival celebrated in her honour the houses were illuminated.
Her‘ form was that of a female, wearing the crown of Lower Egypt-
and holding in her hand the hooked staff of the gods or the ﬂower-
headed sceptre of the goddesses. “Then she was armed with the bow
and arrow, she represented the goddess of war as well as philosophy.4
She was the tutelary divinity of Sais, where she received divine adora-
tion in a temple dedicated to her worship 5 and within the precincts of
this sanctuary were the tombs of the kings of the Saite family. It is-
said that her temple at Sais contained the remarkable inscription: “ I
am the things that have been, and that are, and that will be 5 no one
has uncovered my veil ; the fruits which I brought forth became the
sun.” 5
Gods of the second order and other inferior divinities were very‘
numerous, and were as widely known and as universally worshipped-
as those of the ﬁrst order. Among these Ra, or the physical sun,
occupied the most important position and was most generally revered.
This god was usually represented by the ﬁgure of a man with a
hawk’s head surmounted by a globe or disk of the sun, to which
the arccus asp was added. The hawk was the emblem of Ra, which
symbolised light and spirit by the rapidity of its motion and its lofty
ﬂight to the higher regions of the air.6 The scarabaeus, which was
supposed to have thirty ﬁngers, equal to the thirty days of the solar
month, was also an emblem consecrated to this god. Like the sun,

11 Herodotus, ii. 60. 2 Ibid. 3 Diodorus, ii. 12, 6.
4 Proclus. 5- Plutarch, Moralia, p. 433, c. 9. ‘ 6 Porphyry.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 209
of which he was the deiﬁed personiﬁcation, his colour was of a ﬂaming
red, ‘and in the character of that luminary, with his name written
alphabetically, he was going through his daily course across the sky
(mi) in a boat, either followed by the figure of the sun or accompanied
by a hawk marked with two horizontal lines. The scarabeeus some-
times indicated his position when at meridian height, and the hawk,
or the title of Atin-ra, pointed out his resting-place, and designated
the spot where he disappeared behind the western mountains of
Thebes; and as Tmu he sunk into the arms of Athor, the presiding
divinity of the realms of night. The asp, the emblem of royalty and
dominion, was typical of his superior power, and the symbols of life
and purity were tokens of his vivifying inﬂuence diffused over all
animated nature. The concave ﬁrmament of the lower heaven was
his resting-place, where he was sometimes supported on the back of
two lions in a couching posture with their heads turned in opposite
directions. The regal title of Phrah or Pharaoh was derived from
this god,1 for every king of Egypt had the title of “ son of the‘ sun”
preceding his phonetic name.
Heliopolis, a small city of Lower Egypt, was celebrated for its
temple dedicated to the sun, where R5. was particularly worshipped.
The priests of Heliopolis were famous for their wisdom and learning,
and had acquired great reputation for their knowledge of astronomy,
to the study of which, as well as all other branches of science, they
were zealously devoted.2 His adversary is Apap, the “ morning dawn,”
who is represented as a serpent pierced with the weapon of the god
waging a conﬂict between light and darkness. Shu, “air,” ‘ and
Tefnut, “ dew,” are his children.
The Egyptian Phoenix was an emblematic expression of an astro-
nomical fact indicating a cycle of one thousand four hundred and
sixty-one years, in which the solar year of three hundred and sixty
ﬁve days coincides with the sothic year of three hundred and sixty-
ﬁve and a' fourth days.‘ It was the image of revolving time, ever
consumed and ever renewed. Its usual form was that of a bird sitting
upon its claws ‘with raised wings, its head ornamented with a tuft of
feathers, and with a pair of human hands in front lifted towards
heaven. Or it was represented by the ﬁgure of a man provided with
wings, his arms uplifted, and with a tuft of feathers in his head
accompanied by a star. This was the symbol of the ﬂeeting shadow
of time and space under the typical form of a man who had returned
to the point of departure after having traversed a wide extent of
country in distant lands.3
N epe or N etphe (Rhea) was the beneﬁcent deity who poured out
the nectar and distributed to the immortal spirits of the dead in the

1 Ra with the deﬁnite article Pi preﬁxed was the same as Phrah or Pharaoh.
Wilkinson, 2d Sen, vol. i. p. 286.
. 2 Joseph married Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, a priest of Heliopolis. It
was to this city that Plato, Eudoxus, and other Greek sages repaired, in order to
study the wisdom of the Egyptians, and Pythagoras was the disciple of Oinuphis
the Heliopolite. Near the city was an observatory. Plutarch’s Moralia, p.
433, c. 10. v 3 Horapolla. _
“v” _.__,‘.-.~.qv_;a..m:_-,».w .,r.,\,,,",<‘_ *- hm“ ‘ D k v‘- H
0
210 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
lower world the ambrosial fruit of the sacred sycamore which was
dedicated to her. She was distinguished by a vase, which is the
phonetic initial of her name, and which she bore on her head 3 or she
appeared standing on a sycamore tree ministering to the soul of the
deceased, which assumed the form of a human-headed bird, stretching
out its hands to catch the heavenly liquid poured from the vase, and
secure the divine fruit presented in a basket.
Osiris (Pluto, Bacchus) is the eldest son of the ﬁve children of Seb,
the “earth,” and of Nut the “ sky.” “He is greater than his father
and more powerful than his mother.” He wedded his sister-wife Isis
while they were yet in their mother’s womb, and their offspring was
the elder Horus. Set and N ephthys, another wedded pair, are their
brother and sister. The “ earth” is represented as the father, and the
“ sky” as the mother, of all things 3 and from the union of Seb and
Nut sprang Osiris the “ sun” and Isis the “dawn,” who were wedded
before they were born, and the fruit of their marriage was Horus, the
“sun,” in its meridian splendour. Set, the Typhon of the Greeks, is
the destroyer, the symbol of darkness with N ephthys representing
“sunset” as his spouse. According to a legend, Osiris mistakes
N ephthys’ “sunset” for his wife Isis, the “dawn,” and from their
embraces was born Anubis, a divinity that partakes of the nature of
the diurnal and nocturnal powers, and it is said of him that, as the
“twilight” or “dusk,” he swallowed his father Osiris or the “sun.”
The victory of night over day is symbolised by the destruction of
Osiris by Set, and the “rising sun” is the emblematic representation
of his resurrection. - Under the pantheistic form of religious develop-
ment Osiris was called the “lord of eternity.” “When thou art in
heaven thou appearest as the sun, and thou renewest thy form as the
moon.” Osiris is also styled “lord of eternity, king of the gods, of
many names, of holy transformation, of mysterious forms.” “From
him the celestial ocean, Nu, derives its waters; from him comes the
wind, and respirable air is in his nostrils for the satisfaction and the
taste of his heart. For him the ground brings forth its abundance 3
the obedience of him is the upper heaven and its stars 3 and he opens
the gates. . . . He has made this world with his hands, its waters,
its atmosphere, its vegetation 3 all its ﬂocks, all its ﬂying things, all
its ﬁsh, all its reptiles and quadrupeds.” 1
Osiris is the highest expression of a future state of life, of the
immortality of the soul. His name is inscribed on the tomb of kings
who were contemporary with the earliest pyramids, which were
erected more than two thousand years before the Christian era. In
the pantheistic system the deity was considered the soul which per-
vaded all nature, of which the human soul was a pure emanation
temporarily united to a perishable body for the exercise of intellectual
powers and the accomplishment of certain objects in the physical and
social economy of the world. To persons recently deceased the sym-
bolic name of Osiris was given, as a protecting talisman to defend him

1 Funeral hymn probably belonging to the time of Thutmes III. Renouf’s
Lectures, p. 218.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 21 I
against the violence of enemies that obstruct his path in his journey-
' to the Amenti or lower world.
Osiris, in connection with Isis, was universally adored all over
Egypt ; and as a mythical deity, and on account of the great import-
ance of his oﬂice, he was even deemed superior to the eight great
gods. He was particularly revered, and divine honours were paid to
him as the judge of the dead and as the divinity who presided over
the regions of happiness and bliss,the elysian abode where the souls
of those only were admitted who had been distinguished for their
virtues and their purity of life. Anubis, styled the “director of the
weight,” was represented as performing the duty of adjusting the
balance ; and with the assistance of Horus he places in one scale the
feather, a ﬁgure of Thmei, the goddess of truth, and in the other a
vase, emblematic of the virtuous actions of the deceased who was to
be judged. A cynocephalus, the emblem of the ibis-headed god,
with sober and demure look, sat at the upper end of the balance shaft
and bore witness to the justness of the scales. Grim-visaged Cerberus,1
the guardian of the palace, protected the entrance from external
intrusion ; and sometimes Harpocrates,2 the symbol of resuscitation or
of a new birth, was seated on the crock of Osiris, expressive of the
idea entertained by the Egyptian and other philosophers that nothing
created was ever annihilated, and that to cease to be was only to
assume a new form, “dissolution being merely the passage to repro-
duction.” Horus, the son of Osiris, appeared in his presence, intro-
duced the souls of the dead, sometimes wearing the emblem indicating
that they had been judged by their works, and submitted to his inspec-
tion the record of their actions, inscribed upon the tablet of Toth,
after they had been weighed in the scale of truth, and had not been
found wanting ; while the king of the Amenti was seated on his royal
throne, attended by Isis and Nephthys, with the four genii of the
place standing on a lotus which rose from the water in the centre of
his divine habitation. In the judgment-hall of “two-fold right”
were seated forty-two assessors, who assisted in the judicial investiga9
tion, each of whom represented a particular crime which it was his
duty to avenge, and whose peculiar nature was indicated by the
different heads which distinguished them, such as the head of a man,
.a hawk, a hippopotamus, a hare, a fox, a ram, a snake, and other
animals. '
Osiris was not only worshipped as the deity who presided over the
regions of bliss to which the souls were consigned in a future state of
existence, but he represented the deiﬁed attribute of the “ divine
goodness,” and the highest reverence was paid to him in his sacred
‘office as avatar, or as a visible manifestation of the divinity revealing

_ .wml .
1 It has the form of a hippopotamus, sometimes with the head of a fanciful
creature, partaking of the hippopotamus and crocodile, and is frequently repre-
sented as a female. Wilkinson, 2d Sen, vol. p. 7 .
2 The infant Horus was born of Isis after the death of her husband, with whom,
Plutarch says, she had then intercourse. He is represented as an infant nursed
by Isis, or with his ﬁnger to his mouth, having a lock of hair falling from the
side of his head. Ibid., 2d Sen, vol. i. p. 405.
212 THE ARAMZEAN s'roox.
‘himself to the sons of men by assuming the human form, and volun-
tarily subjecting himself to the hardships and dangers during his
sojourn upon earth in order to beneﬁt mankind, for he was said to be
“full of goodness and truth,” and he came to instruct the world as
“the manifester of good,” and the “opener of truth.” After having‘
accomplished the object of his divine mission, he fell a sacriﬁce to
Set, the typical personiﬁcation of the spirit of evil 5 but on leaving
this terrestrial abode his beneﬁcent inﬂuence overcame the evil prin—
ciple, and as he rose to a new life he assumed the ofﬁce of judge of
mankind, and ruler of the blessed in the celestial spheres of eternal
felicity. His fame was widely diffused, and his merits were so
universally recognised that numerous titles of distinction were
bestowed upon him by his zealous votaries. He was styled “the
president of the “fest,” “lord of Abydus,” “lord of the world,”
“lord of life,” “the eternal ruler,” and “king of the gods.” In
several ancient inscriptions some of his revealed words have been
recorded, in which he says of himself : “ Seb, the youngest of all the
gods, is my father; I am Osiris.” “I am the eldest son of Sch, of an
illustrious branch and of noble blood, cousin of the day; there is no
place where I have not been, and I have liberally distributed my
beneﬁts to all mankind.”
The secret order of Osiris, which comprised the greater and less
mysteries, from which the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed, admitted
only within the hallowed walls of the sanctuary men distinguished
for learning, and endowed with superior intellectual and moral quali-
ﬁcations. Before a candidate could gain admittance into the greater
mysteries, which was the greatest honour to which an Egypto-Libyan
of the highest eminence even could aspire, it was indispensably
necessary that the initiated should have previously passed through all
the gradations of the inferior degrees, in order to discipline his mind
for the reception of more abstract truths and more abstrusephiloso-
phical speculations of the higher spheres of knowledge. The character
of the neophite was required to be pure and unsullied 5 he passed
under the knife of the hierophant, which was emblematic of his moral
regeneration; and the aspirant was not deemed worthy to ascend to
the higher order of mysteries unless his reputation for unspotted
virtue, purity of mind, and stoic resignation had been fully tested
and established. ' _
The history of the life of Osiris, which mythology has ingeniously
converted into a consistent allegory, represents him as king of Egypt,
the benefactor of his people, who, to improve their rude manners and
barbarous customs, introduced the arts‘ of civilisation and taught
them to till the soil and cultivate the fruits of the earth. He
travelled to distant lands to instruct mankind and scatter abroad the
seed of useful knowledge. It is his sister-wife who, during his
absence, administered the affairs of the government, was circumspect
in her actions, and vigilant in guarding against the wicked machina-
tions of Set. On the return of Osiris, Set, with ‘seventy-two con—
federates, and Aso, the queen of Ethiopia, contrived a cunning
stratagem to bring about his destruction. Having previously
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 21 3
measured‘the body of Osiris, he had a chest made of the exact size
of the measure, and adorned it with the most elegant embellishments
of art. By his order it was brought into the banqueting hall, where it
elicited the highest admiration of all those present. Encouraged by these
favourable ‘indications, he feigned to be actuated by a sudden impulse
of generosity, and proposed to present it as a gift to any one of the
guests whom it might exactly ﬁt, which was to be ascertained by lying
down within the interior of the fancy casket. Many stretched them-
selves to their full length, eager to win the prize, but their attempts
proved fruitless ; for it was reserved for Osiris alone to ﬁll the exact
measure of this marvellous piece of workmanship. Without the least
suspicion of evil designs, Osiris intrusted his body to the fatal box ;
and Set, quick as thought, clapped on the cover, fastened it down
with nails, and secured it by pouring melted lead over it. It was
immediately carried to the river side and consigned to its waters, on
which it lightly ﬂoated, and was thus conveyed to the sea by the
Tanaitic mouth of the Nile. Isis, as soon as she was informed of this
ruthless act of malignity, cutoff one of the locks of her hair and put on
mourning. She then started out in search of the remains of Osiris ;
and when she reached the coast of Byblos she discovered the chest in
.a sheltered spot, being supported on the branches of a tamarisk bush.
Isis, having taken possession of it, immediately returned with it to
Egypt ; but while on her homeward journey she was paying a visit to
her son Horus, she concealed it in a lovely and sequestered place in the
forest, where Set, while hunting one night, discovered it ; and at once
recognising the body of Osiris that was enclosed in the chest, he
divided it into fourteen parts, which he distributed up and down the
river in different sections of the country. As soon as Isis became
apprised of the criminal abstraction of the object she loved so dearly,
she set out in a boat made of papyrus stems in search of her husband’s
body, and wherever she found any of the scattered parts she buried
them on the spot. She then succeeded to rescue from further desecra-
tion every portion of the bodily frame except one which had been
devoured by the Lepidotus, the Phagrus, and Oxyrhinchus. To make
.an adequate compensation for this irretrievable loss, she consecrated
the phallus, and instituted a solemn festival to its memory.
This allegorical account of Osiris has been ingeniously interpreted
by Plutarch. According to this author, Osiris was the symbolic type
of the inundation of the Nile; Isis represented the irrigated portion
of the land of Egypt, and Horus, their offspring, the vapours and
exhalations producing rain ; while Buto or Latona typiﬁed the marshy
land of Lower Egypt where these vapours were nourished. The
character of Nephthys corresponded to the edge of the desert occasion-
ally overﬂowed during high inundations. Anubis, the son of Osiris
and N ephthys, represented the production of the barren soil in conse-
quence of its being overﬂowed. Set or Typho personiﬁed the sea,
which swallowed up the Nile waters. The conspirators were deadly
and destructive in their action; like the drought, drinking up the
moisture from which the increase of the Nile proceeds. The chest-
was intended as a. ﬁgurative expression for the banks of the river
214 ' THE ARAMZEAN ,s'roox.
within which it retired after the inundation. The Tanaitic month?
which swept down the alluvial soil suspended in its waters, was the
counterpart of the lakes and barren lands which were overﬂowed with-
out the least beneﬁt to the country. The injudicious co-operation of
the queen of Ethiopia clearly pointed out the blighting effect of the-
southern winds, which prevented the clouds from moving southward.
The dispersion and subsequent burial of the members of the body of
Osiris, signiﬁed the main channels and canals by which the inundation
passed to the interior of the country, where each was said to be after~
wards buried. The part which could not be recovered was the genera--
tive power of the Nile, which still continued in the stream itself.
Harpocrates, to whom Isis gave birth after the winter solstice, was
typical of those weak shootings of corn produced after the inundation
had subsided.1
Many of the votaries of Osiris considered him as the god of
humanity, and in token of his divine character and as a mark of
honour, they carried a water jar at the head of the sacred procession.
Osiris usually appeared in green, though he was frequently represented
of a black colour. As judge of the Amenti he assumed the ﬁgure of'
a mummy decked in pure white, wearing the cap of Upper Egypt,
ornamented with ostrich feathers—his peculiar head-dress—with the
crook and ﬂagellum in his crossed hands. When he officiated in the-
character of “stability,” which is hieroglyphically expressed by the
four-barred symbol, his head and even his face was covered by the
emblem, which may also indicate his peculiar intellectual powers. He:
bore the head of a crane, distinguished by a tuft of two long feathers
when he acted in the capacity of the god Benno 3 and sometimes he
was simply represented in a human ﬁgure, his head being covered
with a cap surmounted by two ostrich plumes.
The phallic ceremonies, although they properly belonged to Khem
——the god of generation—were celebrated in honour of Osiris. His
statue, provided with the triple phallus, was carried about in public.-
procession and exposed to the gaze of the multitude, indicating that-
this god represents the ﬁrst principle which, in its nature, is self-pro-
ductive, and imparts the property of giving indeﬁnite extension to‘
speciﬁc forms, and of multiplying all that proceeds from it, or is-
endowed by it with the primary element of vitality. Osiris held a
conspicuous position in every temple as the foremost of the contemplar-
gods 3 he was the ﬁrst member of the triad with Isis and Horns 3 and
to swear by his name was deemed to be the most binding oath by the-
inhabitants of the Theba'l'd. He was most zealously worshipped, and
was adored as a patron deity at Philae and Abydus, and his island
sanctuary was considered as possessing such superior pre-eminence»
that no one was permitted to visit Philae without express permission.
Here were celebrated the great mysteries instituted in his name 3 and
at a stated period a grand ceremony took place, when the priests-
marched in solemn procession to his tomb and crowned it with ﬂowers.
This sepulchral spot was regarded with the greatest reverence by all
1 Plutarch’s Moralia,_p. 447, (c. 48, seq.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 215
the priests of Egypt ; and priests expressly appointed for this purpose
daily ﬁlled three hundred and sixty cups with milk, and, calling out
the names of the god, they uttered a solemn and plaintive lamenta-
tion.l
At Memphis Osiris was worshipped under the form of Apis, the
sacred bull ; or in the form of a human ﬁgure with a bull’s head, and
he then bore the name of Apis-Osiris. In this character he was gene-
rally represented as wearing the globe of the sun and the asp, the
symbol of divine majesty. The mother who gave birth to the god
Apis, and who could produce no other oﬂspring, was supposed to have
conceived from a lightning-stroke sent from heaven. Certain physical
marks infallibly indicated the superior nature of this divinity. “ His
hair was black, on his forehead was a white triangular spot, on his
back an eagle, a beetle was under his tongue, and the hair of his tail
was double. All the clean oxen chosen for sacriﬁce entirely free
from black spots, or even a single black hair, were dedicated to his
service.”2 Before the enclosure in which Apis was kept there was a
vestibule where his mother was fed, and into which he was sometimes
introduced to be exhibited to strangers ; but ordinarily he could only
be seen through a window.3 On the festival celebrated in honour of
Apis, which continued for seven days, the sacred bull was led in
solemn procession by the priests through the streets of Memphis, in
the presence of a vast concourse of people, who were eager to welcome
him, and it is even aﬂirmed that children who smelt his breath
acquired the miraculous power of predicting future events.4 When
the Apis died, certain priests, chosen for this duty, went in quest of
another, who was known from the signs mentioned in the sacred
books. As soon as he was found, they took him to the city of the
Nile preparatory to his removal to Memphis, where he was kept forty
days, during which period women alone were permitted to see him.5
These forty days being completed, he was placed in a boat with a
golden cabin prepared to receive him, and he was conducted in state
down the Nile to the city of Memphis.6 As soon as the appetite of
the sacred bull relaxed, which generally happened between the age of
twenty-two and twenty-ﬁve, he was destroyed, and Pliny assures us
that he was led to the fountain of the priests and was there drowned
with much ceremony ; and that his body, being embalmed, was enclosed
in a coffin, which was placed on a sledge followed in a grand funeral
procession by the priests, “ dressed in spotted skins of fawns, bearing
the thyrsus in their hands, uttering the same cries and making the
same gesticulations as the votaries of Bacchus during the ceremonies
in honour of that god.” From whatever cause the death of Apis may
have occurred, public lamentation was performed by the people as if
Osiris himself had died, and the time of mourning was protracted

1 Diodorus, l. i.
a Herodotus, iii. 28. 3 Strabo, p. 685, § 31. 4 Pliny, 1. viii. c. 71.
5 Abandoned women presented themselves after depilation before the bull
Apis, to whom during the ﬁrst day of installation testibus sublat'is ei focnum
abrasum oste'ndunt. De Pau’s Egypt and China Compared.
6 Plutarch, Treatise on Isis and Osiris.
2 16 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
until his successor was found. The installation of another Apis gave
rise to public rejoicings, which were fully equal in zeal and earnestness
to the grief exhibited at the ﬁnal departure of his predecessor.
Apis was not simply an emblem, but he was adored as a real
divinity, as the image of the soul of Osiris, which assumed the form
of a bull in its metamorphic transmigration.1 He was consulted as an
oracle, and auguries were drawn from his actions. If, on being fed
with the hand, he took what was offered to him, the omen was
favourable 5 if, on the contrary, he refused to accept the proffered
food, it was considered a sinister omen. If he selected a certain one
of the two stalls, to both of which he had free access, it foreboded
good to Egypt 5 if the other, it prognosticated evil. ’
Isis (Ceres, Proserpine, Matter, AgxoD—the most celebrated of the
Egyptian goddesseswwas universally adored in the temples of Egypt,
and her worship was much more common than, that of Osiris, except
in his mystical character as ruler of the Amenti. She bore the title
of Myrionymus, or “the city with ten thousand names,” a title
derived from the great number of divine attributes assigned to her.
She was also styled the “royal consort” and “ sister of Osiris,” and
“the goddess mother.” In her capacity of presiding goddess of the
Amenti, her ofﬁce was similar to that of Proserpine ; and as the wife
of the judge of the dead, she bore the name of “Thermnthis” or
“ giver of death.” In her mystical relations she represented Sirius or
the Dogstar, and was then called Isis-Sothis 5 for as the heliacal
rising of Sothis corresponded with the commencement of the inundation
of the Nile symbolised by Osiris, to its inﬂuence was ascribed much
of the beneﬁt derived from the rising of the waters. ' The festival
celebrated in honour of Isis at Busiris was magniﬁcent. “After
suitable preparations by prayer and fasting for the performance of the
solemn rites, a hull was sacriﬁced, which, after having been divested
of its skin and viscera, and after the legs, haunches, shoulders, and
neck had been cut off, was ﬁlled with cakes of pure ﬂour, honey, dried
raisins, ﬁgs, incense, myrrh, and other aromatic ingredients, and in this
state it was burned, after having poured a quantity of oil over the ﬁres.
Whilst the victim was consuming, the votaries of the goddess of both
sexes assembled in great numbers, struck themselves in honour of
Osiris 5 and when they ceased doing ‘this they ate the remains of the
sacriﬁce.”2 .
The character of Isis depended much on the functions exercised by
Osiris, with whom she was constantly associated. If Osiris represented
the sun, Isis was the moon, or the earth to which he imparts‘ his
fertilising energy. If Osiris was the Nile, Isis was the land which‘ he
overspreads and impregnates. If Osiris typiﬁed reason or intellect
which rule and guide and originate all good things, Isis represented
material nature to which he gave life and form. WVhen she formed
the second member of the triad with Osiris and N ephthys, she
assumed the general form- of a female with a throne upon her head,
and she then assisted in the trial of the dead before the judgment-

1 Plutarch and Diodorus, l. i. 2 Herodotus, ii. 40.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 2 I 7
seat of her brother and husband. When she acted in the capacity of
protector and defender of Osiris, she was represented as covering him
with her outspread wings. She occasionally appeared under the ﬁgure
‘of a cat, and was then invested with the attributes of Bubastis ; or
she was ornamented with ﬂowers of water-plants which were rising
from her head in addition to. the globe and horns of Athor. She
often were a cap’ modelled after the sacred vulture, with its head
projecting from her forehead, its body covering her head, and its
wings extending downward at the side of her face to the shoulders.
Her principal temple was at Philae, where she was worshipped as the
second member of the triad with Osiris and Horus.
Athor or Hathor (Venus, Evening, Night, the Planet) was fre
quently invested with the attributes of Isis ; and when she appeared
in the ﬁgure of a bird with a human head, adorned with her disk and
horns, she assumed a character which connected her with the virtuous
souls that found happiness and repose in the reahns of the blessed.
When she personiﬁed the morning star, she was represented in the
form of a spotted cow, whose abiding place was supposed to be the
western mountains of Thebes. The setting sun, as it retired behind
the mountain in the west—the region of night over which this
goddess presided—was believed to sink into her embraces, and to be
enclasped within her arms. When she wore the symbolical necklace,
her office was that of patroness of ornament and dress. She con-
stituted the second member of the great triad worshipped at Aboccis,
where she was held in great veneration, and a temple was dedicated
to her, where her image was consecrated in the form of a cow stand-
ing in a boat surrounded by water-plants, and the king and queen
offering ﬂowers and libations. In hieroglyphic legends she is apos-
trophised as “ Athor, the lady of Abostek, the foreign land.”
' Hor or Horus (Younger Apollo, the WVarmth of the Sun) princi-
pally ofﬁciated in the regions of the Amenti, where he assisted Anubis
‘in weighing the actions and ascertaining the moral conduct of
persons recently deceased; and when found justiﬁed by their meri-
torious works, to int-reduce their souls to the august presence of Osiris,
his father. He symbolises the existence that is to recommence “ the
new life which to-morrow will be the future.” He is the type of
‘the king as successor, as R5. is the type of the reigning king and Osiris
that of the king deceased. He represents the sun independent of
R5. and Osiris. As Horus “sitting in darkness and blindness,” he
symbolised the victory of “darkness over light.” Being blind, he
is made to say : “ I am Horus ; I come in search for mine eyes,” which
are restored to him at the dawn of day. The eye of Horus is
represented as a distinct deity terrible to the enemies of light. Horus
was distinguished by the head of a hawk crowned with the pshent ,'
and he was generally seen standing in a boat, accompanied by other
gods, piercing the evil spirit in. the water, who was sometimes repre-
sented as a man, but more frequently in the form of a serpent of
and defender of his father, Osiris;
great length. By his peculiar title he was known as “the support
” and in the proclamation issued
at the coronation of the Egyptian kings they were said “to put on
2 1 8 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
the crown of Egypt like Horus, the son of Isis.” He also held the
ofﬁce of director of the sacred boats, and when he appeared under
this form he was the personiﬁcation of the governor of the world.
The hawk was an emblem of Horus, and as such it was a symbolic
device which marked the tablets of the tombs, and sometimes the
cases in which mummies were enclosed.
Hor-Hat or Hat__(Agatho-daemon) was the protecting genius of the
king, and in the form of a hawk he hovered over him while offering,
sacriﬁces in the temples. At the ceremony of coronation, where he.
appeared in the ﬁgure of a man bearing the head of a hawk, he poured
alternate emblems of life and power over the head of the monarch,
and being assisted in this ofﬁce by Nilus, Thoth, and Ombte, one of
these, placed opposite to him, poured similar emblems from another
vase over the prince who stood between them. When opposed to
Ombte he was the representative image of the Upper, as the latter was.
of the Lower, Country, and he indicated a symbolical expression of
the dominion of the king over Upper and Lower Egypt; when in
company with N ilus or Thoth, he bound the throne of the monarch
with the stalks of water-plants. This god was sometimes represented
over the facade and doorways of buildings in the form of the sun
supported by two asps with outspread vulture’s wings, and in this.
character he was considered as the guardian deity of the temples.
The attributes of Ra, Neph, and Meat—the sun, the asp, and
vulture’s wings—were sometimes united in Hat when he assumed
the character of a winged globe, and it was then that the title of
“ good genius ” properly applied to him.
N ephthys was the sister of Isis, and youngest daughter of Seb,
and was the representative type of the end, as Isis was that of the
beginning, of-all things. She was styled the “ rectrix of the lower
regions,” of which she symbolised the invisible abode of the blessed,
as Isis did the visible part of the upper world. The sistrum, which
had the face of Isis on one side and that of N ephthys on the other,
represented generation and corruption. All persons who died were
thought to pass through the inﬂuence of Nephthys in a future state 3
she was the end, but the end as contradistinguished from death.1
When she is styled the “sister goddess,” this title refers to her
relationship to Isis, whom she assisted in her mysterious character
when she was employed in offices connected with thesouls of the
dead. She also took part with Isis in paying the last rites to Osiris
when he had closed his earthly career and assumed the duties in the
Amenti as judge of the dead. Hieroglyphically her name signiﬁed
the “lady of the abode 3” and she was known by wearing on her‘
head a bowl or a basket, called neb, placed upon a house. Besides the-
triad of Osiris, Isis, and N ephthys, she formed another triad with Isis
and Harpocrates.
Thoth or Taut (Hermes, Mercury, the Moon) occupied a conspi--
cuous position in the lower world, where he held the ofﬁce of scribe,
and drew up on a tablet the record of the actions of the dead, which
*—
_1 Plutarch, Treatise on Isis and Osiris, Moralia, p. 435, c. 12, seq.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 2 I 9
he submitted to Osiris for ﬁnal judgment. He was the ever-present
divinity who bore witness to the life and conduct of men while on
earth, and kept a register of their good and evil deeds; and in this
character he was distinguished by holding, in place of the tablet, a
palm-branch in his hand, which was the emblem of the year, having
attached to it the symbol of life, and the embryonic type of man in
the form of a frog. He was the ﬁrst Hermes or the god of letters, of
which the cynocephalus was not only the hieroglyphic symbol, but
when it bore the tablet and performed the ofﬁcial functions of Thoth
it acted as the representative of that deity. In hieroglyphic language
Thoth was frequently preceded by a crescent with the phonetic name
of joh (moon) attached, which assigned to him the character of the
god Lunus, having sometimes the face of a man with a crescent on
his head supporting a disk, occasionally with the addition of an ostrich
feather. In this character he personiﬁed the beneﬁcent property of
the moon, “the regulator and dispenser of time, who presided over
the fate of man and the events of his life.” The moon was called
the “ mother of the world,” and it was represented as a female deity
when it scattered and dispersed through the air the principle of
fecundity.1 The sacriﬁce of a sow offered once a year to the moon is
supposed to have reference to the souls of men who, to make expiation
for their sins, were condemned by the recorded evidence of Thoth to
migrate into the bodies of pigs. Thoth usually appeared as a human
ﬁgure with the head of an ibis, holding a tablet and a pen or a palm-
branch in his hand. As the ibis-headed deity Thoth was called “lord
of the eight regions of the land of N o,” and he also bore the title of‘
“ twice great.” The name of the god was hieroglyphically indicated
by the ibis standing on a perch followed by a half-circle and two
lines. The ibis was particularly sacred to Thoth, and it was held in
such great veneration by the people of Egypt on account of the beneﬁt
it conferred upon the country by destroying the venomous reptiles,
that the killing of this bird was considered a capital crime, and was.
punishable with death, and those “priests who were most punctual in
the performance of the sacred rites fetched the water they used in
their puriﬁcations from some place where the ibis has been seen to
drink.” As Hermes or Mercury, Thoth represented theldeiﬁcation
of the divine intellect, the pure abstraction of the mental powers of
the deity. He was the medium of communication between the
gods and mankind, and imparted to man the highest intellectual gifts
by which he is distinguished from the rest of the animal world. He
was not only the god of letters and the patron of learning, but he is
reputed to have invented the alphabetic character, to have organised
and established rules of language, and to have given distinctive names
to many things. As the patron of elocution he was called Hermes
or the “interpreter.” He instituted the worship of the gods by
prayer and sacriﬁce, and taught men the art of curing diseases. He
instructed them in the elementary knowledge of astronomy by pointing

1 Plutarch,%Moralia,‘Treatise on Isis and Osiris, p. 450, c. 43.
2 Ibid., p. 1092.
220 _ THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
out to them the system of the stars. He gave them the ﬁrst idea of
musical harmony and the modulation and concordance of voices.
The palaestra and the lyre were musical instruments of his invention 5
and to the latter he gave three strings, which corresponded to the
three seasons of the Egyptian year—the treble struck the high note
of the hot summer, the base murmured forth the deep and strong
tunes of cold winter, and the tenor warbled in the sweet and mellow
chimes of mild spring. He is called “the measurer of this earth.”
He is said to have “ calculated the heaven and counted the stars 5” to
“have calculated the earth and counted the things which are in it.
The four genii of the Amenti who stood before the judgment-seat
of Osiris exercised an important inﬂuence in extending their protec—
tion to the departed souls who were received among the throng of
immortals found worthy to dwell in the blessed regions of the lower
world. Some particular portions of the intestines of the dead, at the
time their bodies were embalmed, were dedicated to each of them
separately, and were either deposited in alabaster vases bearing their
respective names, or they were returned into the body by the incision
in the left side through which they had been extracted, accompanied-
by the characteristic ﬁgures in wax of the four genii wrapped up in
cloth or enveloped in an aromatic composition. The stomach and
large intestines were given in charge to Amset, who held the staff and
assumed the form of the other deities. The small intestines were‘
intrusted to Hapi, who was distinguished by the head of a cynoce-
phalus ape. Smautf, who appeared in the form of a jackal, took under
his guardianship the lungs and the heart 5 and Kebenhsnof, bearing
the head of the hawk, had the care of the gall-bladder and the liver.
Their general form was that of the mummy, but they were frequently
represented as human ﬁgures in the act of walking and even carrying
the bodies of the dead.1
The Egypto-Libyans not only recognised in external forms the
symbols and types of abstract ideas and metaphysical speculations
having reference to the deiﬁed attributes of the supreme godhead, but
they spiritualised all nature, and consecrated animals and plants,
some of which they honoured as emblematic representations of divine
things, while others they worshipped as actual and real gods of an
inferior order. Divine honours were paid to a few of these throughout
all Egypt, but the sacred character of ‘the greatest number. was only
recognised within circumscribed localities, for the same animal which
was regarded with the most profound reverence in one province was an
object of execration and abhorrence in a neighbouring district. The
most extravagant expenses were incurred by curators, expressly
appointed for this purpose, for the maintenance and sumptuous enter-
tainment of these animal-gods. Their support was. partly secured
by permanent endowments, the proceeds of which were derived from
lands set apart for this object. Parents, to protect their children

1 For a more extensive and almost exhaustive study of the Egyptian pantheon‘
and mythology, the reader is referred to the great work of Sir Gardner Wilkinson
on the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 22 1
against external injurious inﬂuences, and restore them to health when
sick, made solemn vows to the gods ; and in discharge of these pious
obligations they supplied the animals, which were sacred to the deity
they invoked, with as much food as could be purchased for an amount
of silver equal to the weight of their children’s hair. They were in
all respects treated like human beings, were provided with the most
costly luxuries, which they could neither appreciate nor enjoy. Their
habitation was ﬁtted up with the most valuable ornament-a1 furniture
and was decked with the richest tapestry; and all the objects of
indulgence their natural habits suggested were constantly supplied.
Females of their own species, remarkable for their delicate form and
natural beauty, were carefully selected for their enjoyment, were fed
with the choicest food, and were objects of the most assiduous
attention. A warm bath was prepared for the daily ablution of these
sacred animals, the most precious ointments were poured over them,
and their bodies were scented with the most fragrant perfumes.
Geese were fattened to serve some of them as dainty food; meat
ﬁnely cut was thrown to the hawks, who were trained to know the
characteristic cries of those who called them to their repast; bread
soaked in milk and a certain kind of ﬁsh, expressly caught for this
purpose, were delicate viands reserved for the ichneumon and
the cat.
When one of these sacred animals died it was wrapped in linen and
carried to the embalmers in solemn procession, attended by men and
women who smote their breasts in token of grief. The body was
subjected to the embalming process by the application of the oil of
cedar and other aromatic ingredients, with the object of ensuring its
preservation. Its loss was sincerely bewailed by the people, and the
expenditure of money, lavishly squandered for the performance of the
funeral rites, was often so extravagant that the reserved funds in the
treasury of the curators were frequently insufficient to supply the
means of payment. At the death of a eat it was the usual practice
to shave the eyebrows, and a general depilation of the whole body was
the sign of mourning at the loss of a dog. All the provisions in the
house at the time the death occurred were considered unlawful food,
which no one was permitted to touch. Even in time of famine, when
human ﬂesh was devoured with the voracious greed of cannibal
appetite, these animals were hedged in with a divinity, and their ﬂesh
was held invariably sacred. Their voluntary destruction was a
sacrilege of such an atrocious character that the crime could only be
atoned for by the punishment of death; and even the accidental
killing of an ibis or a cat exposed the offender to the fury of the
populace, who instantly tore him to pieces, without the beneﬁt of a
preliminary trial.
The chief animals that were held in the highest reverence, on
account of their utility in destroying noxious reptiles and in devouring
the, putrifying carrion which infected the air with its efﬁuvia, were
the cat, the weasel, the ichneumon, the sparrow-hawk, the vulture,
the screech-owl, the stork, and the ibis. The shrew-mouse was wor—
shipped at Atribus because it was the natural enemy of rats and mice.
222 THE ARAMzEAN STOCK.
The crocodile was adored because it was the emblem of the water,
which was the primary cause of the prosperity of Egypt. It was also
the type of the beneﬁcence of the deity. At Thebes and about Lake
Moeris ‘it was fed and kept at great expense. Its head was orna-
mented with earrings, its feet with bracelets, and necklaces of gold
were suspended from its neck. It was rendered perfectly tame, and
at its death its body was embalmed with the most costly aromatics.
The wolf was held in reverence at Lycopolis, and the cynocephalus
ape at Hermopolis. The scarabaeus, from which auguries were drawn,
was dedicated to the sun, and was almost universally recognised as a
divine emblem. The asp was the symbol of royalty. Sacred cows
were fed in many towns in Egypt. The buckgoat was an object of
divine worship at Mendis. Apes and monkeys imported from
Ethiopia received divine honours, as symbolic expressions of some
deiﬁed attribute. The eagle was held sacred at Thebes, the screech-
owl at Sais, the perch at Latopolis, the carp at Lepidotum, the sea-
bream at Syene, and the meotis at Elephantis.
Among the plants that were most generally venerated the lotus held
the ﬁrst place, for it was not only a favourite emblem, but its grain
served as food to man. The sycamore-ﬁg was next in importance on
account of the nourishing fruit it yielded. The palm-branch was the
type of the year. Other plants, equally protected, were the peach, the
. tamarisk, the poppy, the papyrus, squills, absinth, and wild mustard.
N o nation of antiquity understood better than the ruling classes of
Egypt how to keep the great mass of the population in absolute sub-
jection, by virtue of a moral power that exacts obedience by inspiring
the mind with awe and reverence without doing violence to the
personal feelings of independence and self-respect. The complicated
system of the Egyptian religion and theology was so closely interwoven
with the laws of the land, that the temporal affairs of society could
not be neglected without the utter disregard of the spiritual interests,
which bound every individual to the central power, and were the
surest safeguards of the unity and independence of the nation. Every
kind of religion or superstition, whether of ancient or modern
origin, is in its nature essentially despotic 3 it takes exclusive pos-
session of the intellect, forms it after its own fashion, entangles it
in an intricate web of ceremonial forms and dogmatic Observances,
until it loses all power of resistance, abdicates its right of free and
impartial investigation, and becomes the slave of unreasoning credulity,
which, assuming the sainted character of faith, constitutes the highest
order of intellectual perfection to which the religious devotee aspires.
The Egypto-Libyans were a religious people of the most profound
convictions, and their government was in the highest degree despotic.
The one was the natural consequence of the other, and the one could
not have existed without the other. The J anus-faced religion, which
was altogether formalistic and ceremonial to the gross and vulgar mind,
and all abstraction and metaphysical theory to the speculative philo—
sopher, ruled the masses with absolute power, and trained their minds
to unconditional submission by the pomp of religious ceremonies, the
splendour of public processions, the sacred rites of temple worship,
EGYPTO-LIBYAN S. 223
and the impressive solemnities of sacriﬁcial offerings. The priesthood
were in close alliance with the monarch, who was not only at the head
of the government, but was the chief of the sacerdotal order. The
priests were the executive ofﬁcers, who carried out the laws and
administered justice; they were the virtual educators of the people;
they monopolised all the learning, and arrogated to themselves the
highest rank in the social hierarchy of Egyptian class division. They
even exercised control over the soldier class, and military regulations
were submitted to their revision. They made proper arrangements
for the celebration of public festivals, acted as grand marshals and
masters of ceremonies, and took a prominent part in all public enter-
tainments and popular assemblies. During the solemn feasts and
religious festivals it was the duty of a peculiar class of priests to clothe
the statues of the gods in sacred vestments, and make it their care
that the nature, the office, and the attribute of each deity be properly
marked out by characteristic emblems as prescribed by the sacred
books.
The most important festival of a religious character was the “ pro-
cession of shrines.” Accompanied by the statue of the god in whose
honour the festival was celebrated, and the ﬁgures of the king and his
ancestors, the great shrine, in the form of an ark or sacred boat, was
carried in grand procession by priests to whom this duty was assigned,
who supported it on their shoulders by means of staves passing
'»through metal rings which were ﬁxed to the sides of the sledge on
which it stood. It was then placed in the temple on a table or stand,
where it was made the ‘, object of a ceremonial service according to
.the prescribed ritual forms. As it reached the entrance of the
sanctuary, it was received by the officiating priest, or by the king
himself, if he was present, with every mark of veneration and respect.
‘It was decorated with fresh-gathered ﬂowers,‘ and enwreathed with
beautiful garlands. Its altars were loaded with a profusion of offer-
ings, numerous victims were sacriﬁced and propitiatory prayers were
“offered up.
Among the numerous religious festivals, one of the most remarkable
‘was the consecration of the offerings dedicated by the king to the
gods, which were carried with great pomp to the various temples
.attended by all the priests, asawell as the king, clad in robes of ceremony.
~"Some of the festivals were commemorative of legendary events. One
was emblematic of the generative principle of Khem ; 1 another was
celebrated in honour of Osiris, and that of Isis, which was held
“during harvest time, was religiously solemnised by the people, who
{laid the offerings of the ﬁrst-fruits of the earth on her altars, uttering
'at the same time the most dolesome lamentations. The beneﬁcent
inﬂuence of the sun was also gratefully acknowledged by appropriate
ceremonies. Incense was burnt as a propitiatory offering three times a
day. The bright ﬂame of resin greeted its rising, the sweet odour of
myrrh announced its meridian splendour, and a mixture called kuphc'
diffused aromatic fragrance at its setting.

1 Herodotus, ii. c. 58, seg.
224 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
Many of the great festivals were of a more secular character. The
king in person presided at the celebration of the grand assemblies or
panegyries held in the great halls of the principal temples, a position
which conferred the highest honour, and which men of the most
exalted dignity and the greatest eminence only could ﬁll. The
coronation of the king was at once an imposing ceremony and an
important national event. The monarch wore the cap over which the
double crown of Egypt was placed, and a priest clad in leopard’s skin
poured the oil over him in the presence of Thoth, Her-Hat, and Ombte-
or N ilus, after which he received the emblems of majesty from the
gods.
On certain public holidays the royal palace and the ofﬁces were
closed; no business of any kind was transacted on days which were
considered unlucky, and the birthday of Set was regarded as a day of
such evil portent that all public affairs were suspended, and the king
even abstained from every kind of food until the dawn of the evening.
Fasts were instituted for purposes of puriﬁcation 5 they were
enjoined as a religious duty, and were strictly observed not only by
the king but by the priesthood. During this period of humiliation
they renounced all pleasures and worldly enjoyments. The luxuries
of the table, the indulgence of the bath, the use of perfumes, and the
gratiﬁcation of the passions, were all intermitted with a becoming
spirit of self-denial.
The festival most universally celebrated was the aniversary of the
N iloa, which had for its object the invocation of the inundation offered
to the tutelary deity of the Nile. About the period of the summer solstice
men and women assembled in great numbers in the principal towns
of their respective provinces, and indulged in feasting, music, and
dancing while witnessing the solemn exercises of the occasion. Sacred
hymns were sung, and ceremonial services were performed in honour
of the river-god, and that none might fail to invoke his aid and make
suitable returns for the blessings which he was about to confer, a
wooden statue of the deity was carried by the priests in grand pro—
cession through the villages.
The harvest-home was one of the most interesting of the rural
festivities, and was a day of universal rejoicing among the Egyptian
peasantry. It commemorated the close of the labours of the year, when
the land had to be prepared for the future crop and the fertilising-
action of the inundation. .
Even the amusements of the Egypto-Libyans were invested with a
religious sanction. On many public occasions athletic games were
celebrated in honour of the gods. Wrestling and gymnastic exercises
were much practised; and to encourage the young to engage in these-
manly sports, prizes, consisting of costly cloaks or skins, were offered
to the victorious champion.
One of the few religious rites that had a personal application was
that of circumcision. It was not only considered a religious act, but
a badge of origin and nationality, and had been practised among the
Egypto-Libyans from time immemorial. It was an observance which
had been transmitted to them by their Aramaean ancestors, and was.
_ EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 225
an obligation universally binding upon all who did not wish to be
classed with the “uncircumcised,” and be branded with the stigma
attached to the “impure race of foreigners.”
The Egypto-Libyans were extremely credulous and superstitious;
the direction of the most important undertakings was determined by
the observance of omens, the indications of auguries, and the predic-
tions of oracles.1 A lucky or unlucky omen cleared up the doubt, or
removed all misgivings, about contracting a matrimonial alliance,
building a house, or any other event of personal interest. The
physical phenomena peculiar to the day on which a person was born
were sufficient to indicate by what character he would be dis-
tinguished, when and in what manner he would die, and what his
destiny in this world would be. From the careful inspection of the
entrails of animals, expressly sacriﬁced for this purpose, favourable or
unfavourable auguries were drawn before a great war or any other
important public enterprise was undertaken. Oracles were consulted
on all important occasions, not only to search into the mysterious
dispensation of the future, but to ascertain the occurrence of some
change or convulsion in the domain of nature. They were resorted
to to receive clear intimations as to the scarcity or abundance of
future harvests, the sudden commotion of an earthquake, the rising
of a comet, the fatality of a deluge, or the destructive agency of
epidemic diseases. They were also made subservient to more vulgar
ends. They pointed out the means for the recovery of stolen goods,
and answered the purpose of police spies and informers in criminal
prosecutions.
The oracle of the most widespread reputation was that of Ammun,
whose oracular shrine was of great antiquity. It was not only
approached with the most profound respect by the Egypto-Libyans,
but it was honoured by missions from foreign lands, who came to
solicit an answer to some momentous question of the highest
national importance. There were various modes in which different
oracles were consulted. At Aphaca, near a temple dedicated to
Venus, there was a lake into which the applicants threw presents,
the selection of which was left to their own choice. If the offerings
disappeared by sinking, the response of the goddess was to be inter-
preted as favourable; but if they ﬂoated on the surface, it was con-
sidered an unfavourable omen.
The Egypto-Libyans were very religious, surpassing all men in the
honours they paid to the gods.2 The Greeks had borrowed from

1 The days of the year are marked as lucky or unlucky, according as they com-
memorate events in the legendary history of the war between the powers of light
and those of darkness. Whatever was seen on some days was sure to be of a
prosperous omen; on other days the sight of a ﬂame or of a rat, the touch of a
woman or the getting into a boat, might prove fatal. “ Do not go out at even-
tide.” “The serpent that comes forth at even, whoever sees him his eye is
injured on the spot.” “ Do not go out by night; R5. is coming forth on his way
to Hai-ren-sen.” “ Do not pronounce the name of Set aloud.” Renouf’s
Lectures, p. 158.
2 Herodotus, ii. 37.
226 THE ARAM‘ZEAN STOCK.
them the art of predicting the future in the temples 3 they ﬁrst intro-
duced the solemnities of religious festivals and instituted a regular
mode of worship, approaching the deity with reverential submission
and a subdued spirit of dependence. Their love and gratitude for the
divine favours were evinced by offerings and sacriﬁces, and their humility
and spirit of resignation were manifested by prayers and genuﬂexions.
“When the king or priest approached the statues of the gods, to invoke
them in prayer or to present offerings on their altars, he stood up with
uplifted hands, or knelt on one knee, with one hand upon the breast 3
or he assumed a still more humble attitude, with his head bowed
down, holding one hand to the level of the knee, while the other was
sometimes placed over the mouth. The most ancient as well as the
most universal oﬁ‘ering presented to the gods was incense, to which
herbs, ﬂowers, and fruits were added. Incense was burned in all the
temples, and on every occasion of devotional service. Sometimes it
was the only offering, but generally it was accompanied by a libation
of wine. It was of different qualities and was composed of various
ingredients. The compound mixture called kulehz' was made of sixteen
different and altogether dissimilar substances, such as honey, wine,
raisins, cypress, myrrh, resin, asphaltum, sesilis, stoenanthus, aspalathus,
saffron, dock (i), juniper (il), cardamum, and aromatic reed. The
censer was a cup of bronze containing the burning coal. It was
supported by a long handle adorned at its upper end with the head of
a hawk, and having a small cup attached at halfway distance from each
extremity, which held the pastils that were thrown into the ﬁre. But
animal sacriﬁces formed the most conspicuous part of temple worship.
Previous to the acceptance of the sacriﬁce the victim was closely
examined by an order of priests called sphragz'stce. Red oxen only
were selected, and if a single black or white hair was found they were
rejected as unﬁt for sacred uses. As cows were held in higher esteem
than any other domestic animal, the sacriﬁce of heifers was strictly
prohibited. Among fowl, geese were the most common, as well as the
most acceptable, offering. The victim was bound and slain on the
altar by having its throat cut, and the blood was allowed to ﬂow over
the table of sacriﬁce or on the ground 3 the carcass was then placed
entire or in divided portions before the statues of the gods. Wine,
oil, beer, milk, cakes, grain, and ointments were always grateful offer-
ings. Chaplets and wreaths of ﬂowers often entwined the statues of
the deities, and they were frequently presented as marks of reverence
upon their altars. Of vegetable productions, gourds, onions, and
radishes were the most acceptable. Of fruits, which were presented in
baskets or on trays, the sycamore-ﬁg and grapes were most esteemed.
Nor were the pelf and dross of the world less highly appreciated as
valuable contributions to enrich the treasury of the temples. Rich
vestments, necklaces, bracelets, jewellery, and other ornamental trinkets,
vases of gold, silver, and porcelain, bags ﬁlled with gold, tables of
precious metals and rare woods, and gifts of the most costly descrip-
tion, were presented as freewill offerings to the gods. The payment
of vows, the return of thanks for divine favours, the expression of
gratitude for having escaped some imminent danger, the consciousness
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 227
‘of’ guilt, the trials and hardships of misfortune, all excited a spirit of
liberality in the heart of the devout worshipper, which was manifested
by dedicating a propitiatory, eucharistic, or expiatory sacriﬁce, and
addressing a votive prayer to the patron and contemplar gods.
All the details of the service of the temple and the ministration at
the altar were performed by the priesthood, who formed an exclusive
class, and were, so to say, the aristocracy of Egyptian society. They
were the conﬁdential advisers and responsible counsellors of the
king; and as they alone were learned in the law as contained in
the sacred books, they were the only persons competent to act as
judges, and, consequently, they presided over all judicial tribunals,
they ﬁlled the highest and most important offices, and the admi-
nistration of the revenues and the management of the affairs of
the government were placed under their control. Their intercourse
with the king was most intimate, they were at once his household
companions, his guardians and protectors. They watched over his
moral conduct, aided him in the performance of his duties, and guided
him by the light of their experience. As they were supposed to
possess the mysterious knowledge of divine truths, and to have pene-
trated the secrets of the higher spheres of astronomical science, it
was taken for granted that they were gifted with the faculty
of predicting the future, of being able to foretell the approach of an
impending calamity, or announce, in advance, the successful issue of
an important enterprise. They not only enjoyed the highest con-
sideration, and were treated with the utmost respect on account of
their ‘superior learning and purity of life, but they were the beneﬁciaries
of important privileges which were shared by all the members of their
family. One-third of all the arable land of Egypt was assigned to
them as their exclusive property, free of all duties. N 0 part of their
income was applied to defray their personal expenses, for they were
exempt from every species of taxation, and were supplied from the
public stores with a stated allowance of corn, in addition to all other
necessaries required for their support. Their moral conduct was
exemplary; they were as remarkable for their private virtues as for
their religious zeal and piety, and their inﬂuence was highly beneﬁcial
to the moral training and discipline of the masses. In their mode of
living they were simple and abstemious, they never indulged in the
luxuries of the table, nor did they ever lose their power of self-control
in convivial excesses. Their food was substantial, but plain; it was
restricted in quantity to a stated allowance, and much attention was
paid to its quality. The meat of swine was considered an abomination,
and the use of ﬁsh was proscribed. Beans were held in great abhorrence,
and peas, lentils, garlic, leeks, and onions were articles of food never
served up at the table of the priests. They were not forbidden to
drink wine, but they never overstepped the strict limits of moderation.
They performed regular ablutions twice during the day and twice
during the night, and the more rigid deemed it an act of merit to
bathe in the water which the ibis had tasted, which was supposed to
be conclusive proof of its purity. They carried their habit of cleanli-
ness to such an extent as to shave their head and their whole body
228 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
every third day. They were disciplined to abstinence by frequent
fasts, which lasted from seven to forty-two days, for which they pre-
pared themselves by a grand puriﬁcation. During these solemn
periods of self-mortiﬁcation they abstained from animal food, from herbs.
and vegetables, and renounced the enjoyment of animal passions.
The priests were divided into different classes according to their
ofﬁce, and their grade was determined by the functions they exercised.
The high priest was the chief of the sacerdotal order 5 he ﬁlled the
most honourable position, and held the highest rank, and only assumed
a subordinate capacity when the king claimed his priestly prerogative
and offered sacriﬁce in the temple. While the priests of the great-
gods commanded much higher respect and reverence than those of the
inferior gods, the class who, by their superior intellectual powers and
their comprehensive education, ensured universal esteem, and were
treated with the highest consideration, were those who joined to the
sacred ofﬁce of a priest that of a prophet. They were thoroughly versed
in the knowledge contained in the sacred books ; they had studied the
civil as well as the religious laws; they were familiar with the cere-
monial forms of worship, and were competent to carry into effect the
disciplinary regulations of the order. They not only presided over
the temple and directed its ritual service, but the priestly revenues
were intrusted to ‘their management.v They had the exclusive right
to regulate all spiritual matters, to announce the will and threaten the
wrath of the gods when the public safety or the public interest
required their interposition. Unless carried by the king himself, it
was their privilege to bear in solemn procession the holy hydm'a or
vase; and when it was proposed to introduce important changes in
the religious laws, they were always the ﬁrst to be consulted in con
junction with the chief priests, and their opinions were always received
with much deference, and were duly weighed and considered. 1
The priesthood was not exclusively conﬁned to the male sex, there
were numerous priestesses attached to the temples bearing different
titles, which indicated the nature of the ofﬁce they held and the
service they performed. Among these the pellz'ces of Ammun occupied
the ﬁrst rank, and the honour ' conferred by the appointment was so
highly appreciated that the wives and daughters of nobles, and even
princesses and queens, were enrolled among the illustrious names of
this order. Another class, of similar importance, was generally com—
posed of the daughters and wives of the priests. They were also
attached to the service of Ammun, and held the sacred sistra before
the altar of that deity in religious ceremonies or some other solemn
occasions.
The ordinary dress of the priests, when not ofﬁciating in the temple
or performing some religious ceremony, was plain and unostentatious.
They were prohibited from wearing undergarments made of woollen
stuffs, but were permitted to cover their shoulders with woollen cloaks
as a protection in cold and inclement weather. Their robes were
generally of linen, but cotton dresses were occasionally worn. Their
feet were protected by sandals of papyrus and palm-leaves. Their bed
was either a skin spread on the ground, or a low frame of woven palm_
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 229
leaves covered with a mat or skin, the head being supported on a half
cylinder of alabaster, or of sycamore, tamarisk, or acacia wood, some-
times elegantly formed and ornamented with coloured hieroglyphics.
Their robes of ceremony were grand and imposing; each grade was
distinguished by a peculiar costume. Their rank and office were
indicated by various insignia, and necklaces, bracelets, garlands, and
other ornaments were the badges of honour temporarily conferred
upon the priest who conducted the ceremonial worship of the temple.
The high priest was clad in a mantle of an entire leopard skin when
superintending the immolation of the victim, presenting the oﬂerings
at the altar or at funerals, or when engaged in the important duty of
anointing the king.
. But the religion of the Egypto-Libyans was not conﬁned to cere-
monial forms of worship, they were simply the visible outward signs
of the inner life of the soul ; they were intended, in the performance,
to exemplify the virtue of obedience to the moral and civil laws by
which society was governed. Their morals, which were of a very high
order, formed an integral part of their religion, and the one was
inseparable from the other. The maxims of Ptahotep, which date
back to the age of the pyramids, inculcate the study of wisdom, the
duty to parents and to superiors; they teach respect for property,
extol the advantages of charitableness, peaceableness, and content; of
liberality, humility, chastity, sobriety, truthfulness, and justice. On
the other hand, they show the wickedness and folly of disobedience,
strife, arrogance, and pride; of slothfulness, intemperance, unchastity,
and other vices.1
In a panegyric of the departed, put into the mouth of Antef, it is
said: “ Not a little child did I injure. Not a widow did I oppress.
N ot a herdsman did I ill-treat. There was no beggar in my days ; no one
starved in my time. And when the years of famine came, I ploughed
all the lands of the province to its northern and southern boundaries,
feeding its inhabitants and providing them food. There was no
starving person in it, and I made the widow as though she possessed
a husband.” Of another distinguished personage it is said, that in
administering justice “he made no distinction between a stranger and
those known to him. He was the father of the weak, the support of
him who had no mother. Feared by the ill-deer, he protected the poor ;
he was the avenger of him whom a more powerful one had deprived
of his property. He was the husband of the widow, the refuge of the
orphan. The aﬁ’iicted are rejoiced when they are known to him.”2
In theBook of the Dead the works of charity are generally spoken
of in these terms : “Doing that which is right and hating that which
is wrong. I was bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to
the naked, a refuge to him that was in want. That which I did to
him, the great Lord has done unto me.” “ I was one who did that
which was pleasing to his father and his mother, the joy of his
brethren, the friend of his companion, noble-hearted to all those
of his city. I gave bread to the hungry. I received . . . on the

1 Renouf’s Lectures, p. 75. 2 De Rougé’s Notices des Monuments, p. 88.
230 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
road; my doors were open to those who came from without and gave?
them wherewith to refresh themselves.” 1 In the chapter of the
Book of the Dead recorded in the Turin manuscript it is said: “I
have brought you law and subdued for you iniquity. I am not a.
doer of fraud and iniquity against men. I am not a doer of that
which is crooked in place of that which is right. I am not cognisant
of iniquity; I am not a doer of evil. I do not force a labouring man
to do more than his daily task. I do not calunmiate a servant to his
master. I do not cause hunger, I do not cause weeping. I am not a
murderer. I do not give orders to murder privily. I am not guilty of
fraud against any one. I am not a falsiﬁer of the measures of the
temples. I do not add to the weight of the scale. I do not falsify
the indicator of the balance. I do not withhold milk from the mouth
of the suckling.” 2
The funeral rites of the Egypto-Libyans were the most solemn and
impressive 3 they were real homilies preached to the living that could
not fail to inﬂuence their conduct and impress their mind with the
awful retribution consequent upon the violation of their moral and
religious duties. Their mourning for the dead was not merely an
outward ceremony, but it was an overpowering, irresistible feeling of
desolation and uncontrollable grief that took possession of their soul
and convulsed their whole being. At the death of a near relative
their demonstrations of grief were not conﬁned to mere words or
shallow tears, but the females of the family, as a mark of the most
abject humiliation, covered their face and head with mud, and while
the corpse was stretched out motionless in the house, they ran out in
the streets as if frantic with despair, and with their bosom exposed
they smote their breast and uttered the most doleful lamentations.
Here they were joined by friends and relations, who swelled the chorus
of dismal voices, so that the air resounded with their lugubrious cries.
The men, in smaller number, with their tunics girded below the waist,
wandered through the streets, striking their breasts, and throwing
mud and dust upon their heads. Hired mourners poured forth their
mimic sorrow in measured words of praise, eulogistic of the life and
actions of the deceased, and added their monotonous wailings to the
plaintive utterances of the real mourners. Ordinary funerals were
conducted in a very simple manner 3 there was neither pageantry nor
display in escorting the dead to their ﬁnal resting-place. The pro‘
cession consisted of the mourners and the priests 3 the female mourners,
who had their heads bound with ﬁllets, marched in front, and were
followed on foot by the most intimate friends of the deceased. The
hearse, on which the body was placed, was conveyed on a sledge drawn
by two or three oxen to the common burial-ground, where a tomb was
prepared for its reception. An ox or a calf, destined to be offered up
as a sacriﬁce to the departed spirit of the revered object of affection
and endearment, attended the procession. '
In paying the last respect to deceased nobles and grandees, the
obsequies were conducted with much parade, and the procession was

1 Bergman's Hieroglyphische Schriften. 2 Renouf’s Lectures, p. 195;
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 23 I
organised on a scale of magniﬁcence commensurate with the dignity
and the social position of the lamented dead. The line of march was
opened by servants, who carried tables loaded with fruit, cakes, ﬂowers,
wine, and other liquids, as well as vases of ointment. Some were
burdened with chairs, wooden tablets, and napkins, while others took
charge of young geese and calves for sacriﬁce. Next followed men
with a kerchief or napkin on their shoulder, who bore along the closets
in which the mummy of the deceased and those of his ancestors had
been kept, accompanied by others who carried daggers, bows, sandals,
and fans. Then came a charioteer following on foot a pair of horses
yoked to a car, which was preceded by a chariot, a table of oﬂ°erings,
fauteuils, cruets, and boxes. Then were exhibited the most precious
articles of luxury: vases of gold placed on a table, images of the
ancestors of the deceased, arms, fans, a sceptre, signets, collars, and
necklaces. These were followed by men of the priestly order, who
were the bearers of the sacred boat and the mysterious eye of Osiris,
personifying the god of stability. The succeeding divisions of the
processional ranks were more solemn and funereal in their character.
A number of men held in their hands images of blue pottery repre-
senting the deceased in the form of Osiris, and the symbolic bird, the
recognised emblem of the departed soul. Vases holding ﬂowers, and
‘bottles containing libations ﬁxed to the end of staves, were borne in
front of a throng of female mourners, who had their hair entwined
with ﬁllets, striking their breasts, throwing dust upon their heads, and
rending the air with the shrill sounds of lamentation and the mono-
tonous chant of ﬂattering eulogy. The hearse which held the sarco-
phagus was placed on a sacred boat, being in charge of a priest and
the nearest female relatives; while the men, closing the procession,
followed behind and attested their attachment to the deceased by
exhibiting the usual tokens of grief. As soon as the procession reached
the sacred lake, the coiﬁn was deposited in the boat of the dead (Iran's),
which was conveyed by a sailing craft of much larger capacity to the
opposite banks. Here the cofﬁn was transferred to another boat ex~
pressly provided for the occasion, under the direction of the Egyptian
Charon, while the forty-two judges of the dead, sitting in a semicircle
near the banks, awaited its arrival, and they were ready to listen to
any charges that might be preferred against the deceased; and if the
accusation was substantiated by sufficient evidence that he led an evil
life, and was derelict in his social and religious duties, the judges,
uninﬂuenced by fear or favour, pronounced their verdict accordingly,
and the body was deprived of the privilege of burial. But the severest
penalties were incurred by parties who, instigated by malice or some
other sinister design, attempted to blacken the character of a good
man, and failed to establish the facts upon which the accusation was
founded. As soon as the relatives became convinced that there was
no accuser, their lamentations instantly ceased, and they were not
sparing in their praises, placing in the foreground the most prominent-
virtues of the deceased. The refusal of funeral rites to the dead was
considered by'the surviving relatives as the greatest dishonour. It
stained the memory of their departed friend with indelible disgrace ;
’"~'4= ‘bx--“W
232 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
he was not only denied admittance to the mansions of the blessed, but
his soul was doomed, for a time at least, to take up its abode in the
body of some vile animal until sufﬁciently puriﬁed by this purgatorial
transmigration, and, aided by sacriﬁcial offerings to the gods and the
prayers of the priests, he was deemed worthy to reassume his human
form, that his body might be consigned to the tomb of his ancestors.
When arrived at the tomb sacriﬁces were offered, incense was burned,
and lustral water was poured out by priests in honour of the 71:02, the
living image of the soul, which had returned to the deity, the original
source from whence it came. The body was bound up with Thmei,
the goddess of justice, that it might more closely resemble Osiris, the
ruler of the Amenti, to whom offerings were made and invocations
were addressed by the priests and the members of the family in the
name of the deceased. Whether the mummies were kept in the
house, or were consigned to sepulchral chambers, they were enclosed
in a case provided with wooden folding-doors, and were placed on a
sledge 5 and whenever offerings of ﬂowers, cakes, and fruits, with
incense and libations, were presented on the altar in honour of the
dead, they were drawn by means of a rope to the temple, where oil
‘was poured over the mummy’s head.
The Egypto-Libyans believed that the disembodied personality of
each individual was provided with a material form and tangible sub-
stance. His ka had a body of its own 5 his shadow, which was con-
sidered an important part of his personal self, was restored to him.
His mouth, his hands, his limbs, his heart and other vital organs,
became necessary parts of his revived second self. In his journey to
kemcter, or the lower world, he had to pass ﬁfteen colonnaded halls
guarded by genii who were armed withswords 5 he had to encounter
gigantic and venomous serpents 5 he had’ to contend against gods with
names signiﬁcant of death and destruction 5 he was bound to pass un-
scathed waters and atmospheres of ﬂames. But having placed himself
under the protection of Osiris, nothing can prevail against him 5 he
breathes the ﬁery atmosphere and drinks the waters of ﬂame, and he
lives in peace with the fearful gods that preside over these terrible
abodes. But he was doubly armed to ward off all danger. He was
distinguished for good works, he had sufficient knowledge of things
divine, andhis conduct was in strict conformity with the standard of
law by which he was to be judged. Besides this, he was protected
by amulets and talismans. To these he pointed, crying out, “Back,
crocodile of the west, who livest upon the Achemu! . . . There is
an asp upon me 5 I shall not be given to thee ! dart not thy ﬂame at
me!” The most important of these talismans was the scarabaeus,
which had the thirtieth chapter of the Book of the Dead inscribed
upon it. The rubric directs it to be placed upon the heart of the
deceased person. The names of the gods were sacred words possessed
of magic power; and a certain chapter of the Book of the Dead written
upon the coffin is of such great efficacy “that the deceased will come
forth every day that he pleases, and enter his house without being
prevented 5 there shall be given to him bread and beer, and ﬂesh upon
the tables of Ra.” Or, if the same chapter is recited over him, “he
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 233
and it is from its gate that the sun comes forth in the east.
will go forth over the earth, and he will pass through every kind of
ﬁre, no evil being able to hurt him.”
The soul which has successfully passed the terrible judgment, under
the protection of Osiris, enters into a new life by an assimilation with
the god of the Amenti. Here the blessed enjoys an existence which
is only a cogmterpart of that of earth. He cats and drinks and satisﬁes
all hisphy 'cal wants; his bread is made of the corn of Fe, and the
beer he drin ‘s is made from the red corn of the Nile. He is feasting
on the ﬂesh of cattle and fowl, and refreshing waters are poured out
to him under the boughs of sycamores which shade him from the heat.
His food is provided from the storehouse‘ of the gods; he cats from
the table of Osiris and Ristat, and from the tables of the sungod Ra.
His drink is milk and wine; cakes and ﬂesh are furnished him from
the divine abode of Anubis. He washes his feet in silver basins
sculptured fb/v Pthah, the inventor of the arts ; he breathes the sweet
odours of ﬂowers ; he~ cultivates ﬁelds in the land of Aarru and Hotep,
where the height of the corn is seven cubits, and that of the ears two
cubits.’ This abode of bliss is surrounded by a wall of steel (shy),
The
happy dead has unimpeded powers of locomotion, he has the range
of the whole universe. He assumes various forms according to his
pleasure or that of his ha. He appears under the disguise of a turtle-
dove, of the serpent Satu, of the bird Bennu, of the crocodile Sebek,
of the god Pthah, of a golden hawk, of the chief of the principal gods,
of a soul, of a lotus-ﬂower, and of a heron.1 The wicked are subjected
to a second death, a true eternal death; they die eternally, they are
ever dying ; but they are not annihilated, they continue to exist amidst
uncountable tortures, and they return to the earth in the form of some
unclean animal, or they are ranked among the bad genii to inﬂict
injury upon mankind; and they can only be rendered harmless by
terrible formulas of conjuration.2
The tombs, pa t’etu, which were called eternal dwelling-places, were
divided into three compartments. The chamber above ground was
entered by a door which appears to have always remained open, and
this was the only part accessible to those who visited the hallowed
place. The walls were richly decorated with pictures, which were
representations of the entire domestic and social life of the period;
some related to agriculture, or to the trades and occupations of the
people, accompanied by inscriptions, the names of men and animals,
with descriptive titles written over them. Scraps of dialogues of a
rather trivial character were sometimes added. This apartment con-
tained a tablet which was always facing to the east, and at the foot of
it was a table for the offerings, made of granite, limestone, or alabaster.
In the interior of the masonry was a corridor called serdale, which was
‘ornamented with statues; it could only be reached through a small
aperture, through which the smoke of the incense was conveyed to
the statues that were concealed from sight by the partition walls. A

i 1 Renouf’s Lectures, p. 179. 2 De Rougé, Conference, p. 20.
1"’ »"-"v~.1.‘.:‘na\- are '
.234 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
pit sunk in the ground communicated with the sepulchral vault hewn
out in the rock, or constructed of brick or stone, which was from
twenty to seventy feet deep, and here the sarcophagus'of the dead
, was deposited. It was sufficiently capacious for the reception of
husband and wife, and they were always represented with their arms
round each. other’s waist, or enclasping each other’s neck. Children
were generally buried in the same tomb with their parents. The-
vault was closed by a door secured by bars or bolts, to which a lock
was ﬁxed protected by a seal of clay, upon which was stamped the
impress of the signet of the proprietor. An endowment was always.
set apart to provide for the “celebration of propitiatory services, as well
as for keeping the tomb in good repair. 3
Property in a tomb could only be acquired by purchase, and the-
proceeds of the sale were the perquisites of the priests. A sufficient
number was always prepared in advance, ready to be assigned to any
applicant, and the family name was added to the usual inscriptions at
‘short notice.
The permanence of the tomb was the primary object in constructing‘
the houses of the dead 3 and in the building of the pyramids this
object has been attained to its fullest extent. Much importance was
attached to the continuance of religious ceremonies and to the prayers-
of the passers-by.1 A father had no greater desire than to leave a son
“that may be established in his seat after him,” who would perform
the funeral rites, or have them performed in his name, “that he-
might ﬂourish in the children of his children.”
The Egypto-Libyans had acquired great skill in the art of embalm‘
ing, so that they might preserve for an indeﬁnite period of time not
only the memory but the mortal remains of their deceased relatives,
and thus keep alive the love and reverence for their departed ancestors,
which forms a prominent part of their religion. The embalmers were-
a professional class, and the proper performance of their duties required
long practice and much experience. The surviving relatives of the
deceased selected one of the three methods employed corresponding-
with their wealth, their rank and dignity. The most honourable
and most expensive mode of embalmment was that in which the
' mummied form was made to resemble Osiris. In this process a hooked
instrument of iron was introduced into the nostrils, and the brain was
gradually brought away in small fragments 3 or a solvent was injected,
and by this means it was drawn off in a ﬂuid state. Sometimes the.
brain was left, or the cavity was ﬁlled up with a bituminous prepara-
tion and a fragrant resin. The length of the incision was then-
marked out between the breast-bone and the ribs of the left side by

1 Inscription over the lintel of a tomb: “A royal table of propitiation grant
Anubis, who dwells within the divine house. May sepulture be granted in the
nether world in the land of the divine Menti (Amenti), the ancient, the good, the-
great, to him (the departed) who is faithful to the great god; may he advance
upon the blissful paths upon which those advance who are faithful-to the great
god. May funeral oblations be paid to him at the beginning of the year, on the
feast of Tehuti,” &c. Rcnouf’s Lectures, p. 130. a
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 2 3 51
the! scribe, who was the chief of the embalmers. As soon as the
parachz'stes had made the cut with a sharp ﬂint they ﬂed, for their
service was so odious that they were pursued with curses and stones
by the bystanders. All the viscera, except the heart and kidneys,
were withdrawn through the opening 5 the interior was ﬁlled up with
myrrh, cassia, and resinous aromatics, and the body was steeped in a
solution of natron. The intestines, after having been carefully
washed, were either returned to the abdominal cavity or they were
separately'wrapped in linen impregnated with asphaltum, but most
commonly they were deposited in four vases dedicated to the four-
genii of the Amenti.
The political relations of the people of Egypt were as nicely marked
out and as ﬁrmly established as their religious system. All the details
were accurately determined, and stringent regulations were introduced
to carry them into execution. The whole country was divided into-
Upper and Lower Egypt, both being governed by the same monarch,
who at his corona-tion assumed the title of “lord of the two regions ”
or the “two worlds.” Memphis and Thebes were recognised as
capitals of equal rank, and both possessed equal privileges. The
Upper as well as the Lower Country was subdivided into 72077263 or‘
districts, under the control of provincial governors, whose duty it was
to attend to the management of the lands and to all affairs of internal
administration.
The political and social division of the population was equally dis,
tinct and well-deﬁned. Class distinction was graduated with much
nicety, though it' never developed itself into an artiﬁcial system of
castes, whose perpetuation was secured by the enjoyment of exclusive
privileges transmitted from father to son in uninterrupted succession.
The sacerdotal orders held the ﬁrst rank in the social hierarchy, which
included not only the pontiffs or chief priests and all the various.
grades of inferior priests—the regularly—appointed ministerial functions
aries of the deities—but all the subordinate ofﬁcers who were selected
from the priestly order, and whose duty it was to superintend the
administrative and secular affairs of the temples, and act in the capacity
of scribes, magistrates, and judges, to carry into eﬁ‘ect the established
laws of the state. To this class belonged those who claimed to exere
cise prophetic functions: the hierophants, who officiated during the
ceremonial service of the mysteries; the hierogrammates or scribes,
who kept the sacred records; the basilico-grammates, who acted as
secretaries to the king; the sphmgz’sz‘ce, whose ofﬁce it was to examine
the victims and aﬁix a seal to them previous to their being offered up
as a sacriﬁce; the lzz'erophori, who were the bearers of the sacred
emblems in the religious processions 3 the pteroplzor-i, who carried the
ﬁabella and fans when they accompanied the statues of the gods on
occasions of solemn public festivals ; the hierostoli, who had charge of
the sacred robes and had access to the adytum to clothe the statues of
the gods 3 the doctors, who were skilled in the art of embalming ; the
prcecones or pastophori, who were the keepers of the sacred animals;
the hieroloatomz', comprising the industrial class and artists of the
priestly order; the masons, sacred sculptors, draughtsmen, beadles,
2 36‘ THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
sprinklers of water 5 the apominaz', who drove away the ﬂies 5 and the
other menial subordinates employed in the temple.1
The military class held the second rank after the priests. Their
position in society was highly honourable, for all the nobles were
either of the military or priestly order, and even the king might have
been selected from the military class. One-third of all the land of
Egypt was set apart for their exclusive use, and to each soldier twelve
arourz'cs (10,000 square cubits) of land were allowed, exempt from all
taxes and tribute? The greatest portion of the soldiers of which the
army was composed were engaged in agricultural pursuits when not
in active service, and lived in the district where their land was situated.
> They were thus relieved from the tedium of idleness of a soldier’s life,
were trained to industrious habits 5 and providing the means for their
own support, the state was at no expense to maintain them in time of
peace. They were not permitted to follow the sedentary occupations
of the mechanic arts, as utterly incompatible with manly activity, and
as unbecoming to the honoured profession of the warrior. Field
sports and gymnastic exercises were considered as most conducive to
the development of their physical powers, and mock-ﬁghts, wrestling,
leaping, and cudgelling called into play the exercise of strength and
agility, and contributed to their amusement and diversion. The'pro-
fession of arms, being an hereditary privilege, was enjoyed exclusively
by the military class 5 transmitted from father to son, it was an addi-
tional incitement to the soldiers to exert themselves to the utmost in
the defence of their country, and contribute, by their good conduct on
the ﬁeld of battle, to increase its power and'enlarge its dominions.
In the same class with the soldiers were ranked those who, by their
industry, created the wealth and advanced the prosperity of the
country—the farmers and husbandmen, vwho tilled the soil for the
production of materials necessary for food and clothing 5 the gardeners,
who attended to the orchards to furnish a supply of delicious fruits 5
the huntsman who killed the game that supplied the table with a
variety of meats; and the boatsmen who, as common carriers, facili—
tated the distribution and sale of the products of the soil and other
articles of commerce.
The third class was composed of those who were devoted to indus-
trial and commercial pursuits. Every artisan was conﬁned to his own
trade, such as he had inherited from a long line of ancestors; and
while he was not permitted to encroach upon the franchises of others,
he was protected in his own rights, and by this means every branch
of the mechanic arts was carried to the highest state of perfection.
Among the most noted artiﬁcers were the braziers, gold and silver
smiths, workers in leather, including the operation of tanning, weavers
of linen and cotton stuffs, and every other kind of handicraft requiring
dexterous manipulation. Of the more laborious trades builders,
carpenters, and masons formed a part of this class. Among artists

1 The names of the sacerdotal officers were preserved by Greek historians, who
have named them in the Greek language 5 but their Egyptian name is unknown.
2 Herodotus, ii. 168. '
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 2 37
of the third class, sculptors and musicians were the most prominent.
Those directly engaged in commerce or connected with business pur-
suits were tradesmen, shopkeepers, public weighers, and notaries.
Every commodity that was sold or bought by weight passed through
the hands of the public weigher, who set up his scales in the street or
market-place, which were adjusted upon the strictest principles of
honesty ; and the weight having been marked down by the notary, the
bargain was considered as concluded and was binding upon the buyer
and seller. The value of silver and gold, which constituted the
medium of exchange, was also determined by weight.
The fourth class was made up of the common people,1 including
not only labourers and servants, but all those minor occupations of a
low order which required but little skill. The ﬁshermen were mostly
congregated in the‘market towns, where they disposed of their supplies
to consumers. They procured their ﬁsh by means of the drag-net, of
an oblong form with wooden ﬂoats attached to the upper margin and
weighted with lead on the lower side. The fowlers were engaged in
the special branch of business of hatching the eggs of fowls and geese
by artiﬁcial heat, without previous incubation of the mother bird.
They were very skilful in their trade, and supplied an abundance of
every variety of poultry at all seasons. The poulterers, who lived in
the country or the villages, fattened fowl for daily consumption, not
only for private use, but to be distributed as rations to the priests
and the soldiers, and even to furnish the king’s table at government
expense. Poultry of every description was also reared by them for
the service of thetemple and for the use of the sacred animals. They
. caught wild fowlsin clap-nets ; some of these being salted and pre—
served in earthenware vases, while others were exposed in the shop
for immediate sale. The pastors, who belonged to this class, were
divided into oxherds, shepherds, goatsherds, and swineherds. ‘They
watched over and protected the herds and ﬂocks of the wealthy land
proprietors while grazing in their pastures, and supplied a sufficient
quantity of forage to feed them in enclosures provided for this purpose
during the period of inundation. They also attended to the shearing
of the sheep, and took care of the young lambs; for the Egyptian
sheep brought forth young and yielded wool twice a year. They were
rude in their manners and lawless in their disposition. They dwelt in
reed huts in the low marshes, where herbage grew in rank luxuriance
and was well ‘adapted to the pasturage of cattle. Their occupation was
considered the most abject and degrading, and the swineherds were
almost looked upon as the outcasts of the community ; it was dis-
graceful to intermarry, or to enter into family connection with them ;
they were supposed to be contaminated by the ﬁlthy habits of the
animals placed under their care, and were forbidden to enter, the
temples without previous puriﬁcations.2
1 They were generally called the multitude or the crowd; they were the
“‘ stinking” labourers, the “miserable” vulgar crowd, and were even disdained
by the servants of the Pharaohs, who considered themselves of a much higher
order. , a 2 Herodotus,
_2 38 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
The higher and wealthier classes of Egypt were greatly addicted to
extravagance and luxury, and the immense riches accumulated in the
country fostered their inordinate passion for pomp and magniﬁcence.
Their houses were furnished with the most costly ornamental furniture,
and were embellished with the most precious works of art. The most
valuable gems and jewels were procured to adorn their persons, and it
was the delight of their heart to display in public their spirited horses,
their splendid equipages, and their elegant and commodious pleasure-
boats. They were constantly surrounded by numerous attendants,
who were ready to serve them on every occasion. Their villas were
beautiful country retreats 3 and their gardens were artistically laid out,
and were planted with a variety of trees, which aﬂorded shade and
shelter during the hottest season of the year.
The wants of the lower classes of the population of Egypt were
extremely moderate, and were easily supplied. Corn was produced in
the greatest abundance, and the annual production exceeded the
quantity necessary for home consumption. Vegetables and esculent
plants were cultivated with little labour, and could be procured at a
triﬂing expense. Owing to the warmth of the climate, their huts
were constructed of light and cheap materials 3 their food was simple,
their clothing scanty 3 and it required but an insigniﬁcant outlay to
provide the means for the support of a numerous family. Infanticide
was a crime unknown in Egypt, for children could be reared with
little trouble and less expense.1 Although the condition of the lower
orders was humble, and presented a striking contrast to the afﬂuent
circumstances of the rich and the great, yet they were satisﬁed with
their lot, and were generally happy and contented. They were con-
servative in their habits of life, submissive in their disposition, and
did not consider it degrading to prostrate themselves before their
superiors, and they thus gave assurance to the men in authority of
their voluntary acquiescence in the existing order of things.
The government of Egypt was an hereditary monarchy under the
form of an absolute despotism, moderated by inviolable fundamental
laws of a religious as well as civil character. The abuse of power was
also counteracted ‘by the controlling inﬂuence of the sacerdotal order,
who were not onlyjthe guardians and interpreters of the law, but the
counsellors of the king and the executive officers of the government.
The monarch stood at the head of Egyptian society, he was the “high
pontiff,” instructed in all the secret learning of the priests and the
routine of the ritual observances of the temple 3 and as commander-in-
chief of the army he occupied the ﬁrst rank in the military order.
He was invested with the right of declaring war and concluding
peace 3 and he was privileged to exercise every regal prerogative com-
patible with the dictates of good policy, the independence of the
country, and the general welfare of the people. He was the fountain
of honour and justice; he rewarded eminent merit, and visited derelic-
tions of duty with deserved retribution. He enacted laws in religious

1 Diodorus aﬂirms that it never need cost a parent to bring up a child more
than twenty drachms (13s.) until arrived at man’s estate.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 239
as well as in civil affairs, and these two were so closely blended that
the government seemed to rest upon the principle of theocratic infalli-
bility. The king administered justice in person in all matters of great
importance that came directly under his cognisance, and had exclusive
control over the political relations of the state ,' but the wise ordinances
which restricted his actions, and the salutary checks which kept him
within the limits of moderation, resulted in such a nice adjustment of
authority that the exercise of power was regulated upon the principle
of justice, and in strict obedience to the letter and spirit of the law;
so ‘that neither private interests nor personal motives, nor a spirit of
animosity and revenge, could ever become the inciting cause for
bestowing favours or inﬂicting punishment. The sovereign power was
transmitted from father to son, and whenever the heirs in the direct
line became extinct the right of succession devolved upon the nearest
relations of the collateral branches. N or were women entirely excluded
from the exercise of public authority, for at the death of the king the
management of the affairs of the state was temporarily intrusted to
the queen, who acted as regent until the legal successor was regularly
inducted into oﬁice.
Previous to his accession to the throne the sovereign was initiated
as a member of the order of the priesthood. He was instructed in
every branch of knowledge, human and divine. The nature, the
character, and the attributes of the gods were explained to him. He
was made familiar with the liturgies and the ceremonial forms con-
nected with the worship and the sacriﬁces of the temple. He became
acquainted with the detail of the Observances that gave to feasts and
festivals their distinct character. The laws, as contained in the sacred
books, were interpreted to him; his mind was impressed with the
solemn duties imposed upon him as the ruler of the nation, and his
conscience was enlightened by inculcating the precepts of morality
which should guide the life and conduct of a good and virtuous
monarch. The king was regarded in the light of a public servant ,-
he was invested with the royal collar and the double crown (pslzent)—-
the emblem of sovereignty—not for his personal aggrandisement, but
for the beneﬁt of the whole nation; and it was his duty to govern with
equity, and with a ﬁrm resolution to advance the happiness and pros-
perity of the people. To vguard against the pernicious inﬂuence of
fawning ﬂattery, and cunning intrigue, which might sway his judg-
ment and turn. him aside from the path of rectitude, no slave or hired
servant was permitted to ﬁll any position of honour'or~ trust, or act as
officer of his household, but his personal attendants were all selected
from the sons of the priests of the highest rank who were distin~
guished for their education and had acquired reputation for learning,
and they were his inseparable companions night and day. Men of the
highest eminence, and even princes of the blood, formed his train,
rendering him personal service, cooling him in excessive heat or chas-
ing away the ﬂies with a feather fan. His arbitrary power was thus
restricted by positive laws and prescriptive rights which he could not
disobey, and which he had no inclination to contravene. Even his
ordinary mode of life and the daily routine of his duties were regu_
240 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
lated by strict rules based upon an unvarying system.1 It was deter;
mined by law at what hour of the day he should visit the bath, take
exercise, indulge in amusements, or attend to public business‘; and
even the quality and quantity of his food were rigidly prescribed.
The viands served up at his table were few and simple 5 the meat of
oxen and geese were the ordinary dishes, and a moderate allowance of
wine was the only luxury permitted. “ All excess was forbidden and
prevented, upon the principle that food was designed for the support
of the body, and not for the gratiﬁcation of an intemperate appetite.”
At early morning dawn he rose, and his ﬁrst care was to inform him-
self of what passed in every part of his kingdom; and to obtain an
accurate knowledge of public business, he attentively examined the
epistolary communications received from subordinate ofﬁcers and pro-
vincial governors, so that measures might be devised to meet every
emergency with as little delay as possible. After having performed
the customary ablutions, he arrayed himself in splendid robes of cere-
mony, and, putting on the insignia of royalty, he proceeded to the
temple to offer up sacriﬁces to the gods. The high priest stood by
the side of the king before the altar in the presence of the victim, and
the throng of worshippers formed a circle around them at a short
distance, addressing their invocations and‘ prayers to the tutelary and
contemplar gods of the sanctuary, and entreating them to shower their
choicest blessings upon the monarch who had endeared himself to his
people by his observance of the laws, his love of justice, his exem-
plary life, and his devotion to the welfare and prosperity of the
country. The high priest then pointed out his great moral qualities,
but gave special prominence to “his piety towards the gods, and his
clemency and affable demeanour towards men.” “He lauded his self
command, his justice, his magnanimity, his love of truth, his muni-
ﬁcence and generosity, and, above all, his entire freedomufrom envy
and covetousness. _He exalted his moderation in awarding the most
lenient punishment to those who had transgressed, and his benevo-
lence in requiting with unbounded liberality those who had merited
his favours.” Having thus‘passed in review the amiable traits of
character of the reigning prince, he next animadverted on the peculiar
inﬂuences which are constantly brought to bear to thwart the good
intentions of kings, tracing out the errors which are the natural conse-
quence of insufficiency of information, and the faults which are the
inevitable result of misplaced conﬁdence, the responsibility of mis-
government being shifted from the representative head of the sove-
reignty to his counsellors and advisers. As soon as the high priest

1 “This unparalleled country could never have continued throughout ages in
such a ﬂourishing condition if it had not enjoyed the best of laws and customs,
and the people had not been guided by the most salutary regulations 5 and
their kings, so far from indulging in those acts of arbitrary will, unrestrained by
the fear of censure, which stain the character of sovereigns in other monarchical
states, were contented to submit to the rules of public duty and even ‘of private
life which had been established by law from the ‘earliest times. Even their daily
food was regulated by prescribed rules, and the quantity of wine was limited with
scrupulous exactitude.”-—Di0dorus, i. c. 70, seg.
EGYPTO-LIBYAN S. 241
had concluded his discourse the king inspected the entrails of the
victim, and, ofﬁciating in his priestly capacity before the altar, he
performed the rites and ceremonies connected with the solemn service
of sacriﬁce. The hierogrammat then read portions from the sacred
books relating to the history of former kings and other eminent men,
that their example might inspire the monarch with the love of virtue,
and that he might proﬁt by the lessons of experience drawn from the
recorded deeds and precepts of his most illustrious predecessors.
The king was as highly honoured and respected by the priesthood
as he was universally beloved by his people. It was believed that he
held the sovereign power by divine commission, and that he repre-
, sented the gods upon earth who, through him, bestowed invaluable
beneﬁts upon the nation.1 His subjects regarded him with ﬁlial
reverence; they most implicitly obeyed his most peremptory com-
mands, and considered his judgment as infallible, and they had
already. consecrated the political maxim “that the king can do no
wrong.” This loyalty and devotion was not only manifested during
the life of the monarch, but extended even to his memory after his
last remains had been consigned to their ﬁnal resting~place. On the
demise of an Egyptian king the whole nation observed for a period of
seventy-two days all the usages of the deepest mourning. The people
tore their garments, strewed dust and ashes upon their heads, marched
daily in crowded procession through the streets, singing funeral dirges
and hymns commemorating the virtues of the deceased prince. A
general fast was proclaimed, and the rich and poor abstained from
the use of wine and other luxuries, as well as from wheat bread and
meat. They renounced every kind of pleasure, and neither anointed
their bodies nor indulged in the bath. The temples were closed, the
offering up of sacriﬁce was suspended, and neither feasts nor festivals
were celebrated during that period.2 The general obsequies were
solemnised with much pomp and ceremony, and on the last day the
body was laid out in state in the vestibule of the tomb. The deceased
was subjected to the ordinary trial of the dead, and while a succinct
history of his life and conduct was given by the priests who expa-
tiated on his merits, any one was permitted to present himself as
accuser; and for causes sufficiently weighty, if corroborated by the
common voice of public opinion, the right of sepulchre was even
denied to kings. But a truly great and virtuous prince was, in a
manner, deiﬁed; he was held in grateful remembrance by after
generations; homage was paid to him, and his name was considered
as possessing supernatural virtue, and was inscribed on charms and
amulets. -
Besides the direct taxes, which were ample for purposes of internal

1 “Thou art lord like the majesty of the sungod Ra; the godsv and goddesses
are praising thy beneﬁts, adoring and sacriﬁcing before thine image.” “ I give
unto thee the sky and what is in it ; I lend the earth to thee and all that is upon
it.” Addressed by the god to Ramses III.
The king “ was the emanation of the sungod," his “living image upon earth.”
Renouf’s Lectures, p. 169.
2 Diodorus, i. 72.
Q
242 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
administration,1 the revenues of ancient Egypt were largely increased
by conquest and foreign commerce. The annual contributions exacted
from the tributary nations of Asia and North Ethiopia greatly
enriched the public treasury and introduced natural productions, as
well as objects of luxury and utility, from foreign countries. The-
quantity of gold in rings and ingots, and of various other metals thus
received, was of great value 3 nor were precious stones and ivory less
appreciated, which, as desirable articles of commerce, augmented the
permanent wealth of the nation. Among the objects of art vases of
porcelain were the most conspicuous. Horses, dogs, and even wild
animals, formed a part of the tribute 3 and of the great variety of vege-
table products the most valuable were rare woods, trees, fruits, seeds,
gums, perfumes, and spices. Her commercial intercourse with foreign
nations stimulated the development of her internal resources. She
sent abroad, in foreign ships, her annual surplus of corn. Syria and
Tyre purchased her yarn, her ﬁne linen and embroidered cloth. She
exchanged her own commodities for the spices and precious stones of
India, and the gums, frankincense, and myrrh of Arabia, and it was
from Egypt that the merchants of Palestine in the time of Solomon
obtained their chariots and horses. The mines of Ethiopia supplied
annually a great abundance of silver 3 gold was found in the mountains
of Upper Egypt, and copper, lead, iron, as well as- emeralds and
sulphur, were procured from the desert contiguous to the Red Sea.
At one period ofj her history Egypt was a great power in the
civilised world, her army was numerous and well organised, and
some of her kings were renowned heroes and conquerors. As a great
portion of her population were professional soldiers, she was always
prepared for attack and defence; and interest and policy combined-
frequently prompted an ambitious monarch to undertake military
expeditions and invade the territories of neighbouring states. The.
military force of Egypt, to the number of four hundred and ten thou-
sand men, was divided into two distinct organisations called Calasirians
and Hermotybians,2 the former being composed of two hundred and
sixty thousand, and the latter of one hundred and ﬁfty thousand, men.
They furnished each a thousand men to serve as royal guards, whose
duty it was to protect the person of the king in every possible emergency.
When enrolled for active service and while engaged in a military
expedition they were supported at the expense of the government,
and each soldier received a daily allowance of ﬁve mince of bread
(5 lbs. 5 ozs. 5 dwts.), two mince of beef (2 lbs. 2 ozs. 8 grs'.), and
four arusz‘ers of wine (about 2 pints) 3 but he was obliged to provide
himself with appropriate arms and all other appliances necessary for
a campaign, and hold himself in readiness to take the ﬁeld or perform
garrison duty at the will and pleasure of the monarch. The army
was regularly organised and divided into corps, regiments, battalions,

1 According to Strabo, the taxes under Ptolemy Auletus, the father of Cleo-i
patra, the most negligent of monarchs, amounted to 12,500 talents, equal to from
three to four millions pounds sterling. Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 224.
2 Herodotus, ii. 165, seq.
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 24 3
and companies, and was properly disciplined for active service accord-
ing to the rules of military tactics. It was composed of infantry,
cavalry, and chariots. The infantry consisted of several bodies of
heavy and light-armed troops made up of bowmen, spearmen, swords-
men, clubmen, and slingers; but the archers, who fought on foot or
in chariots, constituted the strength of the army. The standards,
which were borne along at the head of each regiment, were marked
with the king’s name or some emblematic device, such as a sacred
boat. or a sacred animal. The standard-bearer was an officer distin-
guished for valour, who wore a badge of honour representing two
lions—the emblem of courage, with two other devices apparently
intended for ﬂies—the symbolic representation of undaunted heroism,
which, though frequently repulsed, ever returns to the attack. The
princes of the blood and sons of the nobility, who acted as staff-oﬂicers,
bore the royal banners and the ﬂabella of state near the person of
the king, ever ready to receive his orders and obey his commands.
Some of these were frequently despatched as corps or division com~
manders when a revolt had to be crushed or an allied nation had to
be protected. Others were the personal attendants of the king, and
served, according to their grade, either on his right or his left hand 3
or they carried the throne on which he sat, or bore the sceptre and
ﬂabella before him. '
The weapons used by the Egyptian army in battle differed accord
ing to the character of the troops or the nature of the warlike opera-
tions. In ordinary encounters the bow was the principal offensive
weapon. It was from ﬁve to ﬁve and a half feet long, almost straight or
tapering and grooved at the end, or provided with a projecting piece
of horn to receive the string, which was composed of hide or catgut.
The arrow was from twenty-two to thirty-four inches in length; it
was either of wood or reed, winged with three feathers and tipped
with a metal head or with a sharp ﬂint ﬁrmly secured to the shaft
by an adhesive black paste. The arrowheads of the archers were of
bronze, generally ‘of a triangular form, but sometimes barbed, and
many were armed with three or four blades projecting at right angles
and meeting at a common point. The quiver, highly decorated and
closed with a lid, was round, about four inches in diameter, and was
slung by a belt across the shoulder. The spear or pike, which was
used for thrusting, was a wooden shaft ﬁve or six feet long, termi-
nating in a long double-edged point of bronze or iron. The javelin,
which was much lighter and chieﬂy served the purpose of casting or
throwing, was ornamented at its upper extremity with a bronze knob
surmounted by a ball, to which leather thongs or tassels were
attached. The side arms were a short straight sword, from two and
a half to three feet long, with two cutting edges and tapering to a
point, which was used for out and thrust, and occasionally for stabbing 3
and a dagger, having a blade of bronze from seven to ten inches long
and an inlaid handle, which was encased in a sheath and was worn
in the girdle. Heavy and light-armed troops, as well as common
soldiers, were provided with a falchion having a curved-edged blade
of bronze or iron. A body of slingers also constituted a part of the
244 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
army; their instrument‘ of attack was a leather thong or plaited
string, broad in the middle to hold the stone, with a loop at one end
and a lash at the other. The sappers were armed with a hatchet or
axe, which was used in close combat and served the purpose of under-
mining the foundation of walls, breaking down the gates of cities,
felling trees, and constructing engines for assault. The metal blade
was inserted in the split end of the wooden handle, and was ﬁrmly
tied by means of thongs. All the troops in the service were supplied
with the club or crooked stick, which was two and a half feet long
and was made of hard and tough wood. The chief defensive armour
was the shield, which was circular at the top and square at the base,
and the wooden wickerwork frame was commonly covered with a
bull’s hide, with the hair turned outside. It was sometimes strength—
ened with one or more metal rims and studded with nails or metal
pins. The quilted helmet descended to the shoulders or a little below
the ears, and was of green, red, or black colour 5 its lower edge was
sometimes provided with a fringe, while its obtuse point, at the
summit, was ornamented with tassels. The cuirass or coat of armour,
with a short sleeve extending halfway to the elbow, was composed of
horizontal rows of metal plates and reached from the throat nearly
down to the knee, being fastened to the waist by a girdle to relieve a
the shoulder from the pressure of its weight. Quilted vests or
corselets covering the breast were often worn instead of the cuirass.
War chariots formed an important branch of the Egyptian army.
Although they were light and compactly made, yet they were
sufﬁciently capacious to hold two persons : the charioteer who guided
and managed the horses, and the warrior who engaged the enemy
either with the bow or the spear. They were composed of a wooden
framework, open at the back and partially also at the sides, resting
upon a two-wheeled axletree with the pole attached in front. They
were often elaborately ornamented 5 the richly-decorated bow case was
suspended from it in an inclined position pointing forward, while the
quiver and spear-cases were turned obliquely in an opposite direction.
To the upper extremity of the pole was ﬁxed, by means of a metal
pin tightly bound with thongs, a curved yoke that ﬁtted into a
metal groove of the well-padded saddle which, being furnished with a
girth and a breastband, was securely strapped to the horse’s withers.
The heads of the horses were borne up tight by the bearing-rein, which
passed through a small hook proceeding from an ornamental knob in
front of the saddle, and the long reins were kept in place by a ring or
loop at the side. Both the charioteer and the archer stood on a
narrow board resting on the axletree and the pole. Each of the two
horses pulled by a single trace extending at his inner side from
the base of the pole to the saddle. On extraordinary occasions the
chariot horses of the king and of the military chiefs were splendidly
caparisoned with striped or checked housings elegantly bordered
and trimmed with tassels. The summit of the headstall was adorned
with a crest in the form of a lion’s head, or some other device of
gold, into which lofty, nodding plumes were inserted.
The military encampment was surrounded by a palisade. Within
EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 24 5
the enclosure the horses and asses were each conﬁned to separate
quarters ; while the chariots, the packsaddles, and the panniers
which contained the baggage were ranged in order in a different
direction. The military exercises and evolutions were performed
under the superintendence of drill ofﬁcers outside of the camp; and
ﬂogging was the ordinary punishment for violation of military regula-
tions or neglect of duty.
Sieges were conducted upon a regular system. The assault of a
fortiﬁed town was made by the troops under cover of the arrows of
the bowmen, and scaling ladders were immediately applied to mount
the rampart, to gain possession of the place by an impetuous onset
and superiority of numbers. But generally a less bloody and more
dilatory process was adopted. The assailants, being protected by the
testuclo, impelled the battering-ram with concentrated force against
the parapet walls, and thus gradually made a breach by loosening and
dislodging the stones. But if these attacks proved ineffectual, ‘the
sappers advanced under cover of the testuclo, and, being armed with
axes, they undermined the place or cut down the wooden gates.
The testado was constructed of a wooden framework, probably covered
with hides. It was supported .by poles, was forked at the top, and
was placed in a position so as to afford facilities to the light troops to
gain a footing on more elevated ground, and thus enable them to give
the scaling ladders more steadiness and to plant them more ﬁrmly
near the base of the ramparts.
After the close of a successful battle the hands of the slain were
cut off, their number was duly registered, and the record was preserved
in the archives of the government to commemorate the great victories
and perpetuate the glory of the reigning monarch. The lives of
captives who had laid down their arms were spared ; they were sent,
bound, to the rear under a guard, and after they had been presented
to the king they were reserved to swell the throng of the triumphal
procession on his return to his capital. The captives were distributed
in‘ various parts of the country and employed in the construction of
public works. They were not only labourers wh o supplied the mechanic
force necessary to raise such stupendous monuments as the pyramids,
but they were the principal workmen engaged in the building of
palaces and temples, the cutting of canals, and the raising of dykes
and embankments. They were also purchased by the grandees, and
they served in the domestic establishment as slaves of the household,
performing all the menial duties and attending to the invited guests
on occasions of banquets and family feasts.
Soldiers who had been guilty of desertion were not capitally
punished, but after having been degraded from the rank of the
soldier class, they were exposed to public ignominy by being con-
demned to wear some conspicuous mark indicating their crime, and
they could only be reinstated to their former position after a long
period of probation and unmistakable evidence of contrition, which
obtained for them the pardon of their superiors. 4
At the close of the campaign, after the victorious monarch had
made his triumphal entry into the capital, solemn services of thanks-
246 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
giving were performed in the temple, and offerings were made to the
tutelary deity to whose power and divine intercession was ascribed
the successful termination of the conﬂict. He was made the recipient
of the prisoners of war, as well as of the valuable spoils taken from
the enemy; and the king, who officiated in his priestly robes, rendered
thanks to the guardian of the city for his divine favour and protection.
The soldiers who had been restored to their families and their homes
marched in procession to the temple to the sound of the trumpet and
the beat of the drum, each carrying in his hand a twig of some tree
and bearing the arms of the corps to which he belonged. Here they
devoutly returned thanks, while the priest burned incense, presented
meat-offerings, and poured out libations in honour of the gods.
The origin of the civil, no less than the religious, laws by which
Egypt had been governed from time immemorial, was traced back to
the gods. It was the received opinion, founded upon tradition, that
the laws were instituted by Thoth, and compiled in the sacred books
for the beneﬁt of mankind. The ethical framework of Egyptian
society was based upon truth and justice, which were regarded as the
cardinal virtues regulating human action in their reﬂex inﬂuence upon
the life and destiny of others. Prudence, temperance, and fortitude
were considered as necessary moral qualities which make up the
perfect character distinguished by individual merit and personal
worth, but holding only a secondary rank in the higher order of
social virtues. The practical application of the principle of right and
justice in all the transactions of life was inculcated as the most
important of all civic duties, and the strict adherence to truth was
so much appreciated for its conservative tendencies that falsehood,
whenever it was productive of injury to others, was made punishable
by law. The severest punishment was inﬂicted upon the calumniator
of the dead, the false accuser was condemned to suffer the penalty of
the crime with which he maliciously charged the accused 3 and he
who was guilty of perjury was doomed to perish as a criminal of the
most odious character.
Special laws were enacted to encourage regular habits of life, and
suppress vicious practices among the people. At a stated time deter-
mined upon by the public authorities, every individual belonging to
one of the industrial classes was required to report to the magistrate
or provincialfgovernor; and after having approached with the usual
marks of respect, by making a profound reverence and letting the
hands fall down to the knee, he gave his name and place of abode,
stated the nature of his profession or employment, and the manner in
which he gained the means of support, all of which was duly regis-
tered by the ofﬁcial scribe. If the result of this registration disclosed
the fact that excesses had been committed by someof them, they were
sentenced to the bastinado 3 and capital punishment was visited upon
those who had been found guilty of having made a false statement.1
The criminal law of Egypt was, in most instances, mild and equit—
able; its object was to preserve life and reclaim the offender. The

1 Herodotus, ii.
EGYPTO-LI BYAN S. 247
criminality of the act was not graduated by the rank or social condition
of the victim. The murder of a slave was as much a capital offence
as that of a freeman. The law presumed the complicity of a party
who remained a passive witness to wilful homicide, unless inability
to act was clearly shown- The same principle was also applied to
‘cases of assault or personal injury, and even the neglect to give
information of a robbery was punished with a certain number of
stripes and close conﬁnement for three days without food. The
murder of a child by a parent was not punished with death, for it
was not considered right that he should be deprived of life who had
given it to the child 3 but it was, nevertheless, looked upon as a high
misdemeanour, and, as an atonement for the odious act, the corpse of
the deceased child was fastened to the neck of the guilty parent, who
was compelled to pass three days and three nights in its embrace
under the watchful eye of a public oﬂicer. The parricide was sen_
tenced to be lacerated with sharpened reeds, to be thrown on a heap
of thorns, and to be burned to death. The adulterer was condemned
to receive the bastinado of a thousand blows, and the punishment
inﬂicted upon the adulteress was mutilation of the nose. An attempt
of strictly enforcing the law of retaliation rendered some of the
punishments highly fantastic, if not cruel. To this class belong the
penalty exacted for the violation of female chastity 3 the cutting out
of the tongue for giving information to an enemy 3 the cutting off of
the hand for adulterating the standard currency, falsifying the
weights and measures, and forging or mutilating public documents.
Minor offences, such as theft, breach of trust, and petty frauds, were
punished with the bastinado. As thieving could not be entirely
suppressed, it was deemed wise policy to organise an association of
professional robbers, placed under the control of a chief of unimpeach~
able integrity and honour. \Vhenever a theft or robbery was com~
mitted, the party who had sustained the loss immediately gave
information of the fact in writing to the chief of the robbers, stating all
the particulars necessary to identify the objects stolen, and on pay
ment of one-fourth of their value they were restored to the rightful
owner. The bastinado was a common mode of punishment, and was
inﬂicted on women and boys as well as on men 3 and hanging was the
most ordinary mode of execution for many crimes. By a law of
Bocchoris the ‘Wise, no agreement was binding upon contracting
parties unless it was executed in writing; and an oath was suﬂicient
to show that a claim for money was unfounded or that the debt had
been‘paid. The goods really belonging to the debtor and in his pos»
session were the only property liable to seizure for debt 3 but his person
was exempt from arrest on the ground that the services of the soldier,
the artisan, and the peasant were due to the state. The interest on
borrowed money was not allowed to increase to more than double the
amount of the principal. There existed a singular law which ren—
dered it illegal for a man to borrow money unless he pledged the
mummy of his father, and the failure to redeem the sacred deposit
was not only infamous, but on his death the ‘celebration of the
ordinary funeral obsequies was denied him, nor was he permitted to
248 THE ARAlllrfEAN STOCK.
inter his children, or any other member of his family, as long as the
debt remained unpaid. ,
Justice was administered in ancient Egypt with the utmost degree of
impartiality. The courts were efficiently organised, and the judges
were conscientious in the discharge of their duties. All causes of
minor importance were adjusted by inferior local magistrates. The
highest court of judicature was composed of thirty judges who, in
order to secure men of distinguished ability and personal merit, were
selected from the three principal cities,~Memphis,Thebes, and Heliopolis.
They appointed one of their own body president of the court, and the
city from which he came was entitled to ﬁll the vacancy thus created.
As a badge of distinction the arch-judge wore a golden chain round
his neck, to which an image of gold, ornamented with precious stones,
was attached, representing Thmei, the goddess of “ truth and justice.”
An ample allowance was granted to the judges by the king for their
support, so as to place them above the reach of bribery and corrup-
tion, and that ,the principle of justice may not be perverted by the
rancour of personal prejudice or the compliant temper of personal
favour. In judicial proceedings it was held to be a fundamental
principle that the offender should be discovered, and after being tried
and convicted that he should be punished, that injuries should be
redressed, and that the wrong-doer should indemnify the injured
party 5 and it was the spirit of the law that the oppressed should be
relieved and protected. The administration of justice was gratuitous,
and the courts were open to the poor as well as to the rich without
incurring any charge or expense in the prosecution of a cause.
When the case was ready for trial the eight books which contained
the law ‘of Egypt were laid open before the arch-judge, to enable him
to reach a proper, decision, to solve any difficult questions that might
arise, to consult established precedents and the opinions of the most
learned of his predecessors. The pleadings were conducted in writing,
and the plaintiff or accuser made a clear and succinct statement,
showing the manner in which he had been injured and the damages
he had sustained, making a special reference to the law which had a
direct bearing upon the case. The defendant or accused met the
allegations by a general denial, endeavouring to prove that the charges
preferred were unfounded or that the act was not unlawful, or he
admitted the fact, but suggested that the damages claimed were
excessive or that the penalty was disproportionate to the crime. The
complainant rejoined, and the respondent replied 5 and if witnesses
were produced, their evidence, with the deposition of the parties, were
submitted to the judges who, after due deliberation, pronounced the
decision which required to be ratiﬁed by the president. The arch-
judge then rendered judgment by touching the party who gained the
cause with the image of Thmei, the goddess of truth.
A EGYPTO-LIBYANS. 24.9
AUTHORITIES .
Itinéraire de 1a Haute Egypte. Par Auguste Mariette Bey. 1872.
Lettres Ecrites d’Egypte. Par Champollion.
Die Magie und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldaer. Von Fr. Lenormant. 1878.
The Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs. By Sir Gardner Wilkinson.
Reiseberichte aus Egypten. Von H. Brugsch.
Geschichte Aegyptens unter den Pharaonen. Von H. Brugsch. 1877.
F L’Egypte Ancienne, clans l’Univers Pittoresque. Par Champollion-
1geac. V .
Études sur l’Antiquité Historique d’après les Sources Egyptiennes. Par
F. Chabas. 187 5.
Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. By Sir Gardner
Wilkinson. 1835.
Ancient ‘Egypt under the Pharaohs. By John Kendrick. 1850.
Egypt's Place in Universal History. By Christian J. Bunsen. 1848.
History of Egypt. By Samuel Sharpe. 18 52.
“*iEgypt and China Compared. By De Pau. .
' Historiarum Herodoti. Bibliotheca Diodori Siculi, lib. i.
Scripte. Moralia Plutarchi (Treatise of Isis and Osiris).
L’Egypte Pharaonique. Par D. M. J. Henry. 1846.
Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden des Aegyptischen Altherthums.
Von Richard Lepsius. 1842.
Aegyptens’ Vormetallische Zeit. Von Friedr. Mock. 1880.
Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion of Ancient Egypt. By
P. L. Renouf. 1880. .
Notices des Monuments Exposés dans 1a Galleria d’Antiquités Egyptiennes.
Par M. E. de Rougé. 1872. ‚
Des Castes dans l’Ancienne Egypte. Par J. J. Ampère, “Revue des Deux
Mondes ; ” September I 848.
Annales de la Philosophie Chrétienne. Tome XX. (de Rouge).
Etudes sur la Rituel F uneraire des Anciens Egyptiens. Par E. de
Rouge. 1860.
250 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
COPTS.
THE Copts are the immediate descendants of the Egypto-Libyans, the
purity of the original stock having been lost by intermarriage with
the Persians, the Greeks, and the Arabs. This surviving relic of
Pharaohnic times constitutes but an insigniﬁcant part of the popula-
tion of modern Egypt, for its number does not- exceed two hundred
and ﬁfty thousand souls. Except about ten thousand, who form a
part of the permanent population of Cairo, the great majority of them
are scattered throughout the country, mostly engaged in inland trafﬁc,
in hatching eggs, in raising bees, and in other agricultural pursuits;
and in the Saidic province they occupy whole villages.
The Copts are generally below the medium height, their complexion
is of a dusky brown, sometimes shaded off into a dark yellow; their
eyes are large, elongated, slightly oblique, and always of a clear black
colour 3 their nose, which is straight and rounded at the end, often
Y assumes an aquiline form 3 their lips, though generally thick, are not
always so; their teeth are white and regular, their hair is uniformly
black and but slightly curled. The women of the higher and middle
classes blacken their eyelids ; and it is a favourite mode of ornamentation
among the women of the lower orders to tattoo their face and hands.
The outward appearance of the Copts is by no means prepossessing 3
they are characterised by a sullen and downward look, impressed upon
their countenance by the oppression and wrongs of centuries, bowed
down, as they are, under the yoke of an alien government and sur-
rounded by a hostile population. In temper they are inclined to
melancholy, and are retired in their habits of life. They are frugal
and unostentatious, and when their energies are roused by proper
incentives, they are industrious and persevering in business pursuits.
They are mild, humane, and hospitable 3 and are remarkable for the
domestic virtues of paternal tenderness and ﬁlial love. They are fond
of intoxicating drinks, but rarely indulge in excesses. They are rather
licentious in their amours, and not sufficiently guarded against the
allurements of the voluptuous passions. Although they have lost the
genius and scientiﬁc attainments of their forefathers, yet their mental
capacities are of no mean order ; they show great aptitude for acquiring
mathematical knowledge 3 they are an acute and ingenious people, and
are greatly esteemed as efﬁcient secretaries and accurate accountants.
Like their ancestors, they are excessively superstitious, and are sub-
missively devoted to the Patriarch who presides over their church,
and zealous in the strict observance of religious ceremonies enjoined
by their creed.
The Copts have adopted the costume of the Egypto-Arabs, differing
only in the colour of the turban which, if worn, is either black or
COPTS. 2 5 1
blue.1 The women are closely veiled, not only when walking abroad,
but even in the house in the presence of male visitors. Married
women generally wear a black veil, though many, in imitation of their
Moslem neighbours, are draped in white, while white veils are inva-
riably worn by young girls and by the women of the lower classes.
Elementary education is much encouraged among the Copts, and
they have numerous schools for boys, who are taught to read and write
Arabic as well as Coptic. They learn the Psalms in Arabic, and the
gospels and epistles in Coptic as well as Arabic. No educational insti~
tution exists for females, and very few of them know how to read.
Under the reformed regime of the Egyptian government, Coptic boys
are admitted in the scientiﬁc and military schools on an equal footing
with Mohamedans, and enjoy the same privileges in all public estab~
lishments directly supported by, and under the exclusive control of,
the government.
In their daily intercourse the Copts speak the Arabic language,
which is the vernacular tongue of modern Egypt; and although the
Coptic has ceased to be used as the ordinary medium of communication
since the twelfth century, and is nearly extinct as a spoken language,
yet it is still partially employed in prayer and church service.= It
represents the ancient Egyptian tongue, greatly modiﬁed by the inter—
mixture of numerous Persian, Greek, and Arabic words. The Greek
furnished the alphabet, with the exception of six letters, the sounds of
which are peculiar to the Coptic, and they are taken from the old
hieratic. Its two dialects—the Memphite and the Theban or Saidic—
correspond ‘to the two great political divisions of ancient Egypt.2 It
was one of the earliest offshoots of the Arameean stock, and since it
was developed under circumstances and in a country essentially
different, it has widely departed in root-words as well as grammatical
structure from the Syro and Arabo-Aramaean type of languages.
All words are distinguished as radicals and affixes. The radicals
remain invariable in all their relations with other words, and the
affixes determine the different accidents which words assume under
various conditions in their relations with each other. The radicals
are either simple or compound, and the language is particularly rich
in the development of the simple root-words. There are but few
radicals composed of a single or more vowels, but the monosyllabic or
r-consonantal root-words are much more numerous, and they frequently
form reduplications.
The Coptic language has really neither deﬁnite nor indeﬁnite article,
but for the ﬁrst pronominal radicals are used, which formerly belonged
to the demonstrative class, while the indeﬁnite article is simply the
numeral “ one.” The nouns have a singular and a plural, but many
substantives, although they have a singular form, have a plural

1 Formerly they were not allowed to wear a turban of any other colour, but now
they are at liberty to suit their own taste in this respect. For the rest of their
costume, see Egyptian Arabs infra, p. 543. -
2 The Bash'muric dialect, which was once spoken in a single delta district, is
but little known.
252 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
or collective meaning. The plural of nouns as well as of adjectives:
is formed either by terminal affixes, which are of inﬁnite variety, or
by a change of the inherent vowel sounds. The nominative case is
indicated by a suffix, and the genitive generally by a preﬁx, but some-
times by a sufﬁx. The nominative absolute plays a great role in the
grammatical construction of this language. It often supersedes the
genitive form to render the act of possession more emphatic, as : “and
all who in the synagogue, it were their eyes,” for “ the eyes of all
who were in the synagogue.” The object or the accusative can never-
precede the verb, as : “ if ye were the sons of Abraham, the works of
Abraham ye would do them.” A great number of the Coptic nouns
and adjectives are the same in their radical form as the radicals of the-
corresponding verbs, and, they are only distinguished from the latter
by their inherent qualities or by particular affixes. The nouns are
also marked out by the article 5 for as the article has a pronominal
origin, it gives personality to the abstract verbal expression. The
adjective is also distinguished from the verbal radical by its position
and connection with the noun. Adjectives are not compared, but the-
comparative is indicated by the adverbial expression, “ more than,”
while the superlative form is altogether wanting; but both may be-
expressed by the positive in connection with a particle of relation.
The personal pronoun is often used as a nominative absolute to give
emphasis to the person speaking, spoken to, or spoken of, as : “ I hast
not thou given me,” for “ to me thou hast not given 5” “ you no power
to you,” for “ you cannot.” The verbal radical is modiﬁed by pro—
nominal, tense, and mood afﬁxes. The pronominal affixes are either
subjective or objective 5 the latter always appear under the form
of suffixes, and in conformity with their meaning they are to be
construed as accusatives. The perfect, which also expresses the
present tense, for it combines the idea of past and present, represents
the verbal root-word 5 its characteristic sign is an alpha, which is
followed by the pronominal suffix. In modern times the present was
indicated by an epsilon suffix (s) as a distinct form. The form
which denotes the pluperfect is also used for the imperfect, for they
are considered as congeneric tenses, but several modiﬁcations have
been introduced at a later period. The future tense is indicated by
various characteristic signs, and there are besides two past-futures
called the imperfect and pluperfect future. The moods, which have
each their characteristic signs, are the indicative, the conjunctive, the
optative, the imperative, and inﬁnitive. There exists in this language
a negative form of conjugation in all the moods and tenses. The
passive voice is formed by changing the vowel sound of the radical
into an eta (n), but frequently the subject agreeing with the verb in
the passive is changed into an object, being governed by the verb in
the active voice, as : “ they have shown him,” for “ he has been shown
by them.” A part of the prepositions of the Coptic are relative
pronouns, which indicate certain conditions in connection with the-
noun which they govern.
The Coptic literature, which was only cultivated in the Egyptian
cloisters, is almost exclusively conﬁned to theological works and
COPTS. 2 5 3
religious writings. It is principally composed of a translation of the
'Old and New Testament, the history of the church, patristics, martyr-
ology, the history of monachism and asceticism, homiletics, polemics,
exegesis, liturgy, and hymnology. In addition to these there exist a
few lexigraphic and grammatical works, treatises on the gnostic
philosophy, on profane history, medicine, and natural history. The
last are partly original essays, partly translations of Greek works.
Among the Coptic population girls are betrothed at the early age of
‘six or seven, and, as a token of their engagement, they wear a ring on
their ﬁnger. Marriage festivals are celebrated with much pomp and
parade. The bride and the bridegroom are conducted by their friends
and relations through the principal streets of the town in a crowded
procession, accompanied by torch-bearers and the noisy music of
‘drums, hautboys, and other instruments. The bridesmaid, hand-
somely attired and on horseback, opens the line of march, being duly
escorted by a number of young men on foot. She is followed by
.a body of torch-bearers marching in front of the bride, who is
glittering in gold and trinkets, and is enveloped in a long white veil.
She is surrounded by a body of male friends who serve her as a guard
of honour, and is followed by a vast concourse of people attended by
a band of musicians, while the crowd of women who form the rear
utter in unison the shrill and quivering cry of joy called the zugharect.
The ceremonial formalities observed on the death of a near relative
would be imposing if they were not so extravagant. The corpse is
laid out on a mattress, and is covered with a rich cashmere shawl.
An attendant woman chants the funeral dirge, and slaves are beating
the tambourine, uttering in a plaintive voice expressions of endear—
ment: “Olr! come back again to us.” “Thy slaves will make thy
bread, prepare thy sweetmeats, ﬁll thy pipe and tell thee tales.” “ Oh !
come back again to us 3 come back 1” The hired mourners who are
called in to add to the solemnity of the occasion, express their mimic
sorrow in loud and piercing shrieks, throw themselves on the ground,
clap their hands, and whirl wildly round, as if frantic with despair.
The nearest female relatives are seated close to the head of the
deceased, giving utterance to words of tenderness and affection, and
lamenting with sighs and tears the untimely end of their dear and
beloved friend 5 at intervals waving around their head a handkerchief
which they hold in their hand. The cups and vessels of glass and
porcelain which were used by the deceased are broken, and the frag-
ments are scattered over the floor. The carpets, the cushions, and the
coverings of the divan are turned upside down. Indigo being the
colour of mourning, the walls are marked with streaks and patches of
blue. The body, at ﬁrst shrouded in white, is dressed in the best attire
of the deceased, and is ﬁnally enveloped in an elegant winding-sheet
of white satin interwoven with gold, and is then ready for ﬁnal inter-
ment. The female mourners, dressed in a silk gown of dark indigo
colour and a strip of blue muslin—the usual badge of mourning—
twined around their head, with their hands and feet stained with
indigo, stand around the lifeless corpse, and once more give vent to
their feelings of woe and desolation by rending their clothes, scream-
2 54 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
ing, yelling, jumping, and working themselves up to a high state of
excitement. Now and then they kiss the face of the deceased, then
they weep heartfelt gushing tears, at last they throw themselves on
the divan exhausted and completely prostrated by fatigue. The hired
mourners then resume their strain of bewailment, recounting the noble
deeds and great qualities of the departed, or they are profuse in their
praises of his personal appearance and adventitious attractions. The
adjoining room is transformed into a kind of chapel 3 here a picture of
the Virgin Mary is suspended from the walls, wax candles are lighted,
and here prayers are offered up for the recovery of their sick friends.
But if their invocations remain unanswered, and if death visits the
household contrary to their fond hopes, they enter this improvised
sanctuary, and in a paroxysm of madness they asperse the goodly
fame of the “Mother of God” in coarse and abusive language, and
even so far forget themselves in this sacrilegious rage as to strike the
representation of the Virgin Mother with their clenched ﬁsts.
In Egypt the Copts, who have not been led astray by the tempta-
tions of power and Mahomedan proselytism, have remained faithful to‘
Christianity, which their fathers had embraced in the ﬁrst century;
and after the conquest of Egypt by Amrou—the Saracen general—-
they were protected in the free exercise of their religion. They
belong to a branch of the church which is denounced as heretical by
orthodox believers. They are called J acobites, Eutychians, Menophy-
sites, and Monothelites, names derived from the founders of the sect
and ﬁrst teachers of the doctrine, or from the peculiar tenets by which
they are distinguished. They hold that Christ had but one nature,
and that as perfect God he became perfect man without change or-
variation, and that his humanity was as divine as his original
divinity. They are in accord with the Greek Church in recognising
as one of the fundamental articles of faith that the Holy Ghost pro-
ceeds from the Father only, and not from the Son 3 and from the
Latin Church they have adopted the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Confession is a religious duty which no member of the church is per-
mitted to neglect. They observe numerous fasts, and all those who
are possessed of sufficient means are enjoined to make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem at least once in their life. The Copts practise circumcision,
a religious rite which they inherited from their ancestors, and the
operation is performed when the boy is about seven or eight years old.
They also abstain from eating swine’s ﬂesh. Their bigotry is only
equalled by their ignorance. They allow no intermarriages with any
other sect, and bear bitter hatred towards all other Christians, especi-
ally the Greeks, by whom they were formerly sorely oppressed.
The Coptic churches are simple in style, without pretension to
architectural art. The chancel occupies the centre 3 it contains the
altar, terminates in an arched tribune which is ascended by steps, and
is separated from the front area of the church by a partition provided
with a door and a curtain, which is marked with a large cross of
embroidered work. The church dignitaries and the higher classes of
the Coptic community occupy the space behind the chancel. The
common multitude perform their devotions in the next compartment 3
OOPTS. 255
and the women are at the greatest distance from the screened sanc-
tuary behind a partition of latticework. N 0 images of stone, metal, or
wood are seen here, but pictorial representations of saints are com-
mon. Every worshipper on entering the church takes off his shoes,
approaches the door of the chancel, prostrates himself and kisses the
hem of the curtain. The most devout of the Copts say their prayers
in the Coptic language seven times a day, in which they recite the
whole of the Psalms in Arabic, closing their devotions by‘ repeating in
Coptic forty-one times, “ O Lord 1 have mercy.” The church service
consists chieﬂy of selections from the gospels and epistles, and other
parts of the Bible, which are read by a boy who ﬁlls the ofﬁce of
deacon. A priest walks through the ranks of the assembled worship-
pers waving the censer which is burning with incense, while a chorister
boy who follows him sings some sacred passages in a low monotonous
tone. This is followed by indifferent chanting, led by the bishop or
ofﬁciating priest and joined in by the congregation. The eucharist is
then celebrated separately by the priests, who partake of both ele-
ments, and is administered to a select number of the laity, who are
restricted to a morsel of bread dipped in wine.
The Copts have numerous monastic institutions 3 the monks live in
a state of celibacy, are supported partly by their labour and partly by
charitable contributions, devote much time to teaching, and pass a
great portion of their life in fasting and prayer.
The Patriarch is the supreme head of the church, and considers
himself the legitimate successor of St. Mark. He must become dis-
tinguished for his learning, and his religious character as a monk
must be of the highest order before he can be raised to the patriarchal
dignity 3 and he is required to remain unmarried, and comply with all
other monastic regulations. He wears woollen undergarments, but
they are of the ﬁnest quality, and his outer dress is either silk or
broadcloth. He is either chosen by lot or appointed by his prede-
cessor. He permanently resides in Cairo, where he is invested with
considerable power, the exercise of which is limited to his own
people. He acts as judge in the trial of petty causes when both
parties are communicants of the Coptic Church, but an appeal lies
from his decision to the Izad'z'. He has the disposal of the revenues
derived from a considerable amount of property, mostly composed of
houses of which the proceeds can only be employed for pious uses.
He also appoints the Metropolitan of Abyssinia, who holds his oﬂice
for life.
A Copt is only admitted to the priesthood upon the condition that
he is free from bodily defects, and is at least thirty-three years of age.
If he is unmarried he must remain so, and if he has a wife he must
have married her as a virgin, and in case she should die he is not
allowed to take another to supply her place. E or his means of sub-
sistence he is entirely dependent on alms, or he must support himself
by his personal industry.
256 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Egypt and Syria. By F. C. T. de Volney. 1785.
Modern Egypt. By William Lane. 18 30.
Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria. By W. Brown. 1806.
Ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs. By John Kendrick. 1850.
Recollections of Scenes and Institutions in Italy and the East. By
Beldam. 1851.
Nights in the Harem. By Miss Lot. 1867.
Aegypten. Von Alfred von Kremer. 1863.
LE gypte d’Alexandrie a la Seconde Cataracts. Par Raoul Lacour. I 87 1.
Makritzi’s Geschichte der Kopten von Ferd. Wiistenfeldt. 1845.
Koptische Grammatik von Dr. Schwartze herausgegeben. Von Dr. H.
Steinthal. 1850
Recherche Critique et Historique sur la Language et la Littérature
de l’Egypte. 1808.
N UBAS. 25 7
NUBAS.
N UBIA is an extensive arid region, with a narrow contracted valley
fertilised by the Nile, by which it is traversed throughout its whole
extent from north to south. It is situated between the Tropic of Cancer
and the twelfth degree of north latitude 3 is bounded on the south by
Abyssinia 5 is hemmed in between the Red Sea and the Great Desert,
which form its eastern and western boundaries 3 and is separated from
Southern Egypt by immense rocky masses of rose-coloured syenite,
feldspath, and granite. Towards its northern frontier the plateau of the
Nubian Desert is occasionally interrupted by a chain of hills covered
with ﬁne shifting sand and water-washed pebbles. The layers of rock-
salt with which the surface is often encrusted, and the strata of marine
shells frequently met with, furnish the most convincing proof that this
sandy undulating plain was once connected with the Sahara sea.
Nubia, like Egypt, has but three seasons. The dry season com-
mences after the winter solstice, which is the period of sterility. The
rainy season, which sets in at the time of the summer solstice, gives
rise to the inundation, and is followed by the season of fertility
which takes its beginning from the autumnal equinox. Rains never
fall in Lower Nubia; not a trace of vegetation is seen, and when,
during the vernal equinox, the lchamsz'n wind, with its red dust-
clouds, sweeps over this desolate and barren land the heat becomes
stiﬂing and excessively oppressive. During the rest of the year the
atmosphere is pure and the sky is serene, and as the temperature is
cooled by the north wind the climate is very healthy. In Upper
Nubia the dry season is succeeded by heavy rains 3 torrents are rolling
down from the mountains with irresistible impetuosity, abrading the
soil-materials from the rocks and spreading the fertilising waters
over the long and narrow valley of Upper Egypt. Here plant-life
develops itself with incredible rapidity, luxuriant grasses spring up on
the banks of the river, and the islands are covered with the freshest
verdure. Lofty and far-branched trees expand their shade-diffusing
foliage; and ﬂowers, beautifully tinted and exquisitely shaped, perfume
the air with their fragrance. Here acacias and mimosas, with their
tiny leaﬂets, are fanned into motion by the slightest breeze. The
tamarisk, the nebek,1 the boabab,2 and the doum-palm grow here in
wild luxuriance. The guaiacum, the iron wood, the ebony, and the
sycamore are indigenous productions of the forests. Tall and graceful
bamboos rise by the waterside, and the lotus-ﬂower, with its large
orbicular leaf, ﬂoats on the calm surface of the lake, hedged in on all

1 Rhamnus lotus. 2 Adansonia digitata.
R
258 THE ARAMJEAN s'roox.
sides by tangled papyrus stems. The coffee shrub is of spontaneous
growth on the coast. Vines produce luscious grapes, the olive ripens its
oily fruit, and delicious melons are grown on sandy soil. Frankincense
and myrrh, spices and aromatic plants, yield the most precious drugs.
Flax and cotton, indigo and sugar-cane, senna and tobacco, are success-
fully cultivated. Within the area conﬁned by the converging branches
of the Blue and White Nile are found all the characteristic animals
of equatorial Africa. The panther, the ounce, the lion, and the wild
boar roam in the gloomy recesses of the forests. _ The giraffe wanders
in the acacia groves, the elephant and the rhinoceros seek their food
in the thickets and marshy lowlands, and the hippopotamus haunts
the pools and lakes. In Lower Nubia the jackal and gazelles, in
immense numbers, are the most prevalent game. The ostrich, the
eagle, and the vulture, storks and wild geese, are representative
specimens of the largest birds 3 and doves, pigeons, and partridges,
pattas, crows, and sparrows, are the most abundant of the smaller
species. The crocodile is here, as in Egypt, the king of reptiles;
lizards of great variety and numerous shades of colour bask in the
sunbeams 3 the two-horned cerastes, with its poisonous fangs, and the
asp—the uraeus which was once the symbol of royalty and power—-
are the most conspicuous types of the serpent class.
The greatest proportion of the present population of Nubia is of
Arabic or Libyan origin. The Nubas proper are remnants of the
ancient Egypto-Libyans 1 intermixed by marriage with N igritian and
Arabic elements. The country is occupied by numerous independent
nomadic tribes, or by sedentary communities collected in towns and
villages, partly devoted to agricultural pursuits or traﬂ‘ic and partly
to the rearing of cattle and sheep. The number of aboriginal
Ethiopians, the descendants of Egypto-Libyans who had colonised
Meroe, does not exceed one hundred thousand souls. Like the Copts,
they had early embraced Christianity and had numerous ﬂourishing
churches. But after the conquest of Egypt by the Mohamedan
Arabs their country was overrun by wild wandering hordes from
Arabia, and they were massacred, robbed, and plundered without
mercy, and only escaped the doom of utter extermination by for-
saking the faith of their fathers and becoming nominal converts to
the religion of the barbarous invaders.
In physical appearance the Nubas differ according to the tract of
country they occupy. Where the Nile valley is sufficiently wide to
permit extensive agricultural operations, yielding an abundance so as
to place them in easy circumstances, they are comparatively tall and
muscular 3 and though slender, yet they are of elegant form and have
ﬁne features. On the other hand, where the plain is rocky and
contracted, not exceeding in breadth twenty or thirty yards, and
where their supply of food is coarse and scanty, they are stunted in
height, lean and emaciated in ﬁgure, and are sometimes so much

1 They belong to the branch of Egypto-Libyans that colonised Nubia and
founded Meroe. Even their ancestors could no longer-‘be considered as the pure
Egypto-Libyan type.
N UBAS. 2 59
_ reduced as to resemble walking skeletons. But generally they are
well made, are below the medium height, with a dark complexion
and a bcardless face, having but a thin . growth of hair under the
chin. The women, before they are worn out by labour and fatigue,
are good-looking; their countenance is generally sweet, and their
manners are affable and pleasing. They are slight and graceful in
form, but are of small stature. Their features are regular, they have
a straight nose, rather full lips, white even teeth, and black glossy
hair, which encircles the head in curly ringlets, or is elaborately
plaited and is anointed with oil.
In the villages where the peasants are not contaminated by the
trafficking spirit of caravan traders and foreign adventurers, the N ubas
are of a kind disposition, hospitable to strangers, and generally honest
and upright in their dealings. Theft is regarded as a disgraceful act,
and he who is convicted of such an odious crime never fails to be
expelled from his village. They are ﬁerce and determined, very
‘passionate and prone to quarrel and to abuse each other 3 but they are
easily reconciled and are true and faithful in their attachments.
Curiosity is one of the most prominent traits of their character, and
they are annoyingly inquisitive as regards a stranger’s movements and
actions. They are highly vindictive, and hardly ever leave their home
unarmed, and the law of blood-revenge is strictly enforced. They
possess a certain degree of boldness and assume a lofty spirit of
independence. Their love of home and of the country of their birth is
very remarkable. They have no desire to widen the circle of their
acquaintances outside of the limits of their own village, and are
contented with the little they can call their own. Many of the
poorest classes, however, are driven by necessity to ﬁnd employment
in Cairo, where, on account of their honesty, they are preferred to any
other peoplein the capacity of porters; but as soon as they have
accumulated a little property they invariably return to their old home-
stead. They are extremely temperate in eating and their appetite is
easily satisﬁed, but they are much addicted to excessive indulgence in
partaking'of their favourite dhoum beer. They have acquired a habit
of untruthfulness from their constant contact with exacting officials of a
despotic government 3 and this expedient of prevarication has so much
become a second nature to them that it requires an effort on their
part to make a plain statement of facts even in the most trivial aﬂ‘airs
of life without gloss or varnish, suppression or addition of minor
details.
The habitations of the Nubas are mean and insigniﬁcant. Their
houses, which are of a rounded form, are often built of stones, either
piled'up or loosely cemented with mud, and are generally situated
on the declivity of a hill. Each family is provided with two of these
pigmy dwellings, of which one serves as the male and the other as the
female apartment 3 but more frequently they are simply mud huts
covered with dhoura stalks or palm leaves, and are so low that a grown
person cannot stand upright in the interior. In the larger villages and
among the wealthy classes the houses have a more respectable appear-
ance. The front entrance leads to a central court, around which all
260 THE ARANIEAN STOCK.
the apartments are built, and the men and the women occupy separate-
portions of the establishment. Temporary mat huts erected on a-
stone platform, almost everywhere, make a part of the family dwelling.
These are occupied by people recently married, for it is only after the
young wife has become a mother that the husband can gain uncon-
trolled possession of his bride, and he is then allowed to build a stone
house for himself in any locality that may suit his convenience.
The furniture is generally very scanty, and only comprises a few
mats, wooden pillows to serve as rest during sleep, half a dozen large
earthenware jars, about two feet in diameter and ﬁve feet high, in
which the provisions for the family are kept, in addition to a small
number of plates of coarse pottery, a handmill, a hatchet, and a few
round sticks which are used as supports for the loom.
The dress of the N ubas differs in different districts. In the
northern portion, close to the borders of Upper Egypt, the men
simply wear a linen shirt, which, among the wealthier classes, is of a
blue colour, or they have the woollen cloak of the Egyptian peasants
thrown round their shoulders. Their head-dress is nothing more than
a white linen cap, mostly entwined with some coloured strip of cloth
in the form of a turban. The women wrap themselves in linen, or'
throw over their right shoulder a woollen mantle of brown or black
colour reaching to the ankles, leaving the left shoulder uncovered.
Both sexes have their hair sometimes plaited, but ordinarily it is:-
curled and hangs down in loose ringlets. The women are very fond
of tinsel ornaments. They are partial to earrings and bracelets, which
are either of glass beads or plaited straw, and the richer people wear‘
anklets of silver or copper. The back of their head is hung with
short tassels of glass or stones which, while they are ornamental,
serve at the same time as amulets. Children of both sexes go' quite
naked, but young girls have their loins girded with a belt fringed with
strips of- leather and ornamented with beads and cowry shells. In
the southern districts the men are stripped of all habiliments and
appear just as nature has made them, simply concealing their sexual
organs in a small bag, a fashion which they inherited from their
Ethiopian ancestors. The young men of all classes have a large ring-
of silver or copper suspended from the lobe of the right car. All,
without distinction, have a rosary hung round the neck, which is
never removed 5 and it, is a common practice to tie round the arm,
above the elbow, a number of amulets and charms composed of scraps-
of paper written over with mystical characters and prayers sewn up in.
leather, to avert the evil eye or repel some apprehended danger.
The mode of living of the N ubas is the most conclusive proof of their
poverty and their frugal habits. The principal article of food is un-
leavened cake of coarse dhom'a ﬂour baked over the ﬁre'upon an iron
plate. The ci'houra grain is ground in the morning by the women in,
sufficient quantity to last for the day, and is readily converted into bread
in the course of a few minutes. Wheat bread is only. eaten by the
higher classes, and its use is regarded as an indication of wealth. A
soup made of the leaves of the French bean (Zuby) or of green barley is
much esteemed 5 lentils and water-melons, when in season, are occa—
NUBAS. ‘ 26 I
.sionally served up to give variety to the meal,- and dates, wherever
they can be procured, are also much used, especially when setting out
on a journey, when they constitute the only provisions carried by the
traveller. They rarely indulge in animal food ,' even the wealthier
classes eat but sparingly of meat diet. Mutton, fowl, and gazelles
furnish the ordinary supply for general consumption. Grilled locusts
are considered a delicacy, and are eaten as a favourite relish ; and they
never refuse to partake of a dish of crocodile’s meat whenever an
opportunity offers. In the larger villages palm-wine is made by
boiling ripe dates for two days without intermission, and, after
straining, the clear liquid is poured into earthen jars which are buried
in the ground for twelve days ; during this time the process of
fermentation sets in, after which the jars are taken up and the liquor
is ready for use. It is a sweet and pleasant drink, rather too thick
for excessive indulgence. Dates are also converted into a kind of
jelly or honey, which serves as a substitute for sweetmeat. Another
kind of intoxicating beverage, of which the N ubas are extremely fond,
is a beer called bouza, which is brewed from dhom'a or barley, and all
‘classes partake of it in large quantities, even to a state of intoxication.
The use of tobacco is common among the poor as well as the rich 5 but
while smoking is occasionally indulged in, there exists a mode of
using it which is peculiar to the country; it is mixed with saltpetre
enveloped in wool, and being placed between the under lip and the
gum to be moistened by the saliva, they suck the delectable juice thus
produced without inconvenience to their digestive organs.
Owing to the contracted area of land ﬁt for cultivation, agriculture
is carried on on a very limited scale. The soil is fertile, but it can
only be made productive by means of irrigation,1 which is effected by
salr-z'as or waterwheels, or by the constant use of the pole and bucket
well (schadoﬁ), which supplies a sufﬁcient quantity of water to keep
the small ﬁelds in a growing and ﬂourishing condition. The rich
landowners have several sakias at work, each one requiring the
alternate labour of from eight to ten cows. But in poor villages one
sakz'a is the common property of six or eight peasants, that supplies a
sufficient quantity of water for the cultivation of four or ﬁve Egyptian
jedhans of land which, in favourable years, will yield from eighty to
one hundred erdebs (1200 to r 500 bushels) of wheat or barley. The
dhow'a is sown after the inundation has subsided, and the harvest
takes place in December and January. The ground is then irrigated
.and sown in barley or wheat, which is reaped in the middle of March.
Sometimes after the barley is cut the soil is prepared for a summer
crop of dhoura, which ripens in July. Tobacco, as well as cotton,
is cultivated in limited quantities. Lentils, beans, peas, water-
melons, and the castor-oil plant are produced in some districts. Dates
.and grapes are the only fruits grown. The date-tree furnishes not only
.a valuable article of food, but it supplies materials for numerous

1 In Egypt the bed of the river rises equally with the banks, but in Nubia,
where rock forms its bed, the constant inundation has elevated the soil beyond its
highest ﬂood. Petherick’s Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa, p. 105.
262 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
economical purposes. The timber is used for the construction of
houses 3 the ﬁbrous threads it yields are twisted into ropes, without
which the water-machines could not be put into operation 3 mats and
baskets are woven from its fanlike branches, the young leaf-sprouts
serve as forage for camels, while the reeds are transformed into doors,
couches, receptacles, and other household articles.
The small farms are but sparingly stocked with cows, sheep, and
goats 3 and a few buffaloes and camels are occasionally kept. Fishing
is only followed as an occupation at the cataract and at Derr 3 but.
elsewhere it is almost entirely neglected.
The mechanic arts could make but little progress among a people
such as the N ubas, whose wants are so few and who hardly ever pass
beyond the precincts of their villages. Their looms are very small and
of very primitive pattern, and with these the women weave coarse
woollen mantles and the white cotton cloth of which the shirts are-
made. Drinking-bowls and large plates, for holding bread and other
food, made of the leaves of the date-tree, display much nicety of mani‘
pulation, and are extremely neat, if not elegant. They manufacture
their own matting, which serves as a substitute for chairs as well as
beds, but every other article of domestic use is imported from Egypt.
The Nubas navigate the river on a raft-like craft formed of four
trunks of stout date-trees loosely fastened together, and propelled by a
paddle four feet long, forked at the upper end, and lashed to this rude
boat by means of straw ropes. They have no inclination to follow
commercial pursuits, and the few merchants among them are either of
Turkish or Arabic origin. The common medium of exchange is the
moud, a small measure of dhoura, by which the price of articles of
low value is indicated. The silver dollar passes as a merchantable
commodity rather than money.
The music of the N ubas is very melodious, and singing is a favourite-
amusement with young girls, whose vocal exercises are often accom-
panied by a kind of tambourra—a ﬁve-stringed instrument covered I
with gazelles’ skin. Among other games the men frequently pass
their time in playing chess. All take great delight in the display of
ﬁrearms,’ which many carry at all times and under all circumstances.
They never cross their ﬁelds or visit their neighbours without being
provided with the usual weapons. It is the pride of every boy, in
order to show his manly spirit, to procure for himself a short crooked
knife or dagger, which is buckled to the left arm under the shirt,
and being worn by all without distinction it is freely used when
they become involved in serious quarrels,.or when. an opportunity
arises for avenging an injury inﬂicted by an enemy. When a N uba
travels beyond the limits of his own village, he never fails to arm
himself with a lance ﬁve feet long, and a round or oblong target
covered with hippopotamus skin 3 or he carries a long and heavy stick
covered with iron at one of its extremities. If his means will allow,
he is provided, in addition, with a long straight sword sheathed in a
scabbard broader at the lower than the upper end. Firearms are in
use among the richer classes who are able to purchase them and
obtain a supply of ammunition.
N UBAS. 263
The language of the Nubas, although largely intermixed with
Arabic words, is entirely distinct from the Arabic, which is spoken
with various degrees of purity all around them. It is their language
which has marked them out as a distinct race, and has preserved
many characteristic traits of their ancient nationality. It is in this
language that the still undeciphered ancient Ethiopian inscriptions
are supposed to be written.
The condition of the N uban woman is that of the drudge and the
menial servant 3 she leads a laborious life and attends to all the
business of the homestead, while her husband is engaged in the
culture of the soil or in superintending the operations of ﬁeld labour.
She is modest and retired in her habits, and though she is not closely
veiled her virtue is doubly armed by the resolution of avoiding all
temptation. Young girls are objects of bargain and sale, and parents
dispose of their daughters at pleasure to suitors who are able to pay
the price demanded. They frequently intermarry with the Kenoos
and the Abadde Berbers. Husbands are very jealous of the honour of
their wives, and on the slightest suspicion of inﬁdelity their passion
for revenge knows no bounds. In the dead silence of midnight they
drag their victim to the river-bank, thrust their knife into her breast,
and then consign her to a watery grave “as food for crocodiles.”
On the death of a near relative, a cow, sheep, or goat is killed, and
the meat is distributed to the poor. Those that are not able to practise
this expensive liberality manifest their charitable disposition by a
gratuitous distribution of bread. Sometimes the funeral feast is en-
livened by the beating of the drum, while the women sing and dance
in honour of the deceased. As soon as the mortal remains are con-
signed to the earth, vessels ﬁlled with water are placed by the side of
the grave, which is encased in a covering of various coloured pebbles,
while the head and foot are marked with a large palm-branch stuck
into the groundzl}
The Nubas are Mohamedans only in name 3 they are extremely lax
in the performance of their religious duties, very seldom visit the
mosque, and the only form of prayer known to most of them is the
exclamation, “Allah Akbarl”. (“ God is Great”). These, however,
who have for some years resided in Egypt are good and faithful
Mussulmans; they are well acquainted with the precepts of the
Koran, and comply with all the outward ceremonies and requirements
of their religion.
The N ubas are subjected to the authority of hereditary governors
called kaslzefs, to whom certain districts are assigned and who are
tributary to Egypt. These petty autocrats are haughty and insolent
in the extreme 3 their official administration is characterised by the
most unblushing eﬁ‘rontery and the most ﬂagrant injustice. They are
oppressive and extortionate in their exactions whenever they ﬁnd that
their victims are helpless and can offer no resistance. They have their
oﬂicial residence at Derr, but they are constantly making excursions
in various parts of their dominions accompanied by forty or ﬁfty
armed men, to collect, in person, the tribute from their subjects in the
agricultural districts, and seize by force and violence what cannot be
264 THE AR'AMEAN STOCK.
reached by the ordinary mode of raising revenue. The rate of taxa_
tion is by no means uniform, and is determined by the number of
waterwheels or sakz'as employed for purposes of irrigation. They also
claim two clusters of fruit from every date-tree, without regard to the
quantity produced. The land-tax, which is very arbitrary and irre-
gular, and weighs more heavily upon the unresisting poor than the
rich, is generally paid in cows and sheep. They also collect a duty on
vessels whose cargo consists of dates purchased at Derr.
The kashefs are also invested with judicial powers, and in their
capacity as judges they never hesitate to make merchandise of their
calling and sell justice to the highest bidder. If a murder is com-
mitted the law of blood-revenge is applied with all its cruel conse-
quences, unless the nearest relations of the victim are willing to accept
the stipulated ﬁne; and the son, brother, and cousin are all involved
in the responsibility, and are equally liable to pay the ransom with
their life, or be despoiled of their property if the person guilty of the
crime should make his escape. To make full‘ expiation, an additional
ﬁne must be paid to the governor, equal in value to six camels, a cow,
and seven sheep, and for the discharge of this debt the relatives are
held responsible. As disputes and sanguinary quarrels are frequent
between neighbouring villages, the governors derive a considerable
amount of revenue from the ﬁnes imposed upon parties who have
wounded their adversaries in a hostile encounter. The quantity of
sheep or dhoura exacted varies according to the importance of the
part wounded.
AUTHORITIES.
Wanderings in Arabia. By G. T. Lowth. 18-56.
Nubie. Par S. Cherubini.
Travels in Egypt and Nubia. By James Mangle. 1852.
Travels in Nubia. By John Lewis Burckhardt. I822.
The Heart of Africa. By Dr. George Schweinfurth. 1874.
Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa. By John Petherick. I861.
BARABRAS OR KENOOS. 265
BARABRAS OR KENOOS.
DONGOLA is situated in the Nile regions of Eastern Africa. It com-
prises a strip of territory which has the Libyan Desert to the east and
the Sahara to the west. Derr and Assouan, the two most important
Nubian towns, lie north of it, while Dar Shakeya forms its southern
boundary. The Nile traverses the whole region of country from north
to south. Beyond the junction of the White and Blue Nile the soil
is calcareous, and encloses a great quantity of the detritus of marine
plants that form friable porous rocks rich in fossil shells. Acacias
and nebek 1 trees are numerous, and the asclepias, which is very com-
mon, rises to the height of from ﬁfteen to twenty-ﬁve feet. The
largest towns are Old and New Dongola; the ﬁrst, which was once a
ﬂourishing city, is now reduced to a small village, but the last is a place
of some importance containing from three to four thousand inhabi-
tants. The population that inhabits various parts of Dongola are
partly Barabras of Libyo-Aramaean origin, and partly Bedouin Arabs,
the direct descendants of the conquerors of Egypt.
The Barabras are a Berber race closely allied to the Nubas, whom
they resemble in physical characteristics. They are of medium
stature, admirably well formed, of a nervous and elastic frame of body,
which is, however, wanting in muscular fulness. They have a glossy,
bronze complexion, black curly hair which is by no means woolly,
while their oval face is almost entirely beardless. Their eyes, which
are quite sparkling, are deep-seated, and are over-arched by full eye-
brows. They have a well-formed nose, slightly rounded at the
extremity, wide nostrils, a large mouth, and moderately thick lips.
They are gay, active, and lively, and carry their age well. Their
young women are quite good-looking, they are ﬁne-featured and have
elegant ﬁgures; but being exposed to hard labour, their charms soon
fade away, and they become ugly and unattractive early in life.
The moral character of the Barabras is not very prepossessing.
With light-heartedness and gaiety they combine sensuality and selﬁsh-
ness. They show the greatest repugnance to render the least service,
unless commanded to do so by their interest. They are deﬁcient in
public spirit, are wanting in the noble sentiment of gratitude, and
are entire strangers to the feelings of love and friendship. They are
sober and industrious from necessity, but they are unaccustomed to
persevering labour. They are not vindictive nor inclined to thieving,
and they are never actuated by a spirit of senseless fanaticism.
Formerly the Barabras built their houses of sun-dried bricks, but
1 Rhamnus lotus.
266 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
since the country has been devastated by the Mamelooks, the Sha-
keyas, and the Egyptians, most of the family dwellings are composed
of a frame of lattice-work, covered with large mats or with thatch of
straw or dhowra stalks. These huts are but temporary structures, and
can be transported from place to place with the greatest facility.
Their furniture consists of a bedstead (anlcareb) made of palm sticks
or straps ﬁxed to a square frame, several straw mats, a ﬂat stone
(molm'ake) to grind their grain, a small earthenware oven (doka) to
bake their bread, dishes (tabaké) of the plaited leaves of the doum-
palm, a large earthenware vessel (boorma) for holding water, small
earthenware pots (kabaisé) to prepare the bouza or sorghum beer,
gourds for keeping butter, sections of calabashes to serve as plates,
and a vase in which the perfumed ointment is preserved with which
the hair is rubbed. Large cylindrical vessels of clay, placed upon
pedestals of stone, and which are hermetically closed with a 'lid, con-
tain cotton, grain, dried okra or bamz'é, and other provisions.
The dress of the Dongola Barabras is simple and light. A square
piece of cotton drapery covers their shoulders, and, being girded round
the waist, it serves at the same time as breech cloth. Their feet are
protected by sandals kept in place by means of straps which form one
piece with the soles. A curved knife is fastened to the left arm by a.
leather bracelet, which is generally inscribed with some magic formula.
They sometimes carry a pair of pincers and a hollowed-out horn con-
taining odoriferous drugs. Their hair, which is anointed with butter,
falls down upon their neck in small ringlets. When travelling they
are armed with a straight sword, which is suspended obliquely below
the arm by a short strap. The women wear a petticoat of white
cotton cloth, provided with a red border, which is sufﬁciently ample
behind to cover both the shoulders and the back of the head. When
they are at work it is simply gathered round the waist, leaving
their shoulders and breast exposed. Their hair is plaited in tresses,
which are ornamented with silver bells and coral, and hang down over
the shoulders and breast. From their earlobes are suspended heavy
silver rings, and the rich have frequently a gold ring passed through
the cartilage of their nose. Strings of glass and amber beads hang
down the sides of their head and around their neck, and their ﬁngers
are encircled with silver rings, sometimes set with polished cornelians.
But the most highly-esteemed jewel is the sommz't, which is an agate
ﬁnely polished and pierced, presenting parallel bands of different
colours running vertical to the axis of the stone. The black variety,
variegated with white bands, is most highly valued. They tinge the
palms of their hands and their nails red with henna, and colour their
lips and eyelids black with sulphuret of antimony. Young girls simply
tie round their waist an apron of leather strings (mad), and some-
times they throw over their shoulders a scarf of cotton stuff. They
wear round their waist a girdle of partially polished cornelians of an
oblong form. Boys go entirely naked up to the age of ten.
The Barabras subsist principally on the products of the soil. They
bake unleavened bread of dhoum or dookhu ﬂour in the form of cakes,
which, with curdled milk, is their chief article of diet. Bean leaves,
BARABRAS OR KENOOS. 267-
boiled in water, form a favourite vegetable; but dates, beans, onions,
and okra, as well as maize, are frequently served up as food. It is
but rarely that they eat meat except on some public occasion. Fried
locusts are considered a ﬁne relish. They eat the ﬂesh and the fat of
the crocodile, which they kill with the object of securing the odoriferous
substance found in the gland of the lower jaw, which is used as a
perfume.
The Barabras are devoted to agriculture as their principal pursuit.
As the Nile does not rise sufficiently high to inundate the lands during
the summer season, the growing crop must be watered by artiﬁcial
irrigation, which is effected by waterwheels (sakz'a) operated by oxen.
The land is prepared for cultivation by loosening the soil with the
hoe, and dividing off the ﬁelds in squares more or less regular, sur-
rounded by a low border of earth, into which the water is conducted
by shallow ditches. Ordinarily, before sowing, a layer of fat earth,
obtained from the desert, is spread over the surface of the ﬁeld.
Two harvests are gathered in the same year, though not from the
same piece of ground. The ﬁrst sowing is made in September, as
.soon as the inundation has subsided, and the harvest is gathered in
January. This is immediately followed by another sewing, and the
second crop is fully ripe in May. The principal products cultivated
are dhoura or sorghum, a species of millet called dookhu, maize, and,
in more recent times, also wheat and barley. Along the river banks
are sown‘ lupins and beans, which attain to full maturity without
artiﬁcial irrigation. A little patch of ground is reserved near the
waterwheel for the production of cotton, bamié (Hibiscus esculentus),
onions, tobacco, and palma christi, of which the seeds are converted
into oil. The date-palm, which is rather rare, receives some attention.
Young boys or slaves attend to the cattle that operate the water-
wheels, they open and close the ditches that lead to the ﬁelds, and
they drive away the birds when the harvest is near maturity. Some
few are engaged in mechanical pursuits, but they only attend to their
work for two or three hours a day. They weave cotton and woollen
stuffs of ‘a coarse texture on a primitive loom, forge various articles of
iron, and produce some rude carpenter’s work.
The hunters of hippopotami and the ﬁshermen form a separate
class called hawa'wz't. They conduct boats made of heavy planks,
having a ﬂat bottom, which are propelled by oars, and are principally
used for ferrying the river. The ﬁshermen make use of canoes about
ten feet long, which are nothing more than hollowed-out tree trunks,
and are only capable of carrying two or three persons. Eish are
principally caught during the night with large nets made of cotton
twine 3 but the hook and line are also employed. The season most
favourable for securing the crocodile is the winter, when it crawls out
to the sandy banks to go to sleep in the sun 3 or during spring, when
the female watches the eggs she has buried in the sand. The hunter,
having marked the spot which the crocodile is in the habit of visiting,
conceals himself behind a heap of sand, and whenever he ﬁnds the
animal asleep he strikes it with his harpoon, which causes the wounded
reptile immediately to plunge into the water, carrying along a light
268 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
piece of wood which ﬂoats on the surface, and thus indicates the
direction which it is taking. The hunter follows in a. canoe kept
ready for this purpose, and as soon as the monster shows itself on the
surface it is struck by a second harpoon. The wounded crocodile is
soon exhausted from the loss of blood, and is easily dragged on land
by the ropes attached to the harpoons, where it is ﬁnally despatched
by plunging a lance into its neck and breaking the spinal column.
The hunters of hippopotami espy the favourable moment when in the
course of the day the animal comes out on the sandy banks of the
Nile to sleep, or when it leaves the river at night to ‘feed in the
dhoara ﬁelds. Arrived at the distance of seven feet, the hunter hurls
his barbed javelins into the ﬂanks of the huge beast, which causes it
to plunge into the water, where a piece of wood attached to a rope
ﬂoats on the surface, while with another rope also connected with the
javelins, but held in the hands of the hunters by the ends, the bleed-
ing animal is gradually drawn up to the large boat in which they are
embarked. Rendered desperate by pain the hippopotamus often seizes
with his teeth the edge of the heavy craft and tries to capsize it, in
which supreme effort it sometimes succeeds, and no other resource is
left to the hunters but to save themselves by swimming. But
generally, as soon as it shows itself above the water half a dozen
harpoons are stuck into its bleeding sides, and the hunters endeavour
to cut its throat or split its skull with their lances. The carcass is
either dragged to the banks to be cut up, or if too heavy it is cut up
in the water and is brought piecemeal to land.
The commercial relations of Dongola with Egypt and Kordofan are
insigniﬁcant. The Barabras have no surplus productions for export
except a small quantity of dates and wheat. Formerly they had some
rich merchants in the country who annually visited Senaar, Kordofan,
and Darfour, .whose productions they transported to the southern part
of the Nile regions. The inland trade is now principally conﬁned to
retail dealers, who visit the markets of large villages, where they sell
imported goods to supply the wants of the country.
The Barabras speak a dialect of the Berber language, which is greatly
intermixed with Arabic words. It differs from the dialect spoken by
the N ubas, but they‘ nevertheless mutually understand each other.
The Dongola Barabras are naturally a gay and cheerful people.
They love amusement and pleasure, and never fail, on all proper
occasions, to pass their time in singing and dancing, when they
liberally indulge in drinking bouza, which is their favourite drink.
They do not smoke the pipe, but chew tobacco which, mixed with
soda, is enveloped in a piece of worsted and is placed between the
lips and the gums.
The Barabra women'form the most industrious part of the popula-
tion. They not only attend to the labours of the household, but they
grind the grain, bake the bread, fetch the water for domestic use from
the river, gather the cereals in harvest time, separate the grain from
the straw by beating it with sticks, and in addition to all this they
clean and spin the cotton. Courtesans are very common and they
have ready access to the best families. They are generally women
BABABRAS OR KEN OOS. 269
who have been abandoned by their husbands, or they are negro slaves
who follow the trade of prostitution for the beneﬁt of their masters.
An ancient law declares the illegitimate child of a free woman to be
the slave of the melcls, but this severe law did not put a stop to the
most dissolute practices.
Girls are given away in marriage by their mother at the age of ten
or eleven, and the suitor is bound to pay to the parents a stipulated
sum, half in money and the other half in cattle and clothing. The
last constitutes the dowry of the bride, but the money is retained by
the mother, who is, however, bound to take back her daughter and
support her if her husband sees ﬁt to repudiate her, which happens
very frequently. The divorced wife is charged with the care of the
children until they have reached the age of seven years, then the
father takes the boys and the girls remain with their mother. The
repudiated wife is at liberty to marry again, and she can be purchased at
one-third less of what she was estimated when she was a young girl.
The Barabras bury their dead in a common cemetery. The body
of the deceased is placed on a kind of litter, and is carried to the
place of burial accompanied by a numerous escort. The relations kill
a cow in commemoration of the event, and those who attend the
funeral are invited to a feast. At the close of the banquet the guests
evince their sympathy for their mourning friends by the performance
of the funeral dance.
The Barabras were formerly governed by independent chiefs, who
bore the title of melek, and who exercised absolute and despotic
authority. They administered justice in person, but in cases of great
importance they always consulted the notables of the community.
Since the country has been conquered by the Egyptians a provincial
governor is invested with the highest executive power. Justice is
administered by the military officers, who are not controlled by legal
principles, but render their decision according to their caprice. An
appeal lies, however, from their judgment or sentence to the provincial
governor. The military oﬂicers may remove the meleks at pleasure
and appoint others in their place, and they now act as subordinate
magistrates and as tax collectors, receiving for their services a small
salary from the government.
The Barabra peasants are most oppressively taxed by the Egyptian
government. The tax imposed is estimated according to the number
of waterwheels, and is partly paid in money and partly in provisions,
of which the quantity is arbitrarily ﬁxed. From time to time
extraordinary contributions are also levied. In addition to all these
exactions, the beneﬁciaries of each waterwheel are bound to furnish
to the government a certain quantity of butter, sheep, tobacco, onions,
cotton, coal, leather bags, fowls, and hay. After these extortionate
demands are satisﬁed the tillers of the soil have hardly enough left to
supply the necessary wants for the support of themselves and families,
notwithstanding that they live in the most frugal way. The Barabras
are also obliged to assist in hauling the boats up the river at the
requisition of the government, and they are bound to render this
service gratuitously.
2_7o THE‘ ARAMEAN STOCK.
The Dongola Barabras profess the Mohamedan religion, but they
are not strict in the observance of their religious ceremonials. They
habitually neglect the daily ablutions and prayers, though, by ﬁts and
starts, they follow the routine practice with much regularity, especially
when they intend to start out on a long voyage or wish to undertake
an enterprise of doubtful success. They are, however, faithful
observers of the fast of Rhamadan. In almost every village a fakz'r
is found who is acquainted with the reading and writing of Arabic,
and possesses a complete knowledge of the religious ceremonies of
Islamism. He acts as schoolmaster and instructs the boys in reading
and writing their prayers. He writes charms on scraps of paper or
leather, which the Barabras hang about their person as a protection
against the evil eye and the ravages of the hippopotami.
AUTHORITIES.
Reisen in Nubien, Kordofan, und den petr'aischen Arabian. Von Dr.
Edward Riippel. 1829.
La Soudan Orientale. Par Pierre Tremaux. 18 54.
THE BERBERS. 27 1
THE BERBERS.
THE Berbers are the most numerous of the surviving Libyan races.
When North Africa was invaded by foreign conquerors who differed
from them in language, in government, in religion, and in manners,
they retreated southward and occupied all vacant habitable spots in
the heart and on the borders of the desert. Here, divided into many
distinct tribes, they formed small independent settlements governed
by local chiefs. Although in close contact with the Nigritian races,
they did not intermix with them, but successfully protected themselves
against encroachments and hostile incursions by their superior prowess
and skilful use of arms.
The Bedjahs are the oldest and most distinctly marked of the
Nubian Berbers, but the Meyrfabs are more civilised and their social
organisation has attained a higher order of development. Their com-
plexion varies from a dark-red brown to a shade inclining to dusky
yellow. They are of medium stature, have a robust frame, their legs
and feet are muscular, and they are generally well formed. Their face
is oval, their nose has the Grecian outline, and the upper lip is rather
thick, but their cheekbones are not prominent. Their hair is bushy
and strong, and either forms itself into curls when cut short or stands
out in bristling tufts when allowed to grow long. Their beard is
scanty, except below the chin and on the upper lip, which is covered
with a short moustache. Their form and features, taken as a whole,
stamp them as a handsome race.
The moral character of the Meyrfabs is of a low order. Their
manners are corrupt and depraved. Drunkenness and debauchery are
universally prevalent without the restraint of a healthy public opinion.
Their licentious disposition knows no check 3 their treachery is insidious
.and base, their avidity and love of gain are boundless and insatiable.
When prompted by interest, truth, justice, and right are entirely dis-
regarded, and no engagement is considered as binding. This inordinate
desire of accumulating the perishable things of earth fosters the
blackest ingratitude; it continually gives rise to fraud and deception;
and money is the impulsive‘ force which instigates the commission of
the most heinous crimes. They are polite in their speech and friendly
in their professions, and when abroad they love to boast of the excel-
lency of their institutions and the elevated standard of their moral
habits. In their temper they are light-hearted and cheerful 3 they are
always in a merry mood, and they pass their idle hours in joking,
laughing, or singing, or when alone in the retired corner of their home
they smoke their favourite pipe. They are entirely destitute of pride,
272 THE ARAMlEAN STOCK.
and superiority of rank or class, if it exists at all, is altogether
dependent on adventitious circumstances. Their hospitality towards
strangers is seemingly profuse and liberal, but they never fail, in the
end, to exact'presents from the traveller whom they entertain far
exceeding in value the articles of food furnished for the support and
comfort of their guests.1
The Bedjahs still retain all the noble traits of character fostered by
the simple and unsophistical habits of nomadic life. They are generous
and liberal towards each other, act with good faith in all their engage-
ments, and are generous and muniﬁcent in their hospitality.
The Bedjahs are pastoral tribes and live in tents covered with pre-
pared ox-hides, which they carry with them whenever they break up
their camp and change their pasture ground. But the Meyrfabs form
regular and permanent village communities. The houses are rarely
ranged in a line, and are generally separated from each other by court-
yards by which they are surrounded. They are substantial structures
built of mud or sun-dried bricks, with a number of rooms all around
on the ground floor opening into a spacious court. Of the ﬁve different
apartments of a private dwelling two are occupied by the family 5 one
is the reception-room where guests and strangers are entertained 5 one
serves as a storeroom, and one is reserved for the female slaves or the
public women of the town, who, being enfranchised slaves, are the
inmates of the household of the wealthier classes.
The ordinary furniture is conﬁned to a sofa and a bedstead, which
is a four-legged wooden frame, the upper surface being covered with
reed-sheeting or strips of ox leather. The women sleep on the ﬂoor
spread with reed mats, or a covering made of small pieces of leather
sewn together. The storeroom is well supplied with dhoara, butter
kept in sheep skins, jars of honey, waterskins used in travelling, and
sometimes also a considerable quantity of dried meat. The courtyard
forms the most important part of the premises. Here all business is
transacted, here the master of the house sleeps during the hot season
on a bench, a bedstead, or on the ground 5 here the horses, the sheep,
the camels, and cows are fed on dry dhow’a stalks during the summer
when the ﬁelds are parched and the grass and herbs are withered.
Both men and women wear a shirt of wool or cotton as their ordi_
nary dress. The women of the higher classes fasten round their waist
a blue calico wrapper (gourbah), which reaches halfway down the
legs, while the upper part of the body remains exposed 5 and it is only
on going abroad that they throw over their shoulders a white muslin
scarf (fertile) set off with a red border, under the folds of which they
conceal their face with only one keen, piercing eye uncovered. Young
girls are frequently seen entirely naked, except a girdle of leather

1 Dr. Schweinfurth states that, since the visit of Burckhardt to that part of
Africa, a change for the better has taken place in the moral condition of the
Berbers, owing, as he says, to the more rigid government of the Turks and the
increasing physical luxury of the people; and he adds that in their own'houses
he never found them to be otherwise than quiet and harmless. It is, however,
probable, that Schweinfurth speaks of a tribe different from that described in the
text. See Schweinfurth’s Heart of Africa, vol. ii. p. 320.
THE BERBERS. 273
tassels (rachat) which covers the loins. The young women are loaded
with ornamental baubles. They twine strings of agate and amber
round their waist ; suspend from their neck necklaces of red coral and
amber heads 3 encircle their wrists with bracelets of ivory or black
horn, and string round their ankles various coloured beads. They
wear clumsy silver rings, set with long square stones, on their ﬁngers;
large and heavy pendants of gold are suspended from their ears ; and
many carry their extravagance of personal ornamentation to such an
excess as to perforate their nose, inserting in the hole a massive gold
ring or a piece of'coral. The wealthier classes substitute ﬁne silver
ﬁligree ornaments for beads, and encase their feet in brown leather
sandals imported from Arabia. One of the favourite articles of adorn-
ment‘ is the sommz't, which is worn round the neck. It is composed
of long tubular pieces of agate tapering at each end, which are alter-
nately striped black, brown, and white. Both sexes rub their bodies
almost daily with fresh butter, or use ointment (dillca) composed of
sweet oil, sheep’s fat mixed with soap, sandalwood, and other pulver-
ised aromatics. It is rubbed on the bare skin by means of dough,
and possesses refreshing as well as cleansing properties. Those who
ﬁnd it their interest to make an impression by their personal appearance
blacken their eyelids with Icohl. The hair is generally plaited accord-
ing to the fancy of the wearer. It is, however, the common fashion
to arrange the hair in small ﬂat plaits so as to ﬁt closely like a skull
cap, which hang down all round the sides and the back of the head;
or it is sometimes plaited on the top of the head, while the loose ends
are combed out and stiffened with gum so as to form a convex bristly
covering which takes the place of an artiﬁcial headgear.
The food of the Bedjahs is restricted to the ﬂesh and milk of their
ﬂocks and herds, and they are extremely temperate in their habits.
The Meyrfabs, on the other hand, although ordinarily abstemious,
indulge in excesses, especially in the evening, when they meet to
carouse and revel in unrestrained license. Dhoura bread is the chief
article of food. The dhoura grain being ground between two ﬂat
stones, water is added from time to time during the operation so as to
change the ﬂour into a kind of paste, which is left to stand for twenty
four or twenty-six hours in earthen jars until slight fermentation takes
place and it thus acquires a sourish taste. It is then thinly spread
over an iron plate, or a thin ﬂat stone placed over the ﬁre, and in
three or four minutes the dhoura cake is sufficiently baked. When
the necessary quantity has been prepared they are brought hot to the
table, and a sauce or broth, or broth and milk, are poured over them.
The sauce is prepared from a mucilaginous vegetable called bamz'eh}
and pounded dry beef highly seasoned with salt, pepper, spices, and
aromatic herbs. This constitutes the common dish for dinner as well
as supper, to which an abundance of milk is added; and if camel’s
ﬂesh, beef, or mutton is served up, it is either boiled or roasted. A
thick porridge made of maize or millet ﬂour, piled up in a wooden
bowl in conical form, is frequently eaten with bam-ieh sauce as a

1 Hibiscum esculentum, commonly known as okra.
274 THE ARAMZEAN STOOK.
substitute for bread. Dates boiled with bread, meat, and milk are
highly relished as most delicate food, but they are only used on great
occasions. Coffee, which is imported from Abyssinia, is drunk in
moderate proportions by the merchants and other people of means.
For travelling purposes the clhou'ra ﬂour is baked into cakes, which
are broken up into small pieces, are ‘well toasted over a ﬁre, and are
then thoroughly dried in the sun. They are eaten with melted
butter, and are not only quite palatable but form a convenient article
of food on a long journey. A handful of these dry crumbs is some-
times soaked in water which, after having acquired a sourish taste,
is called the “ caravans’ beverage” (shcm'bet eZ jcZZabc), and forms a
favourite drink among traders during the hot summer months.
The Berbers are excessively fond of a kind of beer called bouza,
which has highly nourishing properties, and some inveterate topers
prefer it to other more substantial food. All classes without distinction
of sex or condition—fakirs only excepted—indiscriminately partake
of the exhilarating draught, which has become with them an article
of ﬁrst necessity. It is prepared from strongly leavened clhoum bread,
which is thoroughly mashed and mixed with water, and is then boiled
over a slow ﬁre for several hours. On being removed a sufficient quantity
of fresh water is added and it is left to ferment for two nights.
There are two qualities of bouza, which are determined by the degree
of fermentation it has undergone. The 'mcm'm beam, which is the
common beverage, is thick like a soup or pottage, while the 0m baZbeZ,
or “mother of the nightingale,” 1 is strained through cloth and is pure
and liquid. It has a pleasant, sharp, and sourish taste.
In the evening friends and neighbours meet, and sitting round a
large gourd placed on the ground which contains the favourite drink,
the liquor is handed round to each of the company, in turn, in a small
gourd of the size of a tea-cup. Sometimes the drinking-bout begins
by ﬁrst distributing roast meat highly seasoned with pepper.
Most of the Meyrfabs are not only agriculturists but they are
largely engaged in the breeding of domestic animals. As their villages
skirt the banks of the Nile, they cultivate an extremely narrow strip
of land, which is fertilised by the annual inundations, while the
higher lands, which would be equally productive, are allowed to lie
waste for want of irrigation, as there are but few waterwheels, and
these are entirely inadequate to supply the demand. The tillage of
the soil requires but little labour, for their cultivation is restricted to
small patches, and no plough is used, because the ground is as expedi-
tiously broken up with the spade. After the inundation has subsided
and the soil is manured with a nitrous earth brought from the mountains,
dhoum and a little barley is sown; the former constitutes the staple
produce of the land and forms the most important article of consump—
tion. The vegetables cultivated are limited to onions, kidney beans,
and okra. N 0 fruit trees of any kind are planted, but the lotus
(nebek) grows wild. Their principal riches, however, are their cattle,
which are of the best breeds. They are pastured during the summer

1 S0 called because it makes the drunkard sing. Burckhardt’s Nubia.
THE BERBERS. 275
‘ and kiss.
and early spring in the Bisharein mountains, and the keepers under
whose care they are placed live in tents and lead a wandering life.
Their cows are of middling size and are remarkable for a lump of fat
(on the foreshoulder. They supply the milk which enters so largely
into their daily consumption. Their sheep are destitute of wool, but
.are simply covered with hair like goats. Their camels and drome-
‘daries are short-haired and are of the best breed, capable of enduring
great hardship and fatigue. Asses are employed as beasts of burden
and in the ordinary drudgeries of farm labour. Horses are equally
common, and almost every family owns at least one, either as a luxury
or to be used in the event of a war with their neighbours, when the
horsemen brought into the ﬁeld almost always decide the contest.
After the harvest has been gathered and the produce has been laid
up in store, the farming gentry of Berbera, which is the capital and
the largest town of the province, turn their attention to commercial
pursuits—an irrepressible trading spirit being one of their principal
‘traits of character. Much opportunity is aﬁorded for the exercise of
their faculty of cunning and deception, for Berbera is a depot of
merchandise suitable for the southern trade, and is a regular halting—
place where the caravans from Egypt dispose of a portion of their
commodities. The medium of exchange, which subserves the purpose
of a common currency, is dhoum measured out in handfuls (selgas),
when articles of little value are purchased 3 but large amounts are
either paid in coarse cotton cloth (dam-mom‘), used for making shirts,
or in Spanish dollars and Egyptian gold, silver, and copper coin.
The Bedjahs are exclusively pastoral tribes. They have numerous
herds of stout-horned cattle and extensive ﬂocks of spotted sheep.
They rear a great number of fawn-coloured dromedaries, which are
highly valued for their extraordinary swiftness and their ability to
support thirst and forced marches.
The language of the Meyrfabs lends itself to the most polite
phrases, and although their mind is debased by voluptuousness and
sensuality, yet they still maintain in their social intercourse a show
‘of outward decorum. The honeyed words uttered, and the ceremonial
formalities observed in their salutations, give only greater prominence
to their habitual levity. After a long absence it is the general practice
‘to kiss and shake hands. \Vomen are treated with much respect by
the men. On meeting a female acquaintance they touch her forehead
with the tip of their ﬁngers which they afterwards press to their lips
A common expression in saluting is “Shedc'd ?” (strong ?),
or “ Is your health good?” or it is ampliﬁed into “Nauleh tayeb .? ”
“ Is your sole well?” which in plain language means “ Are you well
enough to walk about as much as you like?” “Tayeb?” (well .?),
several times repeated, is, however, the most usual salutation. The
word salam is used only by religious men who have some slight know-
ledge of Arabic. After the death of a friend or acquaintance his
near relatives, on ﬁrst meeting, are made the object of sympathy
and condolence by kneeling down by their side and howling out in a
plaintive tone of voice the dolesome lamentation, “Fz' sabal Allah! ﬁ
.sabalAZZah! ” “In the road of God! in the road of God!” signifying
_,__,,_.._._ ~ -~\\
, ._, n r
, ‘-
Wkmuds-uhaMu-h #1- “NM’”: " "
276 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
that the deceased has passed to heaven in the right way and was sure
of the divine favour. The person who thus pays his compliments to‘
the bereaved relation is then taken by the hand and raised up, and
the common salutation passes between them.
Among the Meyrfabs parents dispose of their daughters in marriage
whenever an acceptable suitor presents himself who is able to pay the
amount of dowry money which is proportioned to the rank and
fortune of the bride’s father. Although polygamy is a legal institution,
yet few have more than one wife; but most men who are possessed
of sufficient means keep a slave or mistress, called companion, either
in their own house or in a separate establishment. Enfranchised
slave girls still remain under the protection of their former master 5
they occupy a room in the family dwelling for which they pay rent,
and earn the wages of sin by selling their charms to the ﬁrst comer,
and dealing out boaza to regular customers that visit their establishment
to while away the evening hours in drunkenness and debauchery.
When a death occurs the falm'rs and other religious persons meet
to read passages from the Koran, while the women assemble in an
adjoining room, singing funeral dirges to the sound of the tambourine,
and uttering the most piercing shrieks and yells during the greater
part of the night. If the deceased was wealthy a cow or camel is
killed, but ordinarily a sheep is considered suﬂicient to regale those
who assist in the funeral service; and on this occasion the poor are
not neglected, for they receive their share of the broth and roasted
meat which is distributed among them in the courtyard.
The Berbers are nominally Mohamedans, but there are only a few
respectable men who strictly comply with its religious Observances,
and religion does not seem to have any perceptible inﬂuence on their
life and conduct. They nevertheless practise circumcision, and
among some of the tribes a similar operation is performed on female
children.
Among the Meyrfabs the wealthier classes send one of their sons,
at least, to one of the schools of the adjoining provinces to be educated,
that they may become entitled to the professional distinction of falter
or learned man of the law. Here they are taught to read and write
Arabic, and commit to memory the usual Mohamedan prayers and
as many passages of the Koran as they can possibly retain. After
having passed a certain course of studies they return home and become
not only spiritual guides and the leading men of the community, but
they give an example of decency and moral propriety by abstaining
from smoking, drinking bouza in the public-houses, or frequenting the
dens of debauchery. They are initiated at school into the secret of
writing amulets and charms, and they avail themselves of this extra-
ordinary supernatural gift and sell for an adequate compensation love
ﬁlters which, if swallowed, will soften the heart of the obdurate
maiden, or convert into an ardent lover the indifferent swain; or on
offering a proper inducement they write out a potent charm that will
extinguish the scorching ﬁre of fever, or drive out from their hiding
place other malignant diseases.
The chief who formerly claimed supreme executive authority among
THE BERBERS. 277
the Berber tribes is called melal The members of the family bore the
title of ms or head. The power which the 772676 exercised was some-
what capricious, and its subordinate relations were by no means
conducted with systematic regularity. Law and order, right and
justice, were entirely beyond the competency of the mek’s government.
All matters in dispute were adjusted between the contending parties
by the law of the stronger. The most prominent men in the com-
munity, whose connections were extensive and who could muster a
large force, by far overbalanced the inﬂuence of the chief ,' they decided
every contest in their own favour, and protected their interest with
their strong arm. Family feuds were of common occurrence, and
frequently, when in a state of intoxication, the rival antagonists
embittered the strife by making the knife or the sword the arbiter of
their contention.
The rights of property were but little respected. The unwary
stranger was sometimes stripped of his goods and possessions by being
enticed to engage in an illicit amour with one of their women in order
to be blackmailed by her relatives who, pretending to be indignant
at this act of infamy, threatened to take vengeance for the dishonour
brought upon their house.
In a social point of view, the melt and his family enjoyed but little
distinction. He had a more ample revenue which he derived from
the transit duty exacted from the traders and caravans, which was
paid in silver dollars, (Zammom' cloth, or other merchandise. He was
also the beneﬁciary of numerous presents intended to conciliate his
favour. He disbursed his means with considerable liberality. He
kept a large establishment of male and female slaves ; had a number
of horses and ﬁne dromedaries ; daily entertained ﬁfty persons belong-
ing to his household, and graciously dispensed the bounties of his
hospitality to numerous strangers.
Since Soudan has been conquered by the Egyptians during the
revolutionary and energetic rule of Mehemed Ali, Berber is a provincial
dependency of the Egyptian viceroyalty, and all administrative and
:military affairs are controlled exclusively by the governor of the
province, who is appointed by the Khedive, and is in direct communi-
rcation with the minister of the interior department at Cairo, to whom
he is responsible in all matters relating to his administration. His
authority is supported by a suﬂicient number of troops, composed of
regular infantry and irregular cavalry, placed at his disposal. The
province is divided into districts, whose local affairs are managed by
;a subordinate officer called kashef, who acts as collector of taxes, and
is accompanied in his collecting tour by a number of armed horsemen
to enforce his authority in case resistance should be offered to his
demands, which are sometimes extortionate. Every village community
elects its own headman, subject to the ratiﬁcation of the government.
Berbera, the capital of the province, is built on a gravelly slope
on the east bank of the Nile. It is skirted with well laid-outgardens,
which are planted with fruitbearing date-palms, oranges, lemons,
1 This word seems to be a contraction of melek.
278 THE ,ARAMZEAN STOCK.
limes, ﬁgs, pomegranates, bananas, and grape vines. It contains about
ten thousand inhabitants, and since the downfall of Shendy, in con-
sequence of the murder of Ishmael Pasha, the commanding general of"
the Soudan invasion, it has become a commercial centre of considerable
importance. The most capacious and most substantial building is the
Divan, where all government business is transacted. It is constructed
of red brick, has a ﬂat roof, with all the oﬂices and apartments on the-
ground ﬂoor, which corresponds with the general style of architecture
of the town. The principal streets are lined on both sides with shops,
which form bazaars where every article of merchandise in general
demand is offered for sale, cotton cloth forming the most useful as-
well as the most valuable staple commodity. Most of the houses are
built of sun—dried bricks, and are plastered with a-kind of mortar made
of cattle dung mixed with sand, to protect them from the washing
effect of the rain during the wet season. The principal apartment
consists of a lofty room with a central column supporting a transverse
beam, which gives stability and ﬁrmness to the roof. Contiguous to-
it, on one or both sides of it, are smaller rooms which are used as
lodging places for servants and as storerooms. Small apertures high
up in the walls serve as windows, but frequently the door is the only
opening through which light is admitted.
The cmkarcb, composed of a frame strung with strips of bullock’s or-
camel’s hide, and covered with a coloured palm-leaf mat, is an indis-
pensable piece of furniture, which serves the double purpose of a seat
in@ the daytime and a sleeping couch at night. N eatly-woven mats
are spread on the ﬂoor, and a few stools are scattered round the side~
walls or in the corners; wooden bowls, plates, .and basins of willow
ware, of native manufacture, are suspended from pegs by means of
leather thongs or palm-leaf strings. A separate hut is set apart as-
kitchen, where the meals are prepared, and where the dhow'a or millet
is ground into flour by the women or slaves between two slabs of
smooth granite or sandstone. The lower stone, being the largest, is
ﬁxed in a bed of clay, while the grinding process is performed by the--
backward and forward motion of the upper stone. Three large stones, '
or three lumps of baked clay, constitute the hearth where the ﬁre is
kindled, and a negro kitchen~maid keeps her watchful eye on the-
boiling pot.
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Nubia. By John Lewis Burckhardt. 1822.
N ubie. Par S. Cherubini.
Travels and Discoveries of North and Central Africa. By Henry Barth..
1857.
Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa. By John Petherick. I861.
Voyage a Meroé, au Fleuve Blane. Par Frederic Cailliaud. 1829.
ABADDE. * . '579
ABADDE.
THE elevated desert plateau of Upper Egypt is a continuation of the
Libyan Desert, interrupted only by the Nile valley, and extends from
there to the western shore of the Red Sea, interspersed here and there
by mountain ridges. The geological formation of the country is char~
acterised by tertiary, numulitic limestone on the side of the Nile
valley. In the eastern portion of the desert the Nubian sandstone
is most prevalent, and the mountain ranges are mostly composed of
diorite, granite, and a variety of porphyritic rocks. Limestone hills
rise in the direction of the Red Sea, which extend as far as the primi-
tive mountains. The climate is dry and hot, and during summer the
sky is almost always cloudless. It is only occasionally that the accu-
mulated clouds of the mountain regions pour down their refreshing
showers upon the dry and thirsty land ; but a north wind may dis—
perse the promising rain messengers, and it sometimes happens that
no heavy rainfalls occur during two, three, or even four years. Men
and animals are dependent for their water supply on the springs and
wells, and even vegetation ﬂourishes only in spots that arev partially
watered from these sources and partly from the copious mountain
rains which penetrate the soil and diffuse considerable moisture to a
great distance. The desert is thus supplied with a speciﬁc vegetation
adapted to the soil and climate. The zilla or camel-thorn, a bush
bearing cruciferous blossoms, is most abundant, and on this the camel
feeds both in the green and the dry state. The Leptodenia pyrotech-
nica is a leaﬂess shrub which is also sought as food by the camel.
The Zygophyllum is a succulent salt plant, and is the natural product
of the climate and the soil. The other most remarkable plants are
the ‘Cleome with its peculiar odour, the labiate Leobordia, the are-
matic Pulicaria and Brochia, the rough-haired Eorskalea and Anchusa,
an odourless Reseda, and the Lotus Arabicus, which represents here
the papilionaceous family. The fruit-bearing trees are the date, the
Balamites fEgyptiaca, the ﬁg, the caper bush, the thorny Lycium, and
several others. The coast plants are the Avicennia, the N itraria, the
Salicornia, the Statice, and the Suaeda, all plants that ﬂourish in salty
soil. Among quadrupeds the most numerous are hyenas, lynxes,
foxes, jackals, gazelles, and the stonebuck (Capra bcden). Of birds,
the best known are eagles, vultures, falcons, and owls.
The country occupied by the Abadde is the mountain desert situated
between the Nile valley and the Red Sea, and extends from -Siut-to
the cataracts of the Nile. A few of them have spread to the Nubian
Desert in the direction of Soudan, while others have formed perma-
280 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
nent settlements and follow the pursuit of agriculture. Their aggre-
gate number is estimated at thirty thousand souls.
The Abadde, although they speak Arabic and are Mohamedans by
religious profession, yet they are not of Arabic descent, but belong to
the Libyan branch of the Aramaean stock. They are very probably
of Berber origin 5 they can hardly be a remnant of the ancient
Egyptians that have sought refuge in the wilderness to escape the
sword of the invading enemy.
The physical characteristics of the Abadde differ materially from
those of the Egyptian Bedouins of undoubted Arabic origin with
whom they came formerly only in contact in hostile encounters.
They are of medium stature, well formed, are lean, and are wanting
in muscularlfulness. Their complexion is a dark brown, which some-
.times assumes a blackish cast, and their hair is black, long, straight,
or curled. Their head is dolichocephalous1 and orthognathous, and
their face is oval. They have large ﬁery eyes, a straight but rather
short and broad nose, a moderately sized mouth and full lips. Their
neck is long and slender, and their ears are small and roundish.
The moral character of the Abadde is quite mild and humane.
They are good-natured, well-disposed, are honest in the ordinary
affairs of life, and are of a timid and peaceable disposition. They are
grateful for favours received, but they never beg even when pressed
by necessity. They are too poor to be generous and hospitable
towards strangers, but they show themselves sufficiently liberal towards
their visiting friends or to men of distinction of their own people.
Formerly, when the Egyptian government exercised but slight control
over the Bedouins of the desert, they were treacherous and cruel
towards their enemies, and they never failed to strip of their posses-
sions and plunder travellers that passed through their territory
unprotected. They are moderately intelligent, are well acquainted
with the indigenous animal and vegetable productions of their country,
and their capacity for tracing the footsteps of men or animals in the
.pathless desert is very remarkable.
The dwellings of the Abadde are poor, miserable, tentelike huts
forming an oblong square, composed of a few posts stuck into the
ground and crossed in the middle by a ridge pole, which is the main
support of the slanting roof. This rude frame is covered with straw
mats or with cloth, which is generally much worn. One of the sides,
which serves as entrance, is either entirely open or is partially closed
by a curtain. The interior capacity of this homestead is very con-
tracted, the room is only from four to six feet long and about four
feet high, so that it is impossible for a grown person to stand upright.
In the suburbs of Koseir they have permanent huts made of loam or
rough stones, and a few even inhabit, as of old, the neighbouring
limestone caverns. The ﬁre is kindled in the centre of the ﬂoor, and
the hearth is marked by a few stones. Their household outﬁt is as
scanty as their dwelling is mean and insigniﬁcant. Their cooking

1§The head is called dolichocephalous when the maximum transverse diameter
is:7 5.00 less than the antero-posterior diameter. .
ABADDE. 28 I
.vessels are of clay or talc, they have water and milk bags of leather,
cups, bowls, and dishes of wood, stones for crushing grain, a straw
mat or a rough woollen carpet.
The dress of the Abadde is restricted to a loin-cloth, over which
‘they wear a long white shirt ; but the last is not an indispensable article
of their costume, for they strip themselves of it whenever the summer
heat is too oppressive. During the winter season they protect them-
selves from the sudden changes of temperature by throwing a striped
woollen mantle over their shoulders. They generally go bareheaded as
'well as barefooted, unless they are, perchance, provided with sandals.
They anoint their bodies with grease, suspend rings from their earlobes,
strap a short knife sheathed in a scabbard round their left upper arm,
and sometimes fasten a straight sword to their girdle. They are very
rarely armed with a shield, and they never carry a gun. They let
their hair hang down loosely behind, while in front it is gathered
into a curly bunch. The costume of the women differs altogether
from that of the men. They wrap a square piece of white cloth, in
the form of a petticoat, round their body, which passes beneath the
armpits, leaves both arms and generally both shoulders entirely
exposed, and reaches down to the ankles. In addition to this they
wear a mantle-like white drapery, which is of sufﬁciently large
dimensions to conceal their whole person, and that worn during
winter is frequently of brown worsted. Their ornaments are ear-
rings, necklaces, armlets, anklets, and nose-rings, which are all either
of brass, glass beads, or shells. A fringed apron is the only article of
dress worn by little girls. The women braid their hair in numerous
tresses which hang all around the head.
The staple articles of diet of the Abadde are dhom'a and milk.
The ﬁrst is either eaten in the natural state or it is converted into
nnleavened cakes. It is but rarely that they taste of the meat of
their herds and ﬂocks, but the ﬂesh of hyenas, hares, springmice,
foxes, and gazelles is eaten with much relish whenever they are
successful in killing one of these animals. The coast tribes subsist
principally on ﬁsh, shellﬁsh, crabs, and polyps.
The Abadde are nomadic tribes, and as they are devoted to pastoral
pursuits the rearing of domestic animals is their principal occupation.
They have neither cattle nor horses, but their stock is chieﬂy conﬁned
to camels, goats, and sheep. A few of them are perhaps owners of a
donkey, but all are well supplied with dogs. They only ﬁnd good
pastures in the lowlands, if the winter rains have been sufficiently
copious ; but during the dry season they are compelled to drive their
herds and ﬂocks to the distant mountain regions to ﬁnd suitable
feeding-grounds. They hire out their camels to caravans and travellers
that pass through their country, or they act as camel-drivers for wages.
The Shora-Abadde, who inhabit the coast, feed their camels, sheep,
.and goats throughout the whole year with the leaves of the shora-
tree (Am'cenm'ct Qﬁicz'nalz's), which in those regions forms dense
forests. They also fell the trees, and the wood is an important
article of trafﬁc. Like the other coast tribes they are much engaged
in ﬁshing, and the large quantities of ﬁsh they take are prepared for
282 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
market by being cut up and salted. The ﬁsh are principally secured
during ebb time around the cliffs by spearing them, for they have
neither boats nor canoes 5 they do not trust their precious life to the
ﬁckle waves, and it is only occasionally that they make use of circular
dip nets. Some of the more settled tribes rear, in addition to other
domestic animals, an abundance of fowls and pigeons. They collect
camel’s dung for fuel, convert acacia wood into charcoal, gather senna
leaves and colocynth as well as gum arabic, all of which are marketable
commodities. A few of the poorer class are employed in the neigh
bouring towns as water-carriers, and they transport the water in leather
bags on the back of camels. Some are permanent settlers in the Nile
valley and cultivate the ground for a livelihood.
The Abadde have adopted the language of their masters and eon~
querors, and they speak the Arabic with considerable ﬂuency when
conversing with strangers 3 but among themselves they use a language
of their own, which is probably a dialect of the Berber.
The Abadde are quite fond of amusements, and on festal occasions
they pass their time in singing, playing the reed ﬂute, and dancing.
Their war-dance is performed by naked warriors, armed with lances
which they brandish with a furious swing, while they make extra--
vagant leaps and bounds. Sometimes a dancer steps out from the
ring, and points his lance against the breast of a spectator, and only
desists from his thrust when his antagonist cries out “Abadi !” The
women’s dance is executed in an open space, with a circle of men
smoking their pipes as spectators, by women who are veiled and are-
wrapped up from head to foot in their mantle. Each one of the-
dancers, in regular turn, moves about in slow and measured step, ﬁrst
from side to side, then forward and backward, bowing and turning,
and making pantomimic gesticulations with her hands. Surrounded
by a circle of singers, one of the dancers steps in and performs all the-
usual evolutions, when one of the male spectators approaches her,
encircles her with a handkerchief in which some few coins are tied up.
The Abadde women do not live in seclusion, and after their natural
timidity has given place to self-conﬁdence they become quite talkative,
and have no desire to shun the sight of strangers. Nor are they
strictly guarded by their fathers and husbands, and loving couples
frequently seek a nightly repose in the mountain caverns at some dis-
tance from human habitations. Polygamy exists among them, but,
with the exception of the sheikhs, it is but rarely practised. Hus-
bands only have the privilege of availing themselves of the right of
divorce and repudiation. Marriage is contracted at an early age, and
after a young man has made his selection he only needs the consent
of the parents of the girl to secure to him the object of his choice. A
week before the wedding the celebration of the happy event is inau~
gurated by public festivities enlivened by the song, the beating of the
drum, and the clapping of hands, while the men, in a perfect state of'
nudity, perform the war-dance. As soon as validity has been given
to the marriage, according to the Mohamedan law, the wife is no‘
longer permitted to see her mother and her brothers, and the nearest
relations can no longer eat with her on one and the same table.
ABADDE. 28 3.
The Abadde leave their sick to the recuperating powers of nature,
or they make use of some desert plant as remedial agent. If the-
patient is afflicted with a contagious disease, they mercilessly expose
him in the open air, and supply him but sparingly with meat and
drink until he dies or recovers. When one of their friends is in the
last agony of dissolution their loud lamentations are resounding
through the mountains. They dispose of their dead by burial with
the ordinary ceremonial forms of the Mohamedan ritual. After the
grave has been ﬁlled up with earth they erect over it a small hillock
of stones, of which the largest and uppermost points in the direction
of Mecca.
The government of the Abadde is patriarchal, though the dignity
of the tribal chief is hereditary in a single family, and he has the-
right of appointing and removing all the sheikhs that preside over
the local communities. The great sheikh of the tribe recognises the
supreme authority of Egypt, and he receives, as a part of his income,
a certain amount of the transit dues paid to the Egyptian government
by the caravans. If differences arise between individuals of the
tribe they are adjusted by the elders 3 the local sheikhs, or the
authority of the great sheikh, may be invoked in the settlement
of important cases. The great sheikh is responsible for the safety of
the caravan route 3 he is bound to furnish, on demand, camels and
guides, for which adequate compensation is generally allowed. He
must take up his residence in the Nile valley, and he is looked upon
as a kind of hostage for the good behaviour of his people. Formerly
no caravan could cross the desert in safety without being accompanied
by some of the Abadde 3 but under the present system the caravan
routes are perfectly secure, and even objects that have been lost are
restored to the owner on making application to the sheikh.
In former times the Abadde were frequently engaged in hostilities
among themselves. They were armed with long two-edged swords,
short lances, and shields. The attack always commenced with a
shower of stones, which were adroitly warded off. After a few men
were slightly wounded the chiefs generally interfered and the ﬁghting
ceased, each party claiming the victory.
The Abadde are only nominally Mohamedans. They do not observe
the ceremonies of the Mussulman creed, they hardly ever perform the
daily prayers, and they are entirely ignorant of the doctrines and prin-
. ciples of the religion which they profess. The chiefs only, who live
in the midst of a devout Mussulman population, observe all the usual
ceremonial forms of their faith. They practise, however, circumcision
and venerate the tombs of saints. On the other hand they are almost
entirely free from superstition, they do not believe in the existence of
ghosts, and a few are even freethinkers, asserting that there is no
future state of life.
AUTHORITIES.
Bilder aus Oberaegypten, der Wiiste und dem Rothen Meere. Von. C. B.
Klunzinger. 1877.
Travels in Nubia. By John Lewis Burckhardt. 1819.
284 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
SIWAHS.
THE oasis of Siwah was originally inhabited by Egypto-Libyans, who
had erected two temples in honour of the oracular divinity of Jupiter
Amun. It was only after Alexander the Great had visited this
famous prophetic shrine that this Libyan oasis had acquired much
celebrity in the civilised world. The Egypto-Libyan population has,
however, been exterminated, or it was displaced by a Berber race
which is slightly intermixed with Arabic and Nigritian blood. Siwah,
the capital of the oasis of that name, is situated north-west of Egypt
in 29° 12’ 29" N.L., and in 2 3° 18' ED, from the meridian of Paris.
The whole district is comprised between the mountains of Drar-Aboo-
Beryk in the east, and the mountains of el-Garah-el-Kamyseh in the
west. The valley thus bounded is about seven miles long from east
to west, and three and a half miles wide from north to south. In the
eastern part of the territory, which is covered with groves of date-trees,
are the villages of Gharmy and Menshyeh. The other towns of the
oasis are Kamyseh in the west, Sebucha in the north-east, and
Agermi, which is three miles distant from Siwah. At one extremity
is found a lagoon of saltwater (scbcha), which extends to the north-
east into the Libyan desert. To the west, which is the least fertile
part of the country, a lake of brackish water, not quite three miles in
extent, reduces the arable land to a few scattered ﬁelds. Some por-
tion of the surface soil is strongly impregnated with salt, and is,
therefore, unﬁt for cultivation. Zeytoon, a dependency of the oasis,
situated at a distance of about eight miles from Siwah, is particularly
famous for the production of olive-trees. The most productive soil is
composed of sandy clay, and is slightly intermixed with salt, which is
almost found everywhere, and yet there are over thirty springs of per-
fectly sweet water, forming small rivulets that meander through the
shady groves of fan-branched palm-trees. To the north—west is a chain
of calcareous elevations, whose height varies from three hundred to
six hundred feet, and which are fossiliferous in composition. The
other part of the valley is bounded by a desert that rises in a gentle
slope. The low grounds in the west of the oasis are over eighty feet
below the sea-level. Mineral springs, containing sulphur, are scattered
throughout the country. The prevailing wind during the winter
season blows from the north, and in’ the months of January and
February rains are of frequent occurrence. The khamsz'n or hot wind,
which prevails during summer, comes from south-south-east, and in
this season the heat is very oppressive. The average height of the
thermometer in the month of December is 70° F. The population,
srwans. 225
which is estimated at ﬁve thousand souls, is divided into two great
tribes known as Lifayas and Rharbjins.
The physical character of the Siwahs shows them to be a mixed
race, and that they have even N igritian blood in their veins. They
have a slender form with a dark-brownish complexion, while their
hair is either curly or straight. Their chcekbones are quite promi-
nent, their lips are thick, their nose is broad, but not ﬂat, and their
eyes are black and piercing.
The moral character of the Siwahs is distinguished by some very
peculiar traits, which are probably relics of their Berber descent.
They are distrustful and suspicious in their temper, and yet in their
commercial relations they implicitly conﬁde in each other’s honesty.
They are indocile, stubborn, gloomy, and ferocious in disposition, and
their spirit of jealousy is so excessive that a brother would not dare
to visit his sister-in-law in the absence of her husband ; nor would a
man enter the private dwelling of his friend if informed at the door
that the master of the house was not at home. They are as fanatic
as they are superstitious, and the opinions they entertain on most
subjects are generally carried to extremes. In their private life they
are‘ sober and economical, and are very liberal in the exercise of
hospitality.
Siwah, the capital, resembles a strong fortress, as it is built upon a
conic rock, and is enclosed by walls from forty to sixty feet in height,
around which the houses are ranged in terrace-like elevations ﬂanked
by round or square towers. The walls, which do not exceed twelve
hundred feet in circumference, are pierced by twelve or ﬁfteen gates.
The interior presents steep and hilly streets resembling stairs, and as
they are winding and are covered, they are rather dark, so that even
in the daytime it is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the way except by groping or by
carrying a lantern. They are generally ﬁve feet wide and ten feet
nine inches high, but some are so low that they cannot be traversed
without stooping. The houses have from three to ﬁve stories, con-
stituting so many rooms, which are all entered from the stair-like
streets. The lower rooms receive their light through small holes,
_ with which the upper stories are provided for.the admission of light.
Unhewn rocks and date-wood are the ordinary building materials; but
the ruins of ancient monuments and masses of salt, or even soda, enter
into the construction of the houses whenever procurable. As walls
built of salt or soda must not be exposed to the action of the rain,
they are generally plastered over with a gypsous kind of earth.
Another quarter of the city called Beled el Koofar, which is situated
to the west upon sloping ground, is the residence of the young men
and the widows of the community.
The costume of the Siwahs is neither elegant nor costly. The men
are dressed in shirts of white cotton cloth, with a sash (mz'lag/elz.)
Wound round their waist. Their head is generally covered with a red
fez cap (tarboosh), and sometimes, though rarely, a turban is worn.
Their feet are protected by slippers of yellow leather. The dress of
the women is equally simple. It consists of a wide shirt of blue
cotton, and a scarf (milayeh) which covers their head and envelops
.286 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
the upper part of their body. Their long black hair is plaited in
luxuriant tresses, intertwined with silver coins, glass beads, and strips
of leather which fall down the back, terminating in silver ornaments
or small bells. Their neckband is composed of a large ring of silver
wire, silver bracelets encircle their wrists, and sometimes one or two
silver rings are suspended from each earlobe. Their legs are equally
adorned with rings of silver or copper.
The staple articles of diet among the Siwahs are dates, rice,
cascoosoo,1 lentils, and chickpeas. Leavened bread is but rarely eaten,
but a thin cake baked in oil is used in its place. Sour and curdled
milk is considered a great treat, and they are particularly fond of
pastry fried in oil. Meat is but rarely served up at their ordinary
meals, unless they are compelled to kill one of their cattle, goats, or
camels, to anticipate the danger of losing it from the disease with
which it is affected. They eat all the visceral parts of the animal and
sometimes even the skin. ~ Fowls, a kind of snail, and river mussels
are used as food whenever procurable. Oil is the only seasoning
employed in their cooking operations. Their wives are prohibited
from eating the sultcmee date, for they pretend that this fruit excites
the voluptuous desires. Date—wine (Zagoby) is their favourite drink.
It is of a red colour, is rather thick in consistence, and only acquires
intoxicating properties after fermentation, but it cannot be preserved.
It is made of dates at the time the fruit begins to redden. Their
hospitality is quite exemplary. Natives or strangers may satisfy
their appetite by freely helping themselves of the dates deposited at
the public market,- they are only required not to conﬁne themselves to
one heap, nor are they allowed to carry off any of the fruit. A covered
place is reserved for the accommodation of strangers, where leather
sacks are kept constantly ﬁlled with fresh water.
The chief occupation of the Siwahs is the tillage of the soil, and the
attention required for keeping their date plantations in good condition.
The irrigationof the land occupies much of their time. The water is
distributed by turns to cover the ﬁelds of each proprietor for a limited
time, and much care is necessary to keep out the salt water which
would be destructive of the growing vegetation. The only manure
used for the date-tree are the dry leaves of other fruit-bearing trees.
There are ﬁve varieties of dates, of which one is without kernel. The
sultanee dates are most esteemed, and the quality of the fruit is
‘generally superior to that produced on the banks of the Nile. The
variety called uaedy is fed to camels, asses, and other domestic animals.
The sdyci' variety is exported in baskets in_a fresh state. The number
of date-trees actually bearing fruit in the oasis is estimated at three
hundred thousand, and the annual yield in favourable seasons amounts
to ten thousand camel-loads of three hundred pounds each. Olive—
trees are common, and as the olives produced are of a very large size
they supply all the oil for home consumption as well as exportation.

1 Cuscoosoo, which is the standing dish of the Moors, is made by granulating
wheat ﬂour by means of steam.
SIWAHS. 287
and are of good size.
Apricots, plums, and grapes are dried, but the ﬁrst only have com-
mercial value, the others are eaten at home. Figs, pomegranates, and
even apples thrive very well, but they are not very plentiful. The
ﬁelds are planted with small water-melons, cucumbers, onions of
excellent quality, and other vegetables. Wheat and barley are culti-
vated, but not in sufﬁcient quantity to supply the home demand.
Rice is not an indigenous production. The domestic animals reared
are the common cattle, the buffalo, the goat, the sheep, the ass, and
the camel, to which the common fowl may be added. Their herds
and ﬂocks are rather restricted in number, for the want of forage
prevents their rapid increase. The cows, which are generally of a
reddish colour, are quite lean. The sheep are of the fat-tailed kind
Camels are far from being numerous. The
asses are well-conditioned and stout, and are made useful as beasts of
burden to transport the dates to Alexandria. Salt is produced in
‘considerable quantity and is of extraordinary whiteness. The rapid
evaporation of the salt lagoons during the hot summer months leaves
a crust of salt on the surface which assumes a crystallised form.
‘They have made no advances in industrial pursuits. Their workman-
:ship in the mechanic arts is rude, and is conﬁned to articles of ﬁrst
necessity. They have blacksmiths, leather and wood workers, and
tailors among them. The women are very skilful ingplaiting ﬁne
straw work. They make little baskets and very ﬁne mats which are
used in place of carpets 3 their waiters and their vases for holding
milk and other liquids are perfectly watertight.
The external commerce of Siwah is exclusively carried on by the
caravan traders who come from Egypt, from the Barbary States, and
even from Borgoo and Fezzan. They receive from Egypt wheat,
beans, lentils, and other dry pulses, blue and white cotton cloth, scarfs
or mila'yehs, handkerchiefs, small looking-glasses, leaf-tobacco, and
glass beads. The Barbary caravans bring sheep, dried meat, wheat,
woollen blankets, burnooscs or Arab cloaks, yellow slippers, red fez
caps and jewelled ornaments of silver. The little oasis furnishes them
with red rice. They export in exchange for all these commodities an
abundance of dates, dried apricots, and a small quantity of olive-oil.
But their wants being so few, the Egyptian caravans are sometimes
compelled to buy dates for Spanish dollars with which they pay their
taxes, or they are exchanged for goods obtained from the Barbary
merchants. Much attention is paid to the caravans 3 their camels are
fed morning and evening with dates and cut straw, and they distribute
each day a plate of lentils or other pulse, prepared with oil, to each
one of the Arab traders. The price of dates is ﬁxed by law according
to the quality and quantity harvested. The sale is limited to the
number of camels to be loaded, and each proprietor of the oasis
furnishes his proportion in turn. All sales are made by measure or by
lots; even meat is not sold by weight, but the whole carcass of the
animal is cut up into small pieces which are sold separately.
The language spoken by the Siwahs has never been critically
examined; but it is affirmed that its vocabulary shows it to be a'
dialect of the Tuareg or the taxmashek. About one-third of the words
Mamas/Maren“; --. \-\‘1.4","l . . A... .. .
288 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
used are Arabic, and many expressions in common use are derived
from the same language.1 .
The Siwahs, notwithstanding their demure character, indulge in
dancing as a pleasurable recreation 5 but respectable women are not
allowed to participate in the exercise, which consists mostly in various
motions of the body accompanied by leaps and jumps executed to the
measure of the music of the tambourine, of the reed ﬂute, and the
three-stringed violin. They do not smoke the pipe as a pastime, but
they are addicted to the dirty practice of chewing leaf-tobacco.
The Siwah women, though they are not shut up in a harem, are
very much restricted in their liberty of locomotion. N 0 young
woman or girl that has attained the age of nine or ten is permitted to
go outside of the city, and only some old matrons are exceptionally
allowed the privilege of leaving the fortiﬁed town. The labours of
the women are light 5 they simply attend to the household affairs, and
occasionally they amuse themselves by engaging in light industrial
pursuits. Dancing-girls, similar to those of Egypt, are common among
the Siwahs, but they are generally married, and are much more decent
in their general deportment. They execute lascivious dances to the
sound of the tambourine and the cymbal, on which they perform with
much taste. They are not devoid of external charms, but their face
is disﬁgured by a large gold ring which passes through the perforation
in the cartilage of their nose. They are not permitted to reside in the
towns, but are bound to occupy small sheds erected under the palm-
trees at a considerable distance from the family dwellings. They are
not stationary, but travel from one oasis to the other.
Girls are married at a very early age. On the day of the marriage
celebration, the bride, enveloped from head to foot in an ample
drapery, is led in procession through the town accompanied by her
relations and friends, and preceded by a band of music.
The Siwahs dispose of their dead by burial. No woman is allowed
to follow a funeral escort, but the men alone accompany the body of
the deceased to the cemetery, and the friends and relations unite in a
funeral feast, for which each one brings a dish of rice or chickpeas for
his own exclusive use.
The Siwahs were subjected to Egyptian supremacy by Mehemed
Ali in 1819, and they were only required to pay an annual tribute,
but they were otherwise independent. Having resisted by the force
of arms the authority of a foreign power, they were conquered in
18 5 3 by the superiority of numbers, and were reduced to a provincial
dependency of Egypt. A mudir now controls all public affairs of
general interest, and the sheikhs are only invested with subordinate
local authority. The tax exacted by the Egyptian government
amounts to about ten thousand Spanish dollars, besides the presents
from time to time extorted by the milder, and the fees and bribes
demanded by the kadi. -
Formerly the Siwahs had a regularly organised government. The

1 Among these kind of words are hair, blood, eye, father, wind, friend, coal,
and numerous others.
SIWAHS. ‘ 2a;
‘administration of public aﬂ'airs was conﬁded to twelve sheikhs, of
whom six were immovable, while the other six were renewed every
year. These last were elected by a majority of votes, and were gene-
rally taken from the most aged and most experienced men of the
population. The sheikhs not only deliberated in public, but they
were ‘assisted in the council by the people, and any one of respec-
tability and consideration who had a knowledge of the affairs under
discussion was at liberty freely to express his opinion. The sheikhs
still exercise much inﬂuence and adjust all internal difficulties. The
property-holders consider themselves under obligations to them, and
they voluntarily present them, as a gratuitous gift, some measures of
dates and some other fruits. Theft, as well as any other misde-
meanour, is punished by a ﬁne which is paid in dates, the quantity
being proportioned to the nature of the oﬂence. He who is too poor
to pay the ﬁne imposed is conducted outside of the town and is
punished by the bastinado. The culprit is laid ﬂat on the ground
with his face downwards, and his back being stripped bare, he is
struck with a stick or a thick leather strap, and, to render the punish-
ment more severe, water and salt are poured upon the wounded part.
The murderer is apprehended by the order of the Israeli, and is deli-
vered over to the relatives of the victim, who have the privilege of
exercising absolute power over him ; they may kill him, torture him,
or even set him free. The aggregate of the ﬁnes collected during the
year was formerly employed for the support of the scmtons or saints
and the entertainment of the mosques, and the balance that remained
was used to aid strangers that had been pillaged by the Bedouins of
the desert. The young boys who have attained the age of puberty,
and all the widowers, are bound to abandon the precincts of the city
and take up their abode in the village exclusively reserved for them
outside of the walls. They may, however, visit their friends and rela-
tions in the daytime, but at night they are required to return to the
exile specially assigned to them.
The Siwahs are a brave and warlike race, and in their intestine
conﬂicts they observe the most singular practices, which differ in
every respect from those of any other people. The inhabitants of the
city treat their own countrymen that live in the surrounding villages
with contempt, because they are less strict in the observance of reli-
gious ceremonies. If one of the villagers is insulted by the city
people the whole community joins the injured party, and their mutual
animosity is so great that blood can alone avenge the insult. The
sheikh of the village orders the large drum to be beaten, which is
equivalent to a declaration of war. The hostile parties are arrayed
_ against each other in the open plain in the desert, and they are accom—
panied by the women, who excite the warlike ardour of their hus~
bands, their sons, and their brothers; and to give the example they
themselves take part in the combat. The warriors, in order to rouse
up their courage, stimulate themselves by drinking copious draughts
of date-wine and brandy. All are armed with muskets, and the
women are standing behind the men, carrying bags of stones which
they hurl against the enemy, and with these they pelt those of their
T
290 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
own people that would be so cowardly as to save themselves by deser-
tion before the close of the ﬁght. At the signal given by the beat of
the drum the two parties simultaneously advance, in a running step
in small groups, and discharge their ﬁrearms within musket-shot
without aiming, and then retire to some distance. Each one is only
allowed to ﬁre a single shot, after which the ﬁght ceases, no matter
what may be the number of dead and wounded on either side. The
presiding sheikh has the drum once more beaten, which is the signal
for the two hostile parties to meet each other in friendly embraces,
and henceforth the whole difficulty is considered settled, at the
expense, it is true, of human life and suffering, but what is that when
placed in the scale against the bankrupt honour of silly and ferocious
duellists! The Siwahs are all armed with long-barrelled guns, and
some carry besides a long straight sabre of German manufacture.
The religion of the Siwahs is Mohamedanism, and the inhabitants
of the city strictly follow all the ceremonial observances of their creed.
If any one is so derelict in his duty as to fail several times to attend
to regular prayers, he can only atone for his negligence by paying a
ﬁne. They practise circumcision, which is only conﬁned to the male
sex. On the feast of Beiram they never fail to kill a sheep_or two
as the customary sacriﬁce.
AUTHORITIES.
Voyage a Meroé, an Fleuve Blane. Par Frederic Cailliaud. 1826.
Voyage a l’Oasis de Syouah. Par Frédéric Cailliaud. 1823.
Die Sahara oder von Oase zu Oase. Von Dr. Josef Chavanne. 1879.
Drei Monathe in der Liebischen Wiiste. Von Gerhard Rohlfs. 1868.
Adventures in the Libyan Desert and the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. By
Bayle St. John. 1849.
KABYLES. - 291
KABYLES.
THE Kabyles are the mountain tribes of the remnant of the Libyan
races. With indomitable bravery they have stemmed the tide of
‘conquest, and retreating through the mountain passes to inaccessible
heights and rugged glens, they preserved their independence, their
social organisation, and even their language, although they were
nominally tributary to the Arabs, and have recently submitted to the
supremacy of French domination in Algeria.
But neither the Carthaginians, who took possession of and colonised
~the sea-coast; nor the Romans, who destroyed the N umidian power;
nor the Vandals, who reduced to ashes the most ﬂourishing cities of
North Africa, could bring into subjection the native races in their
wild and well-protected mountain retreats, where their indomitable
courage bid deﬁance to the overwhelming forces of the merciless
invader and the ambitious conqueror.
Kabylia comprises the range of the Lesser Atlas, which extends
along the sea-coast from the eastern limit of the Metidjah plain to
Philipsville, a distance of three degrees of latitude. It embraces a
surface of three thousand and three square miles, contains one thousand
ﬁve hundred and thirty-three villages, and a population of three
hundred and seventy thousand souls.
The scenery is often grand and picturesque. The mountains are
intersected by narrow undulating valleys and winding shallow streams
fringed with pink-blossomed oleanders. The hills are dotted with
wild olives, and the slopes are clothed with lentisk bushes and dwarf
'gum-cistus, whose dense foliage is thickly spotted with white ﬂowers.
The deep glens are decked in emerald green, and the conical peaks
are crowned with villages which loom down from their lofty height
like inaccessible fortresses.
The Kabyles are divided into several groups of tribes, which receive
their name from the region of country they inhabit. The principal
of these are the tribes of Traras, of Uarensenis, of the Little Atlas,
and of J urjura. It is only to the last that the name of Great Kabylia
has been given.1 ,
The Kabyles are of medium height 3 their form is slender but well-
proportioned. Their features are regular, their complexion is com-
paratively fair, and their face is somewhat square, with their head
closely set upon their shoulders. Their eyes and hair are generally
black, but there are many who have blue eyes and red hair.2 They

f‘. 1 The Kroomirs and Ooshtettas are branch tribes of Kabyles inhabiting the
mountain regions of Tunis, and do not differ from the rest of their race in
manners and customs.
2 This is probably owing to the fact that they have Vandal blood in their veins.
292 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
are possessed of great strength, activity, and power of endurance, and
are remarkable for their vivacity and general intelligence. They are
brave to temerity and look death boldly in the face. When injured
and provoked their vindictiveness is ﬁerce and uncompromising. Their-
manners are simple, their dignity is guarded by a certain degree of
pride which exacts the same act of deference it bestows. They are»
industrious in their habits and frugal in their mode of living. In
their social intercourse they are rather inhospitable and reserved, and
uncommunicative to strangers, who are, however, well treated, and
while dwelling under their roof they are protected at all hazard from
assaults of personal enemies. Their passionate attachment to their‘
mountain home and their tribes is only equalled by their love of inde—
pendence. Every interest, every moral virtue, is sacriﬁced to the attain-
ment of this object. Humanity degenerates into cruelty, economy is
changed into parsimony nearly bordering on avarice, and industry is
stimulated by an inordinate spirit of cupidity. They are not gifted with
the exuberant fancy of southern races, but their manner of expression
is characterised by precision and compactness of thought that com-2
prehends the true nature of facts and draws correct conclusions from
their reciprocal relations. They are strictly honest and truthful, and
consider falsehood as cowardly and ignominious. They never engage
in war without previously announcing their hostile intentions 5 and
their disposition is utterly averse to cunning and deceit to accomplish
their ends, however advantageous.
Their villages (dashkrahs) are situated on the slopes of the hills or
on lofty eminences, and are strong places of defence affording protec-
tion against the hostile incursions of an invading enemy. Their huts
(goarbz's or tezakas) are low and insigniﬁcant, the walls not exceeding;
three feet in height 5 they are built of masses of turf, but more often
of rough stones or sun-dried bricks, cemented and smoothed with lime,
mud, or cattle-dung. The roof, which is inclined, is thatched with
straw, reeds, or tree branches. The interior is generally divided into’
two compartments, the right side, called aoones, being occupied by the
family, while the left is used as a stable (ada't'n), and is reserved for
the cattle and horses. Each dwelling is surrounded with neatly cul-
tivated gardens, orchards, and cornﬁelds, enclosed with a low hedge
of camel’s thorn. On the marriage of a son the dwelling is frequently
enlarged by the addition of a second story, which is assigned to him
as a separate establishment.
The dress of the Kablyes is simple and unadorned. They ordi-
narily wear a loose woollen tunic (shcloosha) descending below the
knees, to which, when engaged in some work of drudgery, a leather
apron is added that serves for all kind of work and is often greasy
and old. The legs are swathed in gaiters of knit wool, which are
sometimes torn into rags. They are mostly barefooted, some few only
wearing sandals of raw goatskin. Some of the most respectable men
of the tribes throw around their shoulders a bmvzoos,1 which, being
probably an ancient heirloom, has descended from father to son for

1 A Moorish mantle.
KABLYES. , 293
several generations, and is mostly old, tattered,'and torn. They cut
their hair short, and many are bareheaded during summer and winter,
while the head-covering of others is simply a small close-ﬁtting black
leather cap, which forms but a slight patch on the crown of the head.
They shave their beard till they have attained the age of twenty
-or twenty~ﬁve years. After that age a long heard is the symbol of
manhood, and indicates the perfect development of matured reason and
ripe judgment.
The women are elaborately tattooed in varied patterns; their children
are marked with small crosses or other devices. Their principal dress
is a white skirt reaching down to the feet, with a coloured scarf
wrapped round their shoulders fastened by a silver brooch. Their
‘ornaments are rude and clumsy, generally composed of coral or silver.
Ouscoosoo,1 the universal dish of North Africa, often mixed with
sweet acorns, constitutes their principal food. Their bread is of wheat
ﬂour, made into cakes and baked on a plate of clay over a slow ﬁre.
Milk, butter, and honey, as well as dried ﬁgs soaked in oil, are con-
sumed in great quantities. They have numerous nutritious vegetables,
and a variety of delicious fruits which furnish them a liberal supply
of the more substantial as well as dainty articles of food They partake
‘of the ﬂesh of animals only on extraordinary occasions, and mutton
and kid form their favourite meat dishes.
The Kabyles are devoted to agricultural pursuits and to the rearing
of ﬂocks and herds. They cultivate not only the narrow and fertile
valleys, but the steep mountain sides are rendered suitable for tillage
by the construction of terraces sustained by supporting walls which
rise in a lofty range of tiers. The water of the mountain streams is
conducted in rills and rivulets over the ﬁelds to subserve the purposes
of irrigation. N 0 part of the arable land is suffered to lie waste, and
the patches available for cultivation are so limited that they cannot
afford to let any portion of their ground remain fallow. Previous to
sowing and planting the soil is well pulverised by two successive
ploughings, and the ﬁelds are kept clean from weeds and useless
herbage. The plough is almost entirely of wood and is only tipped
with iron at the share. It is so light that it is transported from the
house to the ﬁeld on the shoulders of the ploughman, who guides it,
when tracing the furrows, by means of a single handle, while he holds
-a large switch in his left to incite the oxen to mend their slow and
measured pace. After the harvest the wheat is arranged in a circle
on the threshing-ﬂoor and is trodden out by bulls. It is winnowed
from the end of a board, and stored away in osier baskets which are
very wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. Tobacco and red
pepper are grown in small quantities for home consumption. Potatoes,
lentils, beans, peas, artichokes, turnips, beets, onions, cucumbers,
water-melons, and other curcubitaceous plants, are cultivated in great
abundance. ‘They understand the art of grafting, and their orchards
.are planted with a choice selection of excellent fruit-trees, such as

f
‘ 1 It is composed of roasted wheat ﬂour reduced to small grains, to which other
ingredients are added.
294 THE ARAMZEAN s'roox.
apples, pears, ﬁgs, oranges, apricots, and almonds. Their vineyards
are teeming with luscious grapes, and their olive gardens are well set
out with grafted olive-trees of large size, which yield an abundance of
oil, partly for domestic use and partly to be exported in goatskins,
for which a ready market is found in Algiers and the cities of the
interior. This, with the hides of their ﬂocks of sheep and goats and
of their herds of cattle, constitutes their chief article of external
commerce. They entertain numerous beehives, and thus produce a
considerable quantity of wax and honey. The Kabyles are not
altogether ignorant of the mechanic arts. They have mines of iron,
lead, and copper, which they work themselves, and are well acquainted
with the process of smelting the ore, and give shape to the metal by
casting or hammering. They manufacture their own weapons of war,
make their own gunpowder, their implements of agriculture, their
knives, their coarse cloth, and their pottery. Their earthenware has-
acquired considerable celebrity. The mechanism of their oil~press is i
a device of their own construction, and they grind wheat into flour
in a portable handmill. They burn tiles in a kiln, and are familiar
with the preparation and use of quicklime. They make soles of cork-
bark for their sandals 3 weave cloth of the ﬁbres of the dwarf-palm;
twist cords from wool and goat’s hair, and compound a black soap by
the union of olive-oil with an alkaline earth. They braid baskets-
and mats of palm leaves, and make many useful articles of wood of
excellent workmanship.
Their irrepressible spirit of enterprise is not conﬁned to home
industry, but seeks a much wider ﬁeld to give full scope to its energy
and activity. One of the young men of every family separates himself
for a time from his kindred and his native home to ﬁnd employment
among strangers ; and having laid up the just reward of his industry,
after years of faithful service, he returns to the village that gave him
birth, where he passes the remainder of his life satisﬁed and contented.
The Kabyles are found in all the cities and country towns of North
Africa, where they enter into engagements for a number of years as
domestic servants, labourers, masons, gardeners, reapers, and shepherds.-
After having amassed a sufficient amount of money they trace back
their steps to their native mountains with a light heart and a patriotic
feeling of pride, provide themselves with a gun, which to them is an
article of great importance and value, build a gourbz'e or hut, purchase
a mule and two asses, or a horse and a yoke of oxen, procure a spade
and a plough and a few acres of land, and then pay the usual price
for a wife; and having happily completed all these arrangements,
they have accomplished the great object of their whole existence, and‘
are willing to drudge and toil in order to obtain a decent support for
their family, and promote, by their patriotic devotion, the good of
their people and the interest of their country.
The Kabyles speak one of the Berber languages so widely diffused-
over Africa, which, although closely related to each other in gramma-
tical organism, nevertheless differ essentially in their vocabulary and
to some extent also in their word—formation. The Kabyle nouns have
two grammatical genders and two numbers. Almost all the mascue
KABYLES. 295
line nouns commence in the singular with the vowel sounds a, e, i, or
on; the exceptions to this rule are very rare. The masculine plural
has generally 2' for its initial letter, with the exception of the mascu~
line nouns in on, which preserve this letter in the plural 3 and those
commencing with i change it into a, as 0241, “heart,” oulaozm,
“hearts 3” then, “mare,” altm'ouen, “mares.” The distinctive sign
of feminine nouns, both in the singular and plural, is th. To change
a masculine noun in the singular into its corresponding feminine, a th
is added as its initial and ﬁnal letter, as am’r'a'r, “old man,”
thamr’arth, “old woman 3” alsfy'oun, “dog,” thditi/OZMZZ‘, “bitch.” There
are some exceptions to all these rules, many of which are only of
euphonic value.
In the number of nouns a distinction occurs which refers to the
collective idea of the whole species and to the idea of the individual
object. Thus azemom" signiﬁes the species of the grafted olive-tree,
thazzemourth applies to an individual grafted olive-tree. All the
feminine nouns indicate both the species and the individual. Thus
thaid’a signiﬁes both the species of pines and the individual pine.
Many nouns of substances are collective, but they are always con-
strued in the singular. The plural is formed in two ways. The char-
acteristic sign 7?. is added to the end syllable of the singular noun, or
the characteristic vowel sound a is placed before the last articulation,
or it replaces the ﬁnal vowel of the singular noun, as azga'r, “ox,”
z'zga'ren, “oxen; adjedjig, “ﬂower,” zjedjzlgen, “ ﬂowers 3” aserdozm,
“mule,” iserci’an, “ mules 3” alcjoun, “ dog,” i/ejan, “dogs.” There are
various modiﬁcations, which are either exceptions or are introduced
for the sake of euphony. The feminine plural is formed by placing
th before the masculine plural and changing the termination 92 or en
into in; as z'goujz'len, “orphan,” thigoujz'lz'n, “female orphans 3” inela-
gaozm, “host,” thinebgaouin, “hostesses.”
Substantives in the singular change their initial letter from a into
on when they are preceded by another word, or when placed under the
inﬂuence of certain particles that perform the function of prepositions
in the formation of cases. Thus argaz, “man,” placed at the com-
mencement of a sentence, when preceded by any other word, becomes
ourgaz in the nominative, b-ourgaz in the genitive, i-ourgaz in the
dative, argaz in the accusative, ai-argaz in the vocative, and seg-
ourgaz in the ablative. The plural nouns, and all singular nouns
commencing with 2' or 021., do not change the initial vowel. B con-
stitutes the genitive case for all nouns with the initial letter ou,
as allen b-ouchchen, “the eyes of the jackal 3” for those which pre—
serve the initial a with the constructive on, as thasi'rth b-ouadhou
(adhou wind) “the windmill 3 ” for plural nouns commencing with a
and on, as thizet b’-0uaman, “the sweetness of water 3 ” and ﬁnally for
singular masculine nouns, in which the initial a. is followed by two
consecutive consonants, as oud’em b-ourgaz, “ the face of man.” The
letter g is the sign of the genitive when the initial letter of singular
and plural nouns is i, as ir’c'll g'zzf’rz', “the crest of the cavern.” In sin‘
gular as‘ well as plural feminine nouns the genitive is indicated by n,
en, or we, as irgazen en toulaom'n, “ the husband of the wife 3” madden
296 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
ne temdint, “the people of the city.” The case corresponding to the
dative is formed by placing 2' before the noun, as ifka c' oargaz, “,he
has given to ‘the man 5 ” and the ablative is formed by the preposition
seg before a vowel, and 82' before a consonant, as zlﬁ'er, seg oukhkham,
“ he has gone out of the house.” The accusative is not subject to any
modiﬁcation, as inr’a argaz, thamet’ t’outh, “he has killed a man, a
woman.” The vocative is indicated by the particle at’ or a, as at’
argaz, “ O man 5 ” a baba, “O my father.”
There exists, properly speaking, no adjectives in the Kabyle lan-
guage; all qualitative terms are expressed by the use of a verb, and
sometimes also by a noun having an abstract signiﬁcation, such as
quality, colour, sound, &c., as amek’lreran, “ a great 5” aberlsan, “ a
black.” These words are placed after the substantive which they
qualify, as r’oar s' adoadz'oa terriﬁc, “'I have a horse, he is a black,” z'.e.,
“I have a black horse.” Every verb indicating a condition may be
used as a word of qualiﬁcation. The Kabyles have only preserved the
two ﬁrst numbers of their own language, all the others have been
borrowed from the Arabs. These two numerals have grammatical
gender, as, masculine, ic'ocm, “ one ; ” feminine, z'z'oath, “one.”
5 The personal pronouns are either subjective or objective. The ﬁrst
are composed of speciﬁc words, the last are simply affixes joined to the
word by which they are governed. The subjective pronouns have
grammatical gender in the singular and plural, except the ﬁrst person.
Thus, ﬁrst, nelr, “ I 5 ” second, masculine, ketch, feminine, Item,
“thou 5” third, masculine, netsa, “ he,” feminine, netsath, “ she.” The
objective personal pronouns differ according as they are governed by
a noun, a verb, or a particle. Those affixed to the nouns indicate
possession, as akhkham c'oa, “the. house of mine,” c'.e., “my house.”
There are also demonstrative, relative, interrogative, and indeﬁnite
pronouns in this language.
The Kabyle verbs are only conjugated in the active voice, the
passive is expressed by means of certain derivative forms of the verb,
and often even by means of the active form. The grammatical gender
is only distinguished in the third person singular, and in the second
and third persons plural. The language has but a single form of con-
jugation, and a single mood which has generally a past, often a present,
and sometimes a future sense; and in preﬁxing to this mood the
particles ad’ and r’a, or ar’a, a future sense is given to‘ it. The radical
of the verb corresponds to the second person singular of the imperative,
which by adding th is masculine, and by adding mth feminine. Thus
ctr’, “take,” has in the second person plural masculine areth, “take
ye,” and in the feminine, aremth, “take ye.” The conjugation is
extremely simple, and is effected by certain preﬁx and suffix letters
joined to the radical which remains unchanged. Thus oarar, “to
play,” has in the ﬁrst person of the single mood corresponding to the
aorist, oumr-er’, ‘~‘ I have played 5” second person, th’o'wrar edit, “thou
hast played 5” third person masculine, i-ow'az', “he has played 5” third
person feminine, tit-0267617’, “she has played.” Plural, ﬁrst person,
n-oarar, “we have played 5” second person masculine, th-ou'rar em,
“ you have played 5” second person feminine, th-oumr emth, “you have
KABYLES. 297
played 5” third person masculine, 0am?" en, “ they have played ;” third
person feminine, oumr ent, “ they have played.”
The idea of the primitive verb undergoes certain modiﬁcations by
the methodic addition of certain letters, which give to it a transitive,
a passive, or reciprocal sense, or indicate the customary manner, the
frequency, or the continuance of the action. Thus the preﬁx 8 indicates
the transitive form with an instrumental signiﬁcation; as me'm", “to
ﬁght 3” smear’, “to make ﬁght.” The preﬁx m indicates the passive
reciprocal form; as etch, “to eat ;” setch, “ to make eat ;” msetchen,
“ to make eat each other.” T sou implies the simple passive ; as, elmef,
“ to roast ;” seknef, “to make roast ;” itsouselmef, “to have been made
to roast.” The preﬁx is expresses the customary mode; as @727", “to
kill ;” menr’, “to kill one another ;” tsemenr’a, “ habitually to kill one
another.” Many rules and exceptions are connected with the con-
jugation of all these forms, which are simply modiﬁcations but do not
militate against the fundamental principles. The verb has a present
participle, which is at the same time a past participle, and it has also
a future participle. The ﬁrst is formed by adding 7?. to the third person
masculine singular of the aorist ; as, inran, “killing,” “having killed ;”
from 6am, “he killed.” The second is denoted by adding en to
the third person masculine singular of the future, indicated by the
particle r’a; as r’a iner’, “he will kill ;” m’z'nr’en, “he ought to be
killing.” The participles are invariable as regards gender and
number.
The verb z'Zz', “ to be,” is not an auxiliary but a real substantive
verb. There are numerous verbs which of themselves express the
idea of being in‘ a certain condition, as meZZouZer, “I am white;”
oussem'th, “he is old” or “he has been old.” The Kabyle verbs, by
certain characteristic indications, express in an abstract manner the
idea or action of the verb, and are thus transformed into a noun; as
menr’, “to ﬁght;” amemr', “a combat;” 272', “to exist ;” thz'lz'n,
“existence ,'” nadz', “to seek ; ” (mad’z', “research.”
The Kabyles once possessed a written alphabet and a national
literature, but having been driven from the country which they
originally occupied by the most powerful conquering nations the world
has ever seen, they were compelled to seek refuge in the mountains,
and in their constant efforts to protect themselves against new
invasions they had no spare time left to devote themselves to literary
compositions. In the meantime the conquering Arabs had converted
them to Mohamedanism, which made it necessary for them to make
themselves acquainted with the Arabic characters to enable them to
read the Koran ; and having thus neglected their own mode of writing,
it became gradually obsolete and was ﬁnally forgotten. The Kabyle
language is divided into four principalv dialects. The Zenatia dialect
is spoken by the Western tribes extending from Algeria to the
boundaries of Morocco. The Shellahya is conﬁned to the Kabyles of
Morocco. The Shaouiah belongs to all the tribes who are intermixed
with an Arab element, and this dialect contains numerous Arab words
and expressions. The Zouaouiah is spoken from Delly and Hamza as
far as Bone. This last dialect represents the ancient idiomatic national
298 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
language in its greatest purity, and for this reason it is deﬁcient in
terms expressive of abstract ideas, for all the terms which have reference
to art, religion, or law are borrowed from the Arabic, giving them a
Berber form by cutting off the initial aZ, preﬁxing a th, and annexing
to the word the ﬁnal 25h or the syllable mt.
The social condition of the Kabyle women is superior to that of
other Eastern countries. They do not live a secluded life nor are they
veiled, but enjoy equal rights with the men. They are frequently
engaged in hard labour, but their hardships and drudgeries are always
shared by their husbands. They do not retire in the presence of'
strangers, are free and unhampered in their social intercourse, and
enjoy their meals in company with their husbands and children. By
an exemplary religious life they may even aspire to the dignity of
saintship. Cleanliness is one of their characteristic virtues; they
wash themselves every morning, and in the evening they appear
rigged up in all their ﬁnery and adorned with all their favourite
ornaments. Among some tribes the virtue of chastity is not held in
very high esteem. Girls and widows, or women who have been
abandoned and divorced by their husbands, are permitted to live- an
isolated mode of life, enjoying perfect freedom from moral restraint,
and for this privilege of licensed prostitution they pay into the public '
treasury every new year’s day ﬁve douros (£1, 5s.), which is the
only counteracting expedient to limit the contagious influence of a
pernicious custom.
The Kabyle woman visits the market, she buys and sells, she chats
and sings, without the least restraint. She is not allowed to marry a‘
second husband unless the fact of the death of her ﬁrst husband is
clearly established. If she is too poor to support herself she is fur-
nished with work to earn her living, or she is assisted by the tribe.
Divorce is very common, and is entirely dependent on the caprice of‘
the husband, who may say to his wife, “I abandon you for a hundred
douros,” and the wife accepts this sum and returns to her parents. If
she marries again her ﬁrst husband is entitled to claim the money he
has paid to her.
When a Kabyle has ﬁxed his eye upon a young girl whom he
fancies, he sends a friend to the father of the young damsel to make-
known his wishes, and to enter into negotiation about the price
demanded for the privilege of being accepted as a son-in-law. Parents
generally dispose of their daughters in marriage for an equivalent
compensation varying from twenty-ﬁve to a hundred douros ( £ 6, 5s.
to £25), and if the accepted suitor of their daughter’s hand has not-
the ready means at command to make immediate payment of the whole
amount, one or two months’ time is allowed him to make up the sum
required, and henceforth he may visit his future wife at pleasure.
The marriage is celebrated on the appointed day with great pomp.
The bride is conducted in procession, accompanied by her friends and
relatives, to her new home, marshalled by the bridegroom walking in
front, who is armed with a yaghaz‘an,1 a gun, and a pair of pistols.

1 A Moorish dagger or short sword.
' KABYLES. 299
He is followed by a band of music, made up of clarionets and drums 3
while men, women, and children close up the line of march singing
in chorus, occasionally interrupted by the joyous shout, “ Yoo ! Yoo !
Yoo !” From time to time the young men ﬁre off their guns, of
which the reverberating roar animates the whole village with life and
motion. The amusements of the day are varied by the dancing of
the women and the target-shooting of the men. The festivities are
concluded with an ample repast, in which all the invited guests par-
ticipate.
The birth of a male child is an occasion of rejoicing. In honour of
the great event the neighbours and friends assemble and express their
congratulations by repeated volleys of musketry. Target-shooting
is the chief entertainment, and on the seventh day a feast is prepared
and all the well-wishers of the host are muniﬁcently regaled. The
birth of a girl is passed entirely unnoticed, because she does not
increase the ﬁghting strength of the tribe, though she is the only
source of wealth which adds much to the social importance of the
family.
The Kabyles make suitable provisions for the’ poor of the tribes.
Women who are unable to support themselves are supplied with work
and receive assistance from the public treasury. When the fruits of
the orchards and the vegetables of the gardens approach maturity, an
ordinance is promulgated by the chiefs prohibiting the gathering of
these products bestowed by nature’s bounty during the period of four-
teen or ﬁfteen days, the violation of this established usage being
punished with a ﬁne. After the expiration of the speciﬁed time, the
proprietors proceed to the mosque and swear 011 the Koran that the
order has been strictly complied with, while a stated penalty is exacted
from him who refuses to take the oath as the law requires. A list is
then made out of all the poor of the community, and they are fed by
each proprietor in turn during the whole season of gathering fruits or
vegetables.
The mode of disposing of the dead among the Kabyles is extremely
simple, and is not marked by any pomp or ostentation. After the
body ‘has been carefully washed, it is wrapped in a shrouding sheet,
and is borne to the grave by the friends of the deceased, followed by
a numerous concourse of people, where it is consigned to the earth
without ceremony. Every member of the village community inter—
rupts his accustomed labour and swells the throng that marches in
the funeral procession behind the hearse. The friends and acquaint-
ances of the neighbouring villages, who come to add their tribute of
grief to that of the bereaved relations, are welcomed and hospitably
entertained in every house, except that of the nearest kindred.
Islamism is the creed which the Kabyles nominally profess, grossly
perverted by superstitious practices which they inherited from their
ancestors. While, on the one hand, they are indifferent to the ob-
servances of the ceremonial forms of the Mohamedan religion, they
exhibit, on the other, the most fanatic zeal and attachment for the
sainted men who strictly comply with all the precepts of the Koran.
Their prayer is restricted to the simple profession of faith: “ There is

300 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
no God but Allah, and Mohamed is his prophet.” They show much
remissness in performing the prescribed ablutions. In the month of
Rhamadan they often break their fast before sunset 5 they eat the
ﬂesh of the wild boar without compunction, and largely imbibe the
strong brandy distilled from the ﬁg. ‘
There exists among all the Kabyle tribes a numerous class of holy
men or saints called maraboos, who are faithful in their religious
devotions and exemplary in their moral conduct. They lead a life of
austerity and self-denial, their mind is entirely absorbed in religious
meditation, and they only take an interest in the business of the
world to do good and strengthen the friendly relations of the tribes by
the bonds of peace and mutual good—will.1 During their lifetime
they are highly venerated and esteemed by the people, and after
death they are canonised, and the spot where their ashes repose is
considered holy ground. They are gratuitously provided with all
their wants without the least effort on their part. The people are-
always ready to serve them and perform any kind of labour that can
promote their comfort and happiness. They build and keep in repair
their dwellings 5 they supply them with an abundance of food 5
furnish them even with water; attend to the details of their private
establishments 5 place horses at their disposal when they wish to
take a journey 5 constantly load them with presents, and hardly ever
fail to anticipate all their wishes. The power which they exercise
among all the tribes, though entirely founded on moral supremacy, is
almost unlimited 5 and yet they never take advantage of their position,
nor are they hardly ever guilty of abuse of authority. They not
only reconcile the differences that arise between the tribes, and foster
the friendly intercourse that exists between rival communities, but a
Kabyle who places himself under the safeguard of their protection
is permitted to pass unmolested through the territories of a hostile
tribe. Their inﬂuence is not less beneﬁcial in adjusting private con-
tentions and settling private difﬁculties, and their active exertions
are always directed to prevent strife and bloodshed. They are con-
sulted on the most important occasions, and some of the most eminent
accumulate much wealth, derived from the valuable offerings made
to them as tokens of gratitude for their sympathy and friendship.
Those who "are most distinguished in their spiritual ministrations
profess to be endowed with the power of working miracles; they
claim to possess the gift of prophecy, and they even pretend that they
are in direct communication with the Godhead, who reveals to them
his divine will._ The honour and privileges attached to this saintly
profession are, in some manner, hereditary and descend to one of the
members of the family 5 and if a son, prompted by inclination, deter-
mines to ﬁll the ofﬁce left vacant by his deceased father, he is at once
invested with some degree of sanctity, and shares, without previous
test of merit, the respect and veneration which consecrate the memory
of the departed saint. When a maraboo dies who had acquired great

1 “ C’est sont des saints vivants placés par l’opin-ion entre les hommes et les
anges.”
KAYBLES. 301
reputation for holiness, his body is enclosed in an oblong wooden
case artistically carved and beautifully ornamented with neat patterns
painted in the sacred colours, green and red. This shrine is then
consigned to the earth in a spot selected for the grandeur and pictur-
esqueness of the scenery—on the mountain side, in a romantic glen,
near the river bank, or under the shade of an overhanging rock—and
here a tasteful structure is erected, surmounted by a dome in the
form of a sepulchral chapel (kOubZd), where the faithful kneel in pious
humility and address their invocations and prayers to the saintly spirit.
Although the religious spirit of the Kabyles is but imperfectly
developed, they are nevertheless highly superstitious. In common
with all Mohamedan nations they believe in the pernicious inﬂuence
of the “evil eye ;” and to counteract its blighting effects they con-
sider the symbol of the cross the most powerful talisman, to which
they impute supernatural virtues.1 It is carved among other orna-
mental devices on their weapons, and is imprinted on their person by
tattooing. They are much controlled in their actions by lucky and
unlucky days. They persuade themselves that Monday, Thursday,
and Saturday are the most propitious days for commencing a journey ;
that Tuesday is the most favourable day to engage in battle; that
Thursday is a lucky day for bringing home the bride under the
conjugal roof that she may ﬁnd herself a wedded wife on Friday,
which is a sacred day. N o grief is depicted on the countenance, no
sorrow is expressed for those who die during the month of Rhamadan ;
for it is universally believed that during that period of religious
solemnity the gates of hell are closed, and the portals of paradise
stand widely open to give admittance to all departed souls. They
also give credit to auguries and omens. To see a jackal on ﬁrst rising
in the morning portends a happy turn of affairs ; on setting out on a
journey the presence of two crows indicates that it will be prosperous,
while meeting with one crow or a hare gives cause for fear and
anxiety. The phantoms of demons and evil genii deeply impress
their imagination. On leaving the house they hardly ever fail to
invoke the favour of the evil spirits in the name of the all-powerful
and all-merciful God.
The government of the Kabyles is fundamentally democratic in
principle as well as in practice. Its power rests entirely upon moral
force, and any measure of oppression or violence would meet with
the most determined resistance. Each tribe is independent'of all
the others, but all are ‘governed by popular assemblies and elective
chiefs. The executive and judicial authority of each village is
intrusted to a local magistrate called amz'vz, who is elected by the
common voice of the community, but who is generally chosen on
account of his distinguished family connection, his wealth, or his
eloquence. It is his duty to maintain public order, regulate the
internal police of the community, and in his judicial capacity he is

1 It is expressly stated, however, by General Daumas, who is good authority
on the subject, that the Kabyles do not believe in “the evil eye,” and that they
give but little credit to amulets. The statement of the text caimot apply, there.
fore, to the Kabyles of the J urjura country.
302 THE ARAMIEAN s'roox.
controlled in his decisions by the long-established customs of the
tribe, which is an unwritten code of law recognised by all as valid
and binding in adjusting their diﬁ’erences and settling their personal
disputes. The supreme authority of the tribe is vested in the public
assembly called the djemmd, which elects the amc'n eZ oumena, or
chief of the tribe, for six months or a year, if not sooner removed for
any cause that may render him undeserving of conﬁdence and trust.
The right of proposing the candidate most worthy of the choice of
the people is conceded to the mm'aboos, and if their selection is con-
ﬁrmed by the popular voice they solemnise the act by reciting the
_fatah,1 which is the commission conferring ofﬁcial dignity. The
power of the chief of the tribe is extremely limited and circumscribed.
He can neither carry into effect any measure of public interest,,nor
determine affairs of importance, without having previously consulted
the popular assembly and without having obtained the sanction of the
people. In time of war he takes command of the troops placed at
his disposal and leads the warriors in battle.
The customary laws of the Kabyles are precise and are strictly
applied, and the amin is required to conﬁne himself to a most rigor-
ous interpretation of the spirit of the law, which must be adminis-
tered with the utmost impartiality. N o arbitrary arrests can be made,
and in this respect no distinction of rank or preference of class is
recognised. Corporal punishment is considered as infamous, and is
never resorted to either in light or serious offences. All minor mis-
demeanours are punished by pecuniary ﬁnes, the amount of which is
well established and invariably ﬁxed. The sums thus collected are
partly employed for the maintenance of the poor, and partly laid out
in the purchase of powder, which is distributed to those warriors who
are not possessed of sufficient means to supply themselves with ammu-
nition. A simple ﬁne is imposed for theft, while the receiver of
stolen goods may publicly sell the property thus illegally acquired
without the least hindrance or restriction. Murder is considered
partly a crime against the public and partly a private wrong. The
murderer is compelled to fly for his life, and is thus doomed to per-
petual exile; his house is destroyed and his goods and possessions
are conﬁscated. The relations may, at their pleasure, revenge the
deed of blood and execute the law of retaliation with all the rigour
which hatred or malice may suggest. The mamboos exercise the
pcwer of arbitrators and peacemakers whenever the friendly relations
between any of the tribes are interrupted. They interpose their
friendly oﬁices when mutual enmities assume a threatening aspect and
are about to give rise to hostile acts. They interfere when a weaker
tribe is overwhelmed by a victorious enemy and prefers extermination
to unconditional surrender.
Although the tribes are politically and socially independent of each
other, yet they form offensive and defensive alliances to protect them-
selves against common enemies, promote the common interest,
strengthen the bonds of close neighbourhood, or establish a safe or

1 The ﬁrst chapter of the Koran is so called.
KABYLES. 303
proﬁtable interchange of commodities, and give full scope to a free
and unrestricted commercial intercourse. These tribal leagues are
called sofa (common rank). A soﬂ’ may be formed between a certain
number of tribes to effect a permanent union, or it may be simply a
temporary measure of expediency to meet certain exigencies that may
present themselves, and sometimes tribes dissolve their connection
with one 8017 and enter into an alliance with another that holds out
higher inducements either in the form of political advantages or money
considerations. Whenever a common enemy threatens the whole
nation, soﬁs of great power and strength are constituted for the con~
centration of forces, with the object of providing for the common
defence. Every tribe is required to furnish its own arms and pro-
visions, and the plan of military operations is determined upon by
the tribal chiefs united in council, who select one of their number as
their commanding chief.
When matters of great importance are to be discussed and a deci-
sion has to be reached which may involve serious consequences, the
chief of each tribe calls his people together to meet for this purpose
at some central locality, and all readily comply with the order unless
prevented by casualties beyond their control. On the day appointed
the tribes are ranged in a circle in separate groups, while the mamboos
occupy the centre. The public crier then explains the object for which
the meeting was called, and solicits the members of the assembly to
make known their wishes and give their advice. All those who are
inclined to express their opinion are respectfully heard, and after the
matter has been fully sifted and discussed the mamboos form them-
selves into a committee, and after due consideration they make their
decision known to the people through the public crier. If no oppo-
sition is made, the decision is conﬁrmed by the clapping of hands and
the discharge of ﬁrearms.
To ﬁll the public treasury the Kabyles make an annual contribution
in the form of ordinary taxes (zekat) and the usual tithes prescribed
by the Koran (achour), comprising one-tenth of the produce of the
grain and one out of a hundred from the increase of herds and ﬂocks.
The government revenue thus collected is applied to the most laud-
able and useful purposes. It defrays the expenditure incurred in
giving assistance to the poor, in maintaining and supporting public
schools, in dispensing hospitality to strangers and travellers, in paying
expenses for keeping the mosques in repair and for performing the
regular service of Mohamedan worship, and in purchasing arms and
ammunition for distribution to the needy members of the tribe. They
also devote a portion of their labour for the beneﬁt of the public.
They are always ready to lend an aiding hand in behalf of the
mosques and the mamboos; they keep the public fountains in order,
work the roads, and dig a grave for one of their own people whenever
called upon to perform this pious service.1

1 French Kabylia is now altogether French territory, and is governed civilly as
well as judicially by French laws, which have superseded the ancient customary
law. The ancient political organisation, as described in the text, has been abaii-
doned, and the more modern system has been introduced.
304 THE ARAMlEAN STOCK.
The Kabyles are a warlike race, they often engage in plundering
expeditions against their enemies, which are conducted with profound
secrecy under the cover of the night, and yet they never wage open
war without previously announcing their hostile intentions 5 and when
ever they exchange a pledge of truce, such as a gun or a stick, the
terms agreed upon are inviolably adhered to. All the male members-
of the tribe, from the age of sixteen to sixty, are considered soldiers
and are required to render military service in time of war. Between
the age of fourteen and ﬁfteen boys are initiated into manhood 5 they
are enrolled as active warriors of the tribe with the responsibilities
and duties mature age implies. They are presented to the djemma
(public assembly) on the ﬁrst Rhamadan after having attained to
years of majority 5 they are declared to be ﬁt to bear arms, are in-
scribed on the list of the defenders of the country, and the act of
initiation is completed by reading the fatah to give religious solemnity
to the occasion. 'When war is determined upon, either to revenge an
injury or repel aggression, a levy is made of the whole mass of the male
population 5 all must followr the common standard, none are permitted
to stay behind, and those who are unprovided with guns must arm
themselves with sticks and aid in the attack or defence by throwing
stones, or they are detailed to take care of the wounded. While the
battle is raging the women are often present to attend to the distribu-
tion of ammunition, and to encourage their husbands and brothers by
their spirit of daring and devotion.1
One of the most remarkable institutions which serves as central
point of union, and'keeps the Kabyles ﬁrm and unwavering in their
allegiance to their race and their nation, is the Zaw'cla. It comprises
at once a place of public worship, an educational establishment, and
a strangers’ home for the gratuitous entertainment of travellers and
the poor of their own people who ask for temporary assistance in the
hour of need. A mosque and a tomb erected over the ashes of a
popular saint form the essential constituent parts of the Za-w'z'a; all
the rest is simply the outgrowth of the religious feeling of the people
carried out into practice. Here are buildings for the accommodation
of the pupils of the primary school, and the tolbas or students who
come from’ a distance to devote themselves to the higher branches of
education. Instruction is imparted in Arabic, and Arab as well as
Kabyle children are admitted to the primary school on payment in
advance of six douros (£1, 10s.) 5 and for this small compensation the
pupils not only receive such rudimentary knowledge and instruction as
the teachers are capable of imparting, but they are fed, clothed, and
lodged at the expense of the establishment during the whole time
they remain at school. The rich generally add presents of value to
the regular fees paid to the institution. The education of most of
the children is purely religious. They are taught the ordinary
Mohamedan prayers, and are required to commit to memory some
passages of the Koran; but those who wish to follow the profession
of tolbas as teachers, prolong their stay at school for six or seven

1 This no longer applies to French Kabylia.
KABYLES. 305
years, and ' learn to read and write Arabic, and to recite correctly the
text of the Koran. The most celebrated Zawt'as are, so to say, the
universities of the Kabyle country; there the highest branches of
education are taught, and they are attended by students from Algeria,
Tunis, Tripoli, Morocco, and even from Egypt. The entrance fee is
only four and a half boudjous, equal in value to eight francs. The
course of study comprises reading, writing, Arabic grammar, the
reciting of the Koran with faultless accuracy and precise accentuation,
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and the art of versiﬁcation. There
are also taught the commentaries of the Koran as a code of civil and
criminal law, and different branches of theology expounded from the
“ Conversations of the Prophet,” and by the authorised and received
interpretations of the holy text.
The wandering pilgrim, the weary traveller, and the suppliant
poor are always welcome within the sacred enclosure of the Za'wt'a;
admission is never refused, and any one who presents himself to claim
the protection and beneﬁts of its indiscriminating hospitality, is
generously entertained for a period of three days, and all his wants
are cheerfully provided for. Bands of beggars are strolling from
Zaw'ia to Zaw'ia, and ﬁnd food and shelter in these temporary asylums
of the outcast and the homeless. Even horses and mules are housed
and fed until reclaimed by the rightful owners.
The Zaw‘z'as are the sanctuaries, the places of worship, the con-
secrated ground of the Kabyle people. An oath made here in conﬁr-
mation of the truth of an alleged fact which constitutes the main
point at issue in a judicial proceeding, is considered most solemn and
binding. To'this sacred spot resort the unfortunate, the distressed
and afflicted, to invoke the divine favour through the mediation of
the maraboos, to lighten the burden that weighs heavily upon their
soul, to relieve them of the anguish that smites them with its
chastening rod, or to remove the shame and reproach which, with the
cup of bitterness, poison the very springs of life.
The’ regular government and administration of the Zawt'as are
intrusted to a supreme chief, whose dignity is hereditary in the male
descendants of the original founder of the institution. If the family
becomes extinct, or if there is no heir in the regular line of succession,
the tolbasl of the establishment proceed to an election, and choose as
chief one of their own members who is most distinguished for sanctity,
and a life of self-denial and disinterested benevolence. If the official
dignitary thus invested with authority maintains his reputation among
his brethren for the space of one year, he is installed as the chief of
the Za'w'rla, and the succession becomes hereditary in his family; if,
on the contrary, he should disappoint the hopes of his friends,_a new
election is ordered every year until the proper person is selected to
whom the supreme power may be permanently conﬁded. The
revenues for the support of the Zawtas are derived from various
sources. Some are. regularly endowed by the founders. They are
possessed of tracts of land which are either cultivated by their own

1 Both the teachers and advanced students are called tolbas.
U
306 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
servants or by farmers, who are entitled for their share to one-ﬁfth
of all the produce. They have also become usufructuary owners of
estates transferred to them under a deed of trust. Many of these
corporate communities receive the tithes usually paid to the mosques,
or they are placed under the special patronage of neighbouring tribes,
who furnish them with an ample supply of oil, honey, dried raisins,
ﬁgs, fowls, sheep, goats, and sometimes also of money. They are vthe
beneﬁciaries of the voluntary offerings of pious pilgrims, and the
presents received from devout worshippers, who ask for the prayers
and intercession of the mamboos, form no inconsiderable part of the
regular income.
Another institution of a more general and more universal applica—
tion is the anag/a, which is a kind of freemasonry without its cumber-
some ceremonials and stereotyped forms, but with all the inviolability
of the protecting guardianship which it guarantees. It is a bond of
union which makes all Kabyles brothers, and when once‘in possession
of the well-known token or pledge of security, the stranger or fugitive
may travel from station to station and the passport will be recognised,
if delivered by a responsible person and directed to a friend at a
moderate distance, who will continue the safe-conduct, which is, in
turn, respected within a certain range of territory where he is known.
The anaya confers invaluable privileges upon the traveller 3 it is a
letter of introduction 3 he ﬁnds everywhere a friend; it secures him a
hospitable reception 3 he is exempt from all molestation and injury;
he can boldly defy the wanton acts of violence, and can even reduce
to passive inactivity the serried ranks of his enemies, or disarm the
hand of vengeance that may be raised against him. The amt/ya will
even protect once the criminal who has been guilty of a deed of blood,
but a counterfeit declaration or a false token is instantaneously visited
with the exemplary punishment of death. On the other hand, a
violation of the plighted faith, which the (mag/a implies, would be
resented as a grievous insult, and would inevitably give rise to those
inveterate feuds which, to retrieve the honour of the family or the
tribe, would array in armed conflict all the kindred of the contending
parties. The respect and consideration to which the amaya, given by
a Kabyle, is entitled depends, in a great measure, on the reputation
and personal character of the patron who confers the privilege. ' For
this reason the anaya of a celebrated mamboo is most extensive in its
practical bearing and most certain in its conciliatory effect. Every
mamboo throughout Kabylia will deem it an honour to give a friendly
reception to a stranger who comes thus recommended, and will shield
him by all the inﬂuence and power at his command from all harm or
injury. In sudden emergencies, when unforeseen dangers arise, or
when persecution and enmity dart their envenomed shaft to crush a
weak and helpless victim, the protection of the anaya may be invoked
from the ﬁrst Kabyle that presents himself, although an entire
stranger, and he will rarely refuse to grant the privilege thus earnestly
sought; and even women are included in this magic circle of mutual
friendship, and their token of safe—conduct receives universal recog- _
nition. I
w
I KABYLES- 307
- AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Morocco.“_\ By James Richardson. 1869.
Algeria and Tunis; By J. Kennedy. 1846.
Algeria. By John Reynell Morell. 1854.
Algeria. By R. Blakesley. I859.
Essaie de Grammaire de la. Langue Kabyle. Par A. Hanoteau. 1860.
La Grande Kabylie. ‘ Par M. Daumas et M. Fabar. 1847.
308 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
TUAREGS on IMASHARH.
THE Tuaregs occupy a vast extent of country in the desert of Sahara,
extending from Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and the oasis of Thouat to
Soudan, leaving Fezzan and the Tibboos to the east and the Arab-
tribes of the desert to the west. They have, besides, many temporary
encampments and permanent settlements in northern Soudan. The
northern Tuaregs, comprising the Azdjer and the Ahaggar confedera-
tions, claim as their patrimonial possession the culminating points of
the central plateau of the Sahara which divides the watershed between
the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. The southern Tuaregs,
composed of the confederations of Air and Auelimidden, occupy two-
mountain plateaux of inferior elevation which slope down to the basin
of the Niger. Between the two dividing lines stretch vast plains of
dry, arid deserts, either of a sandy, rocky, or chalky composition,
sometimes formed of saline alluvion, but mostly of a very hard pebbly
soil. These plateaux are watered by wacZg/s, or rivers, that generally
dry up during the dry season, besides the natural springs and artiﬁcial
wells that supply a sufficiency of potable water.
The climate of the Tuareg country is very variable. The winter
season lasts from December to March, and on the Ahaggar plateau the
snow remains on the ground for three months, while on the Tasili it
thaws in a few days. The temperature rises highest between June
and September. It is the altitude and the distance from the sea
which exercise a greater inﬂuence upon the thermometer than the
degrees of latitude. Thunderstorms are excessively rare in the high
mountain regions, but strong winds, unaccompanied by rains, are by
no means uncommon.
Iron is found in various parts of the mountains, but as there exists
no fuel for smelting it, the ore is not used for any practical purpose.
The sulphuret of antimony is obtained in limited quantities, and is
employed for preparing kohl.1 Rock-salt is plentifully supplied in
numerous localities, and saline wells and springs are scattered all over
the country. Alum is a common production, and soda, which is
collected in great quantities, is mixed with snuffing and chewing
tobacco, and serves as a mordant in most dyeing operations. Sand-
stones and calcareous rocks, well adapted for building materials, are
abundant in many places.
The summits and slopes of the mountains are almost entirely
destitute of vegetation, but in the numerous valleys the Saharian
plants are produced to perfection. The principal trees are the Maerua
rigida, which rises to the height of ten or thirteen feet; the Tagonia
fructicans, which is quite common; the Balamites Afgyptiaca, which

1 A black dye for tinging the eyebrows.
TUAREGS. 309
.is about sixteen feet high ; the Zizyphus lotus, which produces eatable
fruit; the Rhus dio'i'ca or sumac, whose stem and root are used for
tanning sheepskin; the Acacia albida, which grows to the height of
sixteen feet; the Acacia Arabica, which yields a valuable gum eaten
by the Tuaregs in time of scarcity ; and the Tamarix articnlata, which
is one of the most useful trees among numerous others that are found
.in the Saharian regions.
The animals most numerous are hyenas, jackals, wolves, foxes, wild
cats, antelopes, gazelles, hares, bats, and rats. Among the birds the
:most common are eagles, falcons, owls, ravens, sparrows, swallows,
pigeons, woodcocks, wild ducks, and ostriches.
The commercial centres of the Tuaregs are the cities of Ghadames
and Rhat. Ghadames is now tributary to Tripoli, which exercises
supreme dominion over it. The inhabitants of the city speak Arabic
with the Arabs, the tamashek language with the Tuaregs, and the
Haoossa with their slaves ; but among themselves they converse in a
particular Berber dialect, which is the intervening link between the
N efoosa and the Tuareg language. Ghadames is one of the most
ancient cities of the Sahara. The ‘whitewashed houses have frequently
two stories, are well ventilated, and are quite capacious. The covered,
well-shaded streets are bordered on both sides by retail shops consist-
ing of a stall and a seat for the merchant. A weekly market is held
every Friday, which is supplied by foreign traders with all the goods
offered for sale by the retail dealers. Butchers’ and bakers’ shops are
very numerous, and all kinds of provisions are sold at public auction.
Every quarter of the city has its fountain, which furnishes a sufﬁcient
quantity of water to meet the wants of the whole population. The
number of inhabitants is estimated at seven thousand souls, exclusive
of the foreign merchants that come and depart with the caravans.
The city can only be entered by a single gate, which enables the
authorities to watch more closely the arrivals and departures. The
women live in a perfect state of seclusion. They are not allowed to
walk in the streets except veiled and only in the evening, during
which time they go to fetch water at the fountain, while the men are
at the mosque. During the day they pass their time on the terraced
roofs, and as all the houses are contiguous, they can mutually visit
each other and 'make the necessary purchases without being exposed
to the profane look of indiscreet curiosity. They are well instructed
in their religious duties, say their prayers at the prescribed hour, and
go even to the mosque, which, after the prayer of maghreb, is open for
their exclusive devotions. The Ghadamese are nearly all devoted to
commercial pursuits; they have most extensive establishments with
branch houses in Kano, Katsena, Timbuctoo, Rhat, In-Salah (Thouat),
Tripoli, and Tunis. Industrial pursuits are also followed with con—
siderable success. The trades exercised by them, which generally pass
from father to son, are those of tailors, weavers, shoemakers, tanners,
blacksmiths, saddlers, jewellers, cabinetmakers, and masons. Agri-
culture is exclusively conﬁned to the gardens found within the walls
of the enclosure, and the tillage of the soil is only rendered possible
by employing artiﬁcial irrigation, for which the water is supplied from
wells and springs. The public authorities were formerly represented
310 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
by a 'mz’tdc'r, assisted by a kazmas; but at present a Turkish pasha
exercises the supreme power in the name of the sultan, and he is
supported by a regular Turkish garrison. The local affairs of the city
are administered by a sheikh, who is assisted by a council of notables
(d’jcma’a). A kadz', who receives his judicial investiture from Tripoli,
presides over the tribunal of ordinary judicature. The imam is the-
religious chief, and the mudewr's act as schoolmasters.
Rhat is a Berber city independent of the Tuaregs, though situated
in the centre of their encampments,'and placed under their protector-4
ship. It lies along the commercial highroad between Tripoli and
Soudan, and plays an important role among the nomadic population
by which it is surrounded. Although it does not contain more than
six hundred houses, with a population not exceeding four thousand
souls, yet it is one of the largest market-towns of the Sahara. The
city has a circular form with a small square, called each‘, in the centre,
which forms the focal point of six streets, that divide the place into
six distinct blocks, each leading to a gate by which the walls of the-
enclosure are pierced. The most prominent building in the town is-
the mosque, which presents nothing that is remarkable except its high
minaret. The houses have two stories, but they are not as capacious-
as those of Ghadames. Water is most abundant in the vicinity of the
city, and on its southern border date plantations form picturesque-
groves, or groups of gardens, some of which are of great extent. The-
population is of a very mixed character. It consists of whites, blacks,
mulattos, freemen, slaves, Arabs, Berbers, and people from all the-
surrounding countries. The women alone represent the primitive-
Berber tribe of Ihadjenen 3 and as the Berber law reserves to them,
even after marriage, the administration of their own property, they,
as proprietors of the houses, the springs, and the gardens, have alone
the right to dispose of all the real estate of the country. The lan~
guage spoken at Rhat is a dialect of the Tuareg. The wholesale trade
in the hands of the wealthy, and the retail trade followed by the poor,
is the principal source of wealth of the people of Rhat. The indus-
trial pursuits, in which some of the inhabitants are engaged, are-
amply sufficient to supply the local wants of the place.
The Tuaregs, who are not only divided into several confederations,
but into an inﬁnite number of tribes, are of Berber origin, and speak
a dialect of the Berber language. The name of Tuareg, which is said
to signify “ the abandoned” (of God), has been given to them by the-
Arabs 3 but they call themselves Imahagh, or Imasharh, or Imajirhen,.
and their language they designate by the name of temahag' or~
tamashek. .
The physical characteristics of the Tuaregs place them among the-
best-developed types of the Libyo-Aramaeans. They are of a pre~
eminently tall stature, with a lean, dry, and nervous frame of body,
but they are at the same time stout, robust, and indefatigable. Their'
gait, which is very peculiar, is grave and slow, measured by long‘
strides, while they hold their head in an erect position. Their com-
plexion is nearly white during infancy, but as it darkens with age it
assumes a peculiar bronzed appearance, and in many cases it graduates
into a dark brown. Their hair is long, black, and smooth, and their‘
TUAREGS. 31 1
beard is ‘black and scanty. They have a long, oval, or round face,]a
moderately high forehead, large black eyes, and prominent cheek-
bones. Their nose is generally small and frequently aquiline, their
ﬁne mouth is of medium size, their lips are thin, and their teeth are
usually White and beautiful. They have long and muscular limbs,
small and well-made hands, and their feet would be equally good were
it not for the unsightly great toe which is immeasurably protruding.
"The women are of good size, are proud in bearing, and are generally
ﬁne-looking.
The moral character of the Tuaregs is much better than their repu-
tation would warrant. They are faithful to their promises, and the
v‘conditions of a treaty are considered so sacred that they have esta~
blished it as a maxim to reduce their obligations to one-half of what
‘they are able to perform, so as not to be exposed to the reproach of a
breach of duty. Lying, theft, and an abuse of conﬁdence are unknown
among them. If they commit a crime, they try to escape 5 but if they
are apprehended they will openly avow the deed, even if it should
cost them their life. Their bravery is proverbial, and on this account
they successfully exercise control over less warlike and more cowardly
communities. Those they cover with their shield of protection, the
giests they entertain, and the dependants that are submissive to their
will they defend at every risk, and they consider it a sacred duty to
shield them against all harm. Their patience, their resignation and
ﬁrinness in misfortune, may be equalled, but cannot be surpassed.
They are gifted with an independent spirit, hate oppression, and never
allt’w themselves to be ruled by a despotic power. They are conﬁding
and unsuspicious, and when they start out on a long journey they
intiust the honour of their house to a friendly neighbour, who will
avenge any insult offered to the family of his absent friend with
gregter rigour than he would have done if the affair concerned him-
self; They are frequently exacting and even extortionate when start-
ingzout on an expedition of plunder, and they act sometimes with
cruelty and vindictiveness in the presence of a weaker adversary;
butithey have the reputation of treating their serfs and slaves with
kinlness and humanity}l
he Tuaregs live only exceptionally in cities and villages ; but they
forn large communities collected either in stationary or temporary
encampments. The spot selected for a stationary camp is always near
sorie spring or well that supplies an abundance of water, and is sur-
rouhded by rich pasturage for the feeding of their herds and ﬂocks.
A hrge camp, composed of tents which are exclusively inhabited by
the’ nobles, is called amezzdgh ,- and the little camp, made up of huts
ocdupied by the serfs, bears the name of erhé‘uen. The tents are
geierally disposed in a circle, and the central space, which is called
taigm'ft, serves as a fold into which the cattle are driven for the night.
Tlie tent frame consists of staves (amate‘vlte) stuck into the ground and

‘.1 The recent destruction of the French Flatters expedition by some of the
Tuareg tribes, who had even recourse to treachery and poisoning to accomplish
their object, shows them to be merciless and vindictive with regard to those they
consider as their enemies.
312 THE ARAMzEAN STOCK.
a central pole (témanlsart) upon which the tent covering (oelam) is
stretched, which is either of thatch (ehcn), of dressed skins (ehakz't), or
of felt (aberdjen). A collection of six or twelve huts (tz'kabert), occu-
pied by families that are related to each other, constitutes a taasz't or .
tribal community. The huts are constructed of tree branches, and.
the roof is thatched with reeds or marshgrass. Most of these habita-
tions have a vegetable garden adjoining them surrounded by a hedge of dry palm leaves. The nobles and rich only enjoy the convenience
of a tent shelter when travelling, but the common people camp in the;
open air in the midst of their baggage which, to some extent, protects
them from the wind.
The household stuff of the Tuaregs presents a variety of articles.
Mats woven of broom straw, which are spread on the ﬂoor 5 matsg'
serving as screens, and woollen carpets of various colours, which are,‘
however, rare 5 dressed ox-hides which are used as dinner tables leather cushions, and baskets braided of tough grass 5 skin-bags closed
by means of padlocks, in which valuables and clothing are stowed
away 5 dromedary cages with their covering to shelter the women when
travelling 5 pack-saddles for asses, water-sacks, and leather buckets and
ropes to draw water; milk-sacks, and gourds used in place ‘of vases;
earthenware and wooden pitchers; wooden vessels, dishes, cups, and
iron vessels employed for table service and for washing 5 wooden spoorz’s,
a wooden mortar and pestle to crush the grain 5 a lamp, a mirrqlr,
violins with their bows, and bowls for dogs. The chief dress of all classes of Tuaregs is a long shirt of white cot‘ n
cloth. Long wide trousers of a glossy blue cotton stuff extend from I e
waist to the ankles. The outer dress is a tobe or tunic (tz'isamz'st-kde)
of glossy indigo-dyed cotton, which is gathered round the waist by a
girdle of the same material or of red worsted. Skin tobes are also
worn and are much valued as an article of dress. Most of these
‘ garments are ornamented with embroidery, and are provided with
pockets to stow away a handkerchief, a tobacco-box, a pipe andlits
accessories. Their head is covered with a red fez cap (tikumboot), fipm
which a silken tassel is suspended. Over this is worn a long nariow
piece of blue cotton cloth called tiguelmoost, which entwines the head
and forehead, passes across the nape of the neck, and masks the whole
face, leaving only the eyes exposed which are simply screened by a
widely projecting fold. The poorer classes, who do notpossess suffi-
cient means to procure this turban-like drapery, make use of a stripiof
white gauze of European manufacture, which serves them as held-
covering. Their sandals are composed of a sole of three thicknesies
of camel’s leather ﬁrmly sewn together with leather strings. Itjis
attached to the foot by a transverse triangular piece that ﬁxes it to the
instep from'which a strap extends, in a median line, that passes to the
rounded end in front of the sole between the great and ﬁrst toe. The
upper part of the sole and the pieces of attachment are of moroc'go
leather frequently beautifully embroidered. A rosary hanging round
the neck completes the national costume. The chiefs sometimts
wear boots of soft morocco, and are often dressed in Moorish fashioii,
consisting of a waistcoat, a wide-sleeved jacket, and a bmvwos of red
1
i
l
TUAREGS. 3 I 3
or light blue broad-cloth. The women wear two or three long cotton
gowns (ti/camist-lcore).gathered round the waist with a girdle of red
broad-cloth. A long worsted piece of drapery, either white, red, or
striped, covers the whole body from head to foot. Their head-dress
is simply a band made of their hair, around which a piece of stuff is
rolled, either of wool or cotton, which is twined round their forehead.
Their feet are protected by sandals, similar to those of the men, only
‘lighter and more neatly ﬁnished. Their ornaments are conﬁned to
ﬁnger-rings (tisdh), bracelets of glass (tihokam'n) or silver (ivoki), and
some glass beads.
The costume of the southern Tuaregs differs but little from that of
the northern tribes, except that their muffler or turban, which covers
their head and face, is generally of a black colour; but blue, yellow,
red, or white is sometimes preferred, according to the fancy of the
wearer. They cut their hair short, and leave only a tuft at the
crown, which is either entwined by the muffler in turban fashion or
is covered by the fez cap. Some few have a copy of the Koran,
enclosed in a leather case, suspended from their shoulder by a cord,
and small bags, containing amulets, are hanging round their neck.
As a badge of nationality both the northern and southern tribes
encircle their upper left arm with a thick ring of horn or serpentine
of a black, green, or other dark colour, which enables them to give
greater force to the stroke of the sabre. They are always armed with
the lance, have a poniard strapped to the left arm, and a long sabre is
suspended from their shoulder.
The northern Tuaregs tinge their arms, hands, and face with
powdered indigo, and the women frequently paint their face with
yellow—ochre. The edge of their eyelids is coloured black with Zrolzl
or the sulphuret of antimony. The men shave their head, but instead
of a single tuft they preserve a crestlike ridge of hair (ahoggot),
arranged in small locks, which extends from the forehead to the nape
of the neck.1 The Tuaregs hardly ever wash any part of their body,
because water is supposed to render the skin more sensible to the inﬂu-
ence of heat and cold. The ablutions prescribed by their religion
are symbolically performed by rubbing the skin with sand or with a
pebble.
The Tuaregs are, from the nature of the circumstances by which
they are surrounded, excessively abstemious in their diet, and they
bear the pangs of hunger and thirst with stoic indifference by merely
drawing as tight as possible their girdle of famine. Their principal
dish is a kind of thick porridge (asz'nlt), made from wheat, barley, or
millet ﬂour, and sometimes all three are mixed. A cake is also baked
of the same materials. ' Cuscoosoo is, on particular occasions, served up
among the nobles and the maraboos. On festival days a pastry is
prepared with ﬂour, milk, butter, and honey. Rice ‘is rarely eaten,
except when procured from the passing caravans. Besides some wild

1 They leave this small remnant of hair unshorn that the angel, on the day of
judgment, may be able to take hold of them in order to lift them up from earth
to heaven, and make them appear in a suitable manner before the great Judge.
314 ' THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
cruciferous plants their vegetable food consists of onions, tomatoes,
egg-plants, melons, cucumbers, gourds, water-melons, and pumpkins.
Many of these vegetables ‘are boiled in water with the addition of'
some salt, either with or without butter or grease. Dates are largely
consumed, either as fruit or made into tarelcz't by being pounded in
water with butter. They are also converted into preserves by being‘
mixed with ﬂour and red pepper, and are formed into cakes which
are diluted with water when eaten. J ujubes and ﬁgs are favourite-
fruits, and raisins are added as a relish to stews. Their meat diet is
ordinarily composed of camel’s ﬂesh, mutton, and kid3 but the ﬂesh
of antelopes, gazelles, jerboas,1 and wild rats is equally acceptable,
and they do not even refuse locusts. Sweet, sour, and curdled milk
are staple articles of daily consumption during the season of pasturage,
and fresh milk forms an important part of the most esteemed condi-
ments. Butter, as well as honey, is much used in the preparation of
their dishes. As seasonings they employ oil, mutton suet, raw sugar,
gum, garlic, pepper, salt, and chz'zfzfa.2 Cheese is much esteemed, but
as it is not‘produced among the northern tribes they import it from
Air. The ﬂesh of animals is either roasted or stewed. Their roasting
apparatus is a stick of wood laid horizontally on two forked supports
erected over the ﬁre. The stewed meats are either pounded in butter
or cut into small pieces 3 they are cooked with proper seasonings in
earthenware or tinned iron vessels. Venison is generally dried and
laid up in store to form a part of the provision supplies when travel—
ling. Locusts are salted or preserved in oil. Camel’s ﬂesh is eaten
either fresh, salted, or dried.
At a feast of hospitality given in honour of a stranger the neigh-
bours never fail to partake of the good cheer of the host, and the
beggars are allowed to carry off the crumbs that are left of the
banquet. The animal killed on the occasion is selected according to
the rank of the host and that of the guest 3 a young, fat she-camel
indicates the highest mark of attention. But while the higher classes
are thus sumptuously regaled, the common poor receive for their share
the skin of the animal, if it be a sheep or a goat. It is ﬁrst boiled to
strip it of its hair, and is then cut into narrow strips, which are boiled
or fried according as they are tough or tender. Fish, fowls, and
fowls’ eggs are considered unclean by the nobles 3 but they are freely
eaten by the mamboos, the poorer classes, and slaves 3 and the last
two are very fond of dog’s ﬂesh as well as lizards. Husband and
wife eat together seated before the same dishes, contrary to the
Mussulman custom, and the wife receives the best part of the repast.
According to ancient usage, however, the‘ heart and intestines are
exclusively reserved to the men, and the liver and kidneys are the
parts which are only eaten by the women. The men alone are
. allowed to drink either tea or coffee.
The Tuaregs are engaged in the tillage of the soil to a very limited
extent. The vegetable products cultivated by them are wheat, barley,
sorghum, millet,8 dates, and ﬁgs. Grapes grow wild in the mountains

1 Dipus sagitta. 2 Red pepper. 3 Arthratherum pungens.
TUAREGS. 315
of Ahaggar, but they are rather of inferior quality. Their ﬁelds are
simply small garden plots, and the ground is not broken up with the
plough, for the spade suffices for all useful purposes. Their principal
occupation, however, is the breeding of domestic animals. Their life
is intimately associated with the camel ; it is the beast of transport in
peace and in war, and supplies a great quantity of milk for family
use 3 its ﬂesh is most highly esteemed; its hide furnishes the tent
covering, the leather for saddles, sandals, and most of the household
utensils ; its hair supplies material for making ropes ; its dung is not
only used as manure, but also as fuel. The camels that are trained
for riding, called arregan, are of the most perfect docility, and several
years are employed to complete their education. From the earliest
period of their existence they are accustomed to support hunger and
thirst, to make long ourneys, and to be never frightened at anything.
They are the favourites of the family, are caressed by all, and are well
cared for. The pedigree of the best stock is carefully preserved so as
not to deteriorate the purity of the race. Dromedaries, used for
riding, are exclusively owned by the rich. Horses are very rare on
account of the continued drought that prevails in the country. There
are only a few humpbaeked cattle or zebus found among them. The
ass, which as a beast of burden is second only to the camel, is com-
paratively tall, and has the skin somewhat spotted. Their sheep,
which have hair instead of wool, are large, and supply good mutton
and a serviceable skin. But. goats are by far most numerous, and are
of great use to the serfs, whom they supply with meat, milk, hair,
and leather. They have three kinds of dogs: the greyhound, the
Arab breed, and a bastard species. Their herds and ﬂocks compel
them to lead a nomadic and wandering life, and they occupy, in turn,
those parts of their territory which in due season afford the best pas—
turage. The camels are guarded by their slaves, who attend to the
watering, which demands considerable labour, as the water has to be
drawn from deep wells.
The industrial pursuits followed by the Tuaregs are not more than
sufficient to supply their own wants. The blacksmiths are most
respected next to the nobles, for they are the artisans, and their
mechanical labour is principally devoted to the reparation of arms.
The tanners dress the skins of all the wild and domestic animals that
are killed, and the leather thus produced is employed by the saddlers
and sandal-makers. Some weave mats and other articles of grasses,
or shape clay into earthenware. Others are wood-carvers, make dishes
and bowls, bows and arrows, lance shafts, poniard and sword handles.
Hunting is never followed as a regular occupation, and a few only
pursue, from time to time, the wild animals in the dunes and in the
forests for their ﬂesh and their skin.
The Tuaregs are engaged in commercial pursuits to a very limited
extent. They act as brokers in the trade relations between Soudan,
F ezzan, and Ghadames. They bring salt to Haoossa in October and
November, which they exchange for grain, blue tobes, and magobs or
blue turbans. Some of the poorer classes transport on their camels
the goods of foreign merchants for hire from Cabra to Timbuctoo, and
Veg-#1.’. nuvw" "W
316 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
they also serve as guides to caravans that pass through the desert,
either in a north or south direction. During certain periods of the
year they organise caravans which travel through the oases of Thouat,
Gourara, Rhat, Ghadames, and Ouaregla, and even as far as the Beni-
Mzab, to exchange the surplus of their herds against grain, dates,
weapons, and different manufactured articles necessary for the com-
forts of a nomadic life. Each tribe has its own particular market
which it regularly visits. During their stay in the cities they demean
themselves in a manner as if the inhabitants were a conquered people.
They introduce themselves into private houses without the least cere-
mony, and demand, with an air of authority, to be regaled with the
best the country affords.
The language spoken by the Tuaregs is known in the native idiom
as temahag or fantasize/10,1 of which the different confederations speak
distinct dialects that differ in many particulars from each other, and
the dialect of the southern tribes is more particularly divergent, as it
is intermixed with numerous words derived from various Nigritian
languages of central Africa. The northern tribes speak a much purer
idiom, and, with the exception of a few Arabic expressions imported
with the Mussulman religion, it is comparatively free from foreign
intermixture. In the northern dialect the k is aspirated, while in the
southern ch or z is substituted in its place.
The tamashels language has been reduced to writing, and the letters
are squares, circles, lines, dots, or a combination of some or of all of
these. The Tuaregs have no written books, and their alphabet is used
only in the composition of songs, fables, and romances, or for engrav-
ing inscriptions on rocks and caverns, or for tracing devices on their
shields, arms, and clothing 5 but it is nevertheless much diffused, and
the higher classes all understand the art of employing it. The char-
acters are written, like the Arabic, from right to left 5 but there are
no diacretial points to indicate the vowel sounds. The words are not
divided, and punctuation is unknown.
The grammatical organism of the tamashelc is quite complicated,
and differs in many particulars from the general construction of the
inﬂectional languages. The singular and plural of masculine and
feminine nouns are indicated by distinct initial letters. All masculine
nouns commence with a, e, c‘, or a in the singular, and the plural is
marked by the initial letter 2'. T is the initial of feminine nouns in
the singular and plural. Masculine nouns, commencing with a vowel
sound, are changed into corresponding feminine nouns by annexing t
as initial as well as ﬁnal letter. Thus amra, “old man 5” feminine
tamrar’t, “old woman 5” abaradlz, “young man 5” feminine tabarat,
“young girl 5” anhz'l, “male ostrich,” tanh-z'lt, “female ostrich.” To
all these rules, however, there are some exceptions, and many mas-
culine nouns have speciﬁc words for their corresponding feminine
expression, as az'z's, “horse 5” tibegaoot, “mare 5” elm'ar, “ ram 5”_tz'balz',
“ewe.” The plural of nouns is indicated by distinct speciﬁc signs for
the masculine and feminine. The masculine plural is formed by the

1 Dr. Barth gives to the language of the Tuaregs the name of Te-masiyt.
TUAREGS. 3 I 7
sufﬁx 22, an, en, or 2'22, of which the last three are often preceded by a t
for the sake of euphony, as amcnukal, “ king,” plural amenukalen,
“kings ;” ashelc, “tree,” plural deli/can, “trees ;” eZa, “leaf,” plural
L'Zc'ttcn, “leaves;” 2'222', “colour,” plural 2'222'te22, “colours.” Another
mode of forming the masculine plural consists in changing the initial
letter a into 2', and the vowel sound 2' of the ﬁnal syllable into a, as
a22722'Z inhal, “ostriches ;” agdhidh, “bird,” 2gdhad/2, “birds.” The
feminine plural has no distinctive mark as such, but the gender mark t
placed before the masculine plural changes the noun into the corre-
sponding feminine, as 2'2222"a2"e22, “ old men,” timr’am'n, “old women ; ”
iuak ls’ascn, “lions,” tiualc’ k’asin, “lionesses.” The singular feminine
nouns terminating in a or 2' take generally in the plural the terminal
syllable 242122, and sometimes, but rarely, 22a: as tagella, “bread,”
tagelluin, “ bread” (plural) 3 tit, “ eye,” titauin, “ eyes ; ” tamtalc,
“forest” timterin “forests.” The tamashek has ro erl s eakin<r
7 ? 3 p D,
no’ declension, the substantives of both genders and numbers remain
invariable whatever their relation may be with other substantives or
verbs, and the accidents are only indicated by Prepositions.
The tamashek has no article, and to give a speciﬁc determination to
a noun- it is followed by a demonstrative or relative pronoun, as
amenukal 22a 22 agedes, “the king that of Agedes.” The personal
pronouns are either subjective and are expressed by speciﬁc words, or
they are objective and are simply affixes which are joined to the word
by which they are governed. The subjective personal pronouns differ
in gender in the second and third persons of the singular and plural.
The objective pronouns differ somewhat in form according as they are
affixed to a noun, a verb, or a particle. There are also demonstrative
and indeﬁnite pronouns.
‘The tamashek language is wanting in adjectives in the proper sense
of that word. The idea of quality is expressed by verbal participles,
which are placed after the noun, they qualify and agree with it in
gender and number, as 2'Zla W00?‘ 2' (222's 2'sular’enes, “ with me a horse
being good,” 2'.c., “I have a good horse.” The verbal adjective or
participle is not itself compared, but the superlative of superiority is
expressed by the preposition fall, “over,” and “data,” under, which
follow the qualitative word, as ncklru eZabase-r’ fall ana, “ as for me I am
ugly over my brother,” 2.6., “I am uglier than my brother ;” kemmu
tehusid full ooZt mam, “as for thee thou art pretty over the sister of
thine,” 2'.c., “thou art prettier than thy sister.” The verbal expres-
sion, “to be worth more,” is used for the adjective word “better.”
The comparative of equality is indicated by the particle hand, which
has the sense of “ as.” Thus enta 'iusizshe're'n hzmd 226271271122, “he being
as old as I,” 216., “he is as old as I.” The comparative of inferiority
is expressed by the word dau, “ under, beneath,” as 2'la {ha-maven dau,
“he has flocks beneath me,” 2'.e., “ he has less ﬂocks than I.”
The numerals are sufﬁciently comprehensive for all practical pur-
poses. There are speciﬁc words both for the masculine and the
feminine as far as eleven. The highest number‘ for which the
language has a speciﬁc expression is two hundred thousand.
The tamashek verb admits only of the active voice; the passive is
318 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
expressed by means of certain derivative forms of the verb. Verbs
have gender, number, and person. The gender is only distinguished
in the third person singular, and in the second and third person
plural. There is but a single mood, which generally indicates a past
form, but it may give expression to the absolute present or to the
future. Tense modiﬁcations are effected by particles which are placed
before the verb, or the vowel sound a is introduced in the ﬁnal
syllable. The second person singular of the imperative constitutes
the radical which is invariable, and the verb is conjugated by the
addition of preﬁx and sufﬁx letters. In certain verbs the actual pre-
sent is indicated by introducing the vowel sound a in the ﬁnal or
penultimate syllable. Thus ellrcmer, “I have followed,” is transformed
into elkamer, “I follow.” The imperfect is denoted by placing the
particle Icelad before the actual present, as icelad et’taser as z'g’la, “I
slept when he departed.” The pluperfect is formed by the simple
mood of the verb, preceded by irelacl, as kelad et’teser as c'g’la, “I had
slept when he departed.” The future is expressed, if the verb is not
negative, by placing before the simple mood the particle ad, which,
when euphony requires it, is changed into at or an, as ad ellcemer, “I
shall follow.” Ha and m are also used to form the future. There
is a present, past, and future participle which have both gender and
number, as c'llcen, “he has followed,” masculine, z'llremen, “having
followed 3” feminine, tellremet, “having .followed3” masculine, .z'llcam,
“ he follows,” illcamcn, “ following 3 ” feminine, telkam, “she follows 3”
feminine, telkamet, “following.” The primitive verb is susceptible
of various modiﬁcations by the systematic addition of certain syllables
or particles which give it a transitive, passive, or reciprocal sense, or
indicate the customary mode, the frequency or the continuity of the
action, as am, “to buy,” itoozenz, “he has been bought 3” cm", “‘ to
kill,”sen mam‘, “ to cause themselves to be killed mutually 3” ettef,
“to seize,” itaat’t’af, “he is habitually seized.” The tamashek verbs
are changed into nouns by the addition to the radical of the masculine
or feminine signs of the nouns. Thus elmed, “to teach,” forms
aselmcd, “instruction 3” elmes, “to dispute,” akanas, “a dispute 3”
enbel, “to bury,” animal or anabal, “burial 3 ” cruel, “to ﬂy,” taroola,
“ﬂight 3” ale, “to go,” tz'ka'u-t, “the action of going 3” am', “to write,”
tiraat, “the writing 3” car’, “ to kill,” tz'nr’z', “murder.” Some verbal
nouns denote the agent who performs the action, or who is subjected
to the condition, as cmeger, “to receive hospitality,” amagar, “the
host 3” cm', “ to love,” amem', “friend 3” efredh, “to sweep,” anafer'adh,
“the sweeper.” '
The tamashek language has a regular written literature. The
literary compositions are principally short tales or fables in‘ the form
of moral apologues and romances. The Tuareg poetry is composed
of verses of a certain number of syllables without regard to their
metrical value; and they generally terminate in rhyme, but ~blank
verse is not uncommon. The subjects treated are war, love, or some
important event of the day. _
Both men and women among the Tuaregs are instructed in reading
and writing3 andthe education of the latter is generally superior to
TUAREGS. ’ 1' 319
that of the former, especially among the nobles. The knowledge of
Arabic is conﬁned to a few distinguished men, but those that speak
that language express themselves with perfect correctness, although
their pronunciation soon betrays their nationality. The Koran and
its commentaries are the only Arabic books found among them. Their
intellectual knowledge is, however, very limited ,' with the exception
‘of the city merchants they have no idea of arithmetic 5 and they only
count with the aid of the beads of their chaplets or by making dots
in the sand. Their year is divided into twelve months and into
weeks of seven days, each of which is designated by a speciﬁc name.
‘They are well acquainted with the interior of every part of their
country, and they have a distinct idea of the geography of the countries
situated between the Niger and the Mediterranean, and of those” that
lie on the route to Mecca 3 but beyond this they know very little of
the world, except some isolated names. They acquiredqfrom observa-
tion and experience a distinct knowledge of the properties of the
Sahara plants, to which they have given names ',' they can tell in what
kind of soil they grow, and at what time they ﬂower and bear fruit.
'They are also familiar with the peculiar characteristics of the larger
animals most prevalent in their country. They have paid much atten-
tion to the local appearance of the surface land, so as to enable them
‘to select the most favourable spots for digging wells. Their mamboos
have some slight notion of theology and law, but their learning is
very superﬁcial. Their astronomical observations are quite extensive.
'They have names for the ﬁrmament, the sun, the moon, thefMilky
Way, Venus, Orion, the Belt of Orion, Rigel, Sirius, the Little and
'Great Bear, the Polar Star, the Pleiades, the constellation of the
Scorpion, the Hare, the Great Dog, Aldebaran, and Canopus. When
:an eclipse occurs they say the sun and moon invade each other’s
domain. The sun and the stars enable them to distinguish the four
cardinal points. They ascertain the meridian height of the sun by
planting a staff into the ground. _
The Tuaregs have no regular medical practitioners, but they employ
many remedial means which experience‘has taught them to be effica-
cious in certain ailments. In cases of rheumatism, they employ some
liniments and the cautery. The principal remedies known are
emollient drinks, laxatives or purgatives, prepared from various indige-
nous plants. In case of snake~bite or the sting of some venomous
insect, they-compress the limb by means of a ligature to obstruct the
circulation of the blood; after which they apply the actual cautery,
-or they wash the wound with an oleaginous lotion, or bring it in contact
with the still bleeding ﬂesh of some animal recently killed.
The Tuareg women are placed on a footing of equality with the
men. Young girls receive the same scholastic education as the
boys; and a young woman is perfectly free to make choice of the
young man she wishes to marry, and her parents only interfere to
prevent an unsuitable match. The young women mix in the society
of men without the least constraint, and they sometimes mount their
camels and pay a visit to their lovers all alone and at a distance of
ﬁfty or seventy-ﬁve miles. A girl may embroider the turban or write
320 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
on the shield of her lover eulogistic verses or wishes of prosperity,
and her admirer may cut her name in the rock and celebrate her
beauty in the song, without the least breach of propriety, “for male
and female friends,” say the Tuaregs, “are for the eye and the heart,
not only for the bed as with the Arabs.” Almost every evening the
women sing to the r‘ebazal songs entirely improvised, and the men
form a circle around them dressed up in their best attire. W'ives
have the exclusive right of managing their private fortune without
being compelled to contribute a part of their revenues for the support
of the family. In their domestic establishments they are principally
occupied with the nursing and education of their children, who follow
the rank and tribe of their mother. A woman who, by her sound
judgment and the influence which she exercises, has acquired a
reputation is sometimes permitted to take‘ part in the council of the
tribe. The inﬂuence which the Tuareg women exercise in the family
is so pre-eminent that they have imposed upon the men the inviolable
obligation of marrying but one' Wife, notwithstanding that the
Mohamedan law sanctions polygamy. Their liberty of locomotion is
not in any wise restricted; and provided they attend to the duties of
the household, as wives and as mothers, they are responsible to no
one for their actions or their conduct. The married women are
distinguished for exemplary chastity; and in cases of adultery the
husband avenges his tarnished honour by killing the guilty parties.
Although the wife may ask for a divorce for a sufficient cause, she may
be repudiated at pleasure by her husband, who would not, however,
enter into a second engagement before the affairs of the ﬁrst had been
entirely settled.
A young woman hardly ever marries before she is twenty years of
age ; and a young man does not assume the responsibilities of married
life before thirty. A married woman enjoys the greater consideration
the more admirers she has among the men 3 but she must treat them
all alike, and show a preference to none, if she values her reputation.
In society her deportment is marked by certain rules of etiquette. To
show her respect to the man with whom she converses, she turns her
back towards him, or covers her face with the corner of her jacket.
She is not required to perform any hard labour, and the drudgeries of
the household, as well as the cooking, devolve upon the slaves. She
is at full liberty to devote her time to reading, writing, music, or
embroidery. By the legal condition of marriage the wife owes
obedience to her husband, and the husband is, in turn, required to
provide for the wants of the wife within the limits of his resources.
Marriage is celebrated according to the Mohamedan law. The
mamboo confers the nuptial benediction, and draws up the conditions
of the marriage, if the alliance is based upon a specific contract.
Among the nobles a dromedary parade is organised, and the ‘social
amusements of the hour consist in singing and playing the r'ebaza.
The serfs and slaves enliven the festivities by a dance, in N igritian
style, to the sound of the darbooka.

1 The Arab guitar.
TUAREGS. 321
The Tuaregs dispose of their dead by burial according to the
Mohamedan ritual. The body of the deceased is washed with warm
water and is wrapped in a new shroud, after which the customary
prayers are read by the mamboo and the mortal remains of the dead
are consigned to the grave in due form. The friends do not manifest
their grief by weeping and lamentations, but after the interment it is
the immemorial usage to prepare a propitiatory repast, to which all
the members of the community are invited. Henceforth every inci-
dent that could, in the remotest degree, recall the memory of the
deceased, is avoided; his name is never mentioned, and the children
are called by their own name and not by that of their dead father.
To eﬂ’ace every recollection, and to prevent ghostly apparitions from
troubling the mind, the camping ground is also changed. An excep-
tion in this respect prevails, however, with regard to the maraboos
and princely families whose names are intimately connected with the
history of the tribe. During the period of mourning the friends and
relations let their beards grow, and no marriage is celebrated during
that time.
The Tuaregs recognise the distinction of classes. The highest rank
in the social hierarchy is assigned to the nobles (2hagga2'en), who alone
enjoy the free exercise of political rights, and their power and inﬂu—
ence among the tribe are predominant. They are members of the
public council, where all general interests are discussed. One of them,
by the right of a kind of primogeniture, governs and administers
public aﬁ‘airs without the concurrence of the other members of his
family. The ordinary occupations of the nobles are conﬁned to the
performance of public duties. They act as police agents within the
limits of their tribe ; they insure the safety of the routes ; they protect
the caravans and their dependants; they watch the enemy and ﬁght
him when the necessity arises; and in case of war, when the whole
population is called under arms, they take the command of the serfs.
Every kind of manual labour is considered by them as dishonourable,
and they would even disdain to learn to read and write if it were not
an absolute necessity to acquire these ﬁrst elements of education. They
are far, however, from being inactive, for the immense distances
through which they have to pass keep them in constant movement,
which consumes the greatest part of their time. When harvest time
approaches they proceed to the oasis, where the merchants reside,
whose interest they protect, and from them they receive a part of the
products of their gardens in return for their valuable services. Dur-
ing the period of the year when the caravans are passing they
establish their camp near the caravan route, and are supported by the
dhifa furnished by the travelling merchants. In the interval they
quarter themselves upon their serfs, who supply them with all their
wants. If they lose their camels by accident or from want of forage,
their serfs are always ready to make good their loss,
The maraboos (2n2'slim'n) are nobles who have renounced their
political prerogatives, and take no part in the conduct of public affairs,
in order to acquire greater authority in religious matters ; and they act
at the same time as religious teachers, as judges of the tribunals, and
X
322 THE ARAMzEAN STOCK.
as educators of the people. As ecclesiastical functionaries, they watch
over the strict observance of the precepts and doctrines of the ortho-
dox creed, preach virtue and morality as much by their example as
by their words 3 for there are neither mosques nor places of assembly
‘ for religious exercises in the country. As judges, they act as arbitra-
tors in all disputed questions and quarrels that arise between indi-
viduals, tribes, and confederations, and even between their own
countrymen and strangers. They often succeed in their efforts ‘of
conciliation, and the parties to the contest listen to the language of
sound reason, but their power is only that of moral persuasion. As
teachers, they impart instruction according to the measure of their
own knowledge. Children are taught reading and writing and the
reciting of certain passages of the Koran. The pupils of a higher
grade (telamz'd) are instructed in history, law, theology, astronomy,
and arithmetic—branches of education of which they hardly possess
the ﬁrst rudiments.
There exists an intermediate subject class, who pay to the nobles a
capitation tax, called gharama, for the free enjoyment of their limited
rights.
Another subject class, less free than the preceding, are known by
the name of imrhad, which constitute the tributary tribes who are not
only subjected to a political but to a social subordination, resembling
somewhat the condition of serfs. The noble is, in theory at least, the
master of the imrhads, and he has a right to claim their property as his
own 3 yet in practice the master is pleased to see his serf getting rich,
to accumulate wealth in money, herds, slaves, and movable property 3
for in case of necessity these make up his reserve funds, of which he
will appropriate a moderate share without abusing his absolute right,
so as not to discourage and deaden the energies of his dependant.
Consequently many of the z'mrhads are much richer than their masters.
As annual contributions exacted, the imrhdds furnish a camel, a pot
of butter (hotta), and the milk of ten sheep or goats. They are, in.
addition, required to take care of the herds and ﬂocks of the nobles.
The serfs cannot be sold, but they may be transferred by heritage or
donation, and they can under no circumstances free themselves from
servitude. A number of black serfs, called z'lselan, are exclusively
composed of enfranchised slaves, who, in order to secure protection
and support, voluntarily submit to this limited dependence. The
Tuareg c'mrhads are subjugated tribes who have placed themselves
under the protectorship of the nobles. They are as patriotic and
brave as their masters, and ﬁght as valiantly against a common enemy.
They are all provided with arms, such as the sabre, the lance, the
poniard, and the shield. In every engagement they occupy the front
line, and they would consider themselves dishonoured if they were not
allowed to take up arms in the defence of the common country..
Slavery is a legal institution among the Tuaregs. The slaves are
supplied by the caravans who bring them from Sondan 3 but domestic
slaves are treated with much consideration, and are generally regarded
in the light of members of the family. They are employed as house-
servants, they guard the herds and ﬂocks, and form armed escorts to-
TUAREGS. 32 3
~caravans. If the slave women are concubines, they accompany their
master while travelling; or they act as managers of the family esta-
blishment, so as to permit the free women to devote their time to
‘other employments or to pleasure.
The nobles constitute the governing class among the Tuaregs ; and
'to maintain their privileges and exclusive rights they had formerly
concentrated all political power in a single chief, under the form of a
feudal monarchy. The king, who bore the title of amanokal, was
assisted in the administration of the government by the chiefs of the
principal tribes of nobles, who were the executive officers, acting, in
their turn, through the agency of subordinate functionaries. The
succession of the royal dignity was hereditary, but not in the direct
male, but in the collateral female, line. The tribal chiefs (amar) are
appointed by the tribes, each of which is entirely independent in the
management of its internal affairs. ,
An internal revolution has somewhat modiﬁed the conditions of the
supreme government among the Azdjers and Ahaggars who constitute
the two aristocratic confederations. They recognise the supreme
:authority of an hereditary chief under the title of amgha'r, and the
‘presumptive heir of the former amonakal is simply invested with the
dignity of share)”. The powers exercised by the amghars are only
limited by. the Mohamedan laws, and they vary according as the
ruling chief is able, by his talents and ability, to exercise a greater or
less inﬂuence upon his people. Among the southern Tuaregs the
supreme chieftainship is elective. The assembly of tribal chiefs of the
southern confederation are invested with the right of deposing their
sultan and electing another whenever they deem it proper, which
generally happens every three years, and the incumbent abandons his
post without resistance.
The administration of justice is based upon the customary law
'adda, and when this. is insufficient the treatise on jurisprudence of
Sidi—Khelil is consulted. Cases are not tried before a kadi, but the
‘chiefs of the families and the chiefs of the tribes manage all contested
cases; and if the difﬁculty cannot be adjusted in the ﬁrst instance,
the mamboo intervenes, and generally succeeds to settle the conﬂict
in a peaceable and amicable way. T/Vhen murder or any other capital
‘crime has been committed, the relations of the victim are allowed,
with permission of the amghar, to have recourse to blood revenge.
Those interested may, however, forbear to take personal vengeance
upon the criminal by accepting a stipulated amount of blood-money.
The ordinary punishments inﬂicted by the order of the chiefs of the
tribes, who perform the duty of the interior police, are ﬁnes (z'sck-
keser), ﬂogging (tibzt'rcn), and putting in irons. Ordinarily when a
contest arises between different individuals, an amicable settlement is
attempted, for which purpose a mia’ad or assembly is proposed and
accepted. Generally a neutral territory is selected as the place of
meeting, and it is determined in advance what number of armed men
each party has a right to bring to the mz'a’ad, which is composed of
the chiefs and the men of gravity and experience of the tribe. The '
utmost. decorum and politeness prevail, and a camel and several sheep
324. THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
are cooked to regale the judges. At the ﬁrst interview the question
at issue is not touched upon; the parties simply try to sound each
other and canvass their chances of success or failure. Next day the
conference opens in the open air. Two concentric semicircles, oppo-
site to one another, mark the limits of the enclosure reserved to the
speakers, and around two other semicircles the spectators are assem-
bled. An imprecation is occasionally heard: “May God discard all‘
evil counsel 1 ” “ So mote it be, Amen !” respond the audience. Each‘
one speaks in turn, and the highest chiefs, who pronounce the ﬁnal
decision, are the last to express their opinion. If one of the parties is
not satisﬁed with the conclusion that has been reached, a second and
even a third assembly may be called, and in the end the intercession
of a mamboo becomes frequently necessary in order to conciliate the
parties. After this favourable result the contestants seal the new
alliance by eating bread and salt together, and in commemoration of
this happy event a feast is prepared with roasted camel’s ﬂesh and
roasted mutton as the favourite dishes. Sometimes a pyramid of.
stones is erected on the spot where the mia’at has been held. If, in
spite of the intervention of the mamboo, no conciliation is effected, war
becomes the only means of adjusting the difficulty.
All kinds of property or values are divided into two distinct classes.
The ordinary articles of value are money, arms, slaves that have been
acquired by purchase, herds, ﬂocks, the fruits of the earth, and pro-
visions. The values acquired by conquest or force are the customary
duties (rhefer) imposed upon caravans and travellers, the tribute of
protection (gharama) paid by the subjects, the tax (imrhdd) laid upon
the persons and property of the tributary serfs, the land tax (melak),
and the right to command.‘ and the resulting duty of being obeyed
(saltna). Children follow the rank and belong to the tribe of their
mother. At the death of the head‘ of a family all his ordinary values
are equally divided among all his children without distinction of
primogeniture or sex. But the rights or values acquired by conquest
and maintained by armed force belong exclusively to the eldest son
of the oldest sister, or, in other words, to the nephew.
The Tuaregs are a warlike race, and their bravery cannot be called’
in question, although they do not disdain to practise surprises as their
ordinary tactics in order to overwhelm their enemy. Reconnoitring;
parties are sent out, who mark the position of the enemy, watch his
movements, indicate the booty to be secured, and deliver it over to’
the captor. They have the sense of sight and hearing so well.
developed that they march at a considerable distance in advance-
of the troops, and never fail to return to their own party in
perfect safety. The men always ﬁght while mounted on their
camels ;, the serfs, who have no meham's, must risk themselves by
engaging in combat on foot. The ﬁght usually commences by
hurling the javelin, which is parried with the aid of the shield,
and the arm next used is the sabre. If they stand face to face,
their extraordinary agility in the manipulation of their arms and in
protecting themselves against the stroke of their adversary, enables
them to maintain the action for a considerable length of time without
TUAREGS. 32 5
reaching any decisive result. As soon as one of the parties seeks
safety in ﬂight, the pursuit of the victors is sometimes quite murderous.
The men are exterminated without pity; the women, after having
been violated, are often wounded in the struggle, and they resist as
‘.much as possible the effort of the captors of robbing them of their
jewelled ornaments. The sheep and goats are killed, and the ﬂesh is
packed away in sacks. The negroes and the camels alone are spared.
‘In their intertribal conﬂicts the battleground is selected in advance ;
the combat takes place on foot, and they use no other but their
national weapons. Each combatant chooses his adversary, and bids
deﬁance to his antagonist by agitating his shield. Generally the
combat ceases as soon as a certain number are killed and wounded,
and the requirements of honourare considered as satisﬁed. In case
of surprise the weaker party offers no resistance, but endeavours to
escape, and the assailants desist from pursuing their adversary, for all
their efforts are concentrated to secure the booty and get it out of the
reach of the discomﬁted enemy who, after having been reinforced by
fresh troops, might turn round and pursue the despoilers for the
recapture of their herds.
The weapons of war of the Tuaregs are quite effective. The sabre
(takoba) is a straight double-edged blade, mostly manufactured in the
country, and is sheathed in a scabbard partly of iron or copper and
partly of leather. The poniard (telaq), which is either in the form of
a straight hunting—knife or resembles an ordinary straight sword, has
‘a handle of ebony encrusted with copper, and is sheathed in red
leather. The sheath is attached to the forearm by means of a band
of red morocco embroidered with silk. The lance (allarh) is fastened
:to an iron shaft which is from two feet nine inches to three feet two
inches long, and is armed at the base of the lance point with hooked
.barbs. The javelin is exclusively used for hurling, and does not differ
much from the lance, except that its shaft is of wood. Bows and
arrows are much more used among the southern than the northern
Tuaregs. The arrows are armed with winged iron points, but are
'never poisoned. Their only defensive armour is the shield (drhdr), in
the form of a large disk of thick antelope’s or elephant’s hide which,
with the exception of the head and feet, covers the whole body. It
affords complete protection against arrows and the stroke of the sabre
and the lance, but it is not bullet-proof. Firearms are not in general
use, some of the chiefs only are provided with ﬂintlock muskets and
pistols. The mcham' or riding camel (arerZ/cijan) is the animal on
which the Tuareg is mounted on going to war; horses are more
.common among the southern tribes, who make warlike excursions into
Soudan. The camel is ﬁtted out with an ordinary saddle which has a
high back and an equally high pommel in crucial form, and is orna-
mented before and behind with little copper bells and leather straps
of various colours. The bridle is a braided leather cord, which is
fastened to a ring that passes through the nose of the animal and by
means of which it is guided. The other parts of the equipment of
{the warriors are a leather bag, more or less ornamented, for the recep
tion of the weapons and the ammunition, and another bag containing
326 THE ARAlVLZEAN STOCK.
the necessary supply of provisions, such as ﬂour, dates, tobacco, soda,
pipes, and other articles. One or several water-sacks of dressed skin,
in which a supply ‘of water is kept, form also an indispensable part of‘
the outﬁt. ‘
The southern Tuaregs are always in a state of war with some of'
the N igritian states of Soudan, where they capture their slaves.
They are most skilled in hurling their long lances to a great distance,
and many who are provided with ﬁrearms are most excellent marks=~
men. They also wield their straight sword with great skill and case.
As their bravery is most undaunted, they are the most redoubtable-
enemies. Their simple presence in the country is sufficient to-
intimidate a body of numerous troops far exceeding their own forces,
and they are allowed to pass without the least molestation. They
exact a tribute from caravans that pass through their territories, which
secures to them perfect safety and protection. They are generally
mounted on horses instead of camels.
The religion of the Tuaregs is Mohamedanism, but, with the excep-
tion of the 'ma-raboos and some other pious votaries of Islam, they do)
not attend to their religious duties. Some, however, perform their
daily prayers in Arabic, while others conﬁne their devotions to the
reciting of their profession of faith. There are neither imams, muftis,
mosques, nor chapels in the country, and the natural conditions by
which they are surrounded render the strict observance of the-
ceremonial formalities of their creed almost impossible. Some traces
of their ancient religious belief are still found among them.1 Their
supreme deity is known as Aamanai. Their heaven or paradise,
where man is rewarded after death for his good deeds, is inhabited by
angels (amijeloas). Their hell is the last ﬁre, and Satan who rules
over it is called I blz'a
The Tuaregs, like all nomadic races, .are excessively superstitious.
Many are covered from head to foot with amulets, to preserve them.
from sickness and unforeseen accidents. Enclosed in silver cases they
are attached to their head 3 or contained in a leather pouch they
encircle their arms, their legs, and their necks, and hang down their
breasts 3 and even their guns, their lances, and the folds of their-
turban are ornamented with these precious charms. Whenever the-
Tuaregs start out on a long and distant journey, after a protracted
absence their wives put themselves in communication with those who»
are dear to them by dressing up in their best attire and lying down
upon one of the ancient tombs, where they call on the soul that is
to give them any information they may desire. Upon this invoca~-
tion the disembodied spirit, called idebm', appears under the form of a
man, and if the petitioner ﬁnds favour in his eyes he relates to her‘

1 M. Duveyrier thinks that Christianity once prevailed among the Tuaregs,
which is possible, but not very probable; and the ideas which they entertain about
supernatural things are more probably of Mohamedan than of Christian origin.
Nor is the use of the cross in their alphabet and other figure-tracings any proof
whatever 3 for the cross is nothing but a geometrical ﬁgure representing four-
right-angled triangles, and was universally used for various designs long before-
the Christians had adopted it as a symbol.
TUAREGS. 327
all that passes in the expedition; in the contrary case, he strangles
her, which, however, never happens, for the women always return with
glad tidings, which are said to be conﬁrmed by the travellers on their
return. They also believe in the existence of genii, called alhinen,
which are represented in human form, clothed in hair, and provided
with horns and a tail. They are supposed to occupy the interior of
an isolated mountain, called Idc'nen, into which no one would dare to
penetrate. This enchanted palace is composed of a series of enormous
blocks of rocks of the most fanciful forms, and much washed by the
waters. Other Tuaregs imagine these genii to inhabit an enchanted
oasis, the existence of which had been for a long time unknown, until
it was discovered by one of their countrymen, but has never been
found by any one else. They equally give full credit to sorcerers and
enchanters, and they think that by their magic art these impostors
can change a man into a beast.
AUTHORITIES.
Les Touaregs du Nord. Par Henri Duveyrier. 1864.
Voyages de F. Hornemann dans l’Afrique Septentrionale. Par L.
Langlés. 1803.
Journal d’un Voyage a Tembouctou. Par Réné Oaillé. I830.
Essai de Grammaire de la Langue Tamachek. Par A. Hanoteau. 1860.
Second Voyage into the Interior of Africa. By Captain Olapperton.
1829.
Travels and Discoveries in Central and North Africa. By Henri Barth.
1860. “
Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa. By Captain G. F. Lyon, RN.
182L
Die Sahara oder von Oase zu Oase. Von Dr. Josef Ohavanne. I879.
328 THE ARAMJEAN sTooK.
GUANCHES.
THE Guanches of the Canary Islands belong, like the Egypto-Libyans,
to the Libyo-Aramaean stock who had early colonised and permanently
occupied the most fertile regions of North Africa, where for thousands
of years they had passed a peaceable life, having been principally engaged
in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. But ambition and the lust of
power intruded even upon these humble abodes of industry and rural
retirement, and the ferocious valour of the Romans, the destructive
violence of the Vandals, and the fanatic zeal of the Saracens expelled
the aboriginal inhabitants from their native country 3 and to escape
the doom of utter annihilation the Berbers retired to the desert, the
Kabyles ﬂed to the mountains, and the Guanches found refuge in the
Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands are situated in the Atlantic, south—west of
Morocco, between the twentieth and thirtieth degrees of north lati-
tude, and the twelfth and nineteenth degrees of west longitude from
Greenwich. The principal islands of which the group is composed
are Lanzarota, F ortaventura, and Lobos 3 Grand Canary, Teneriffe,
Gomera, Feroe, and Palmas. The climate is mild and salubrious. The
spring is most delightful, and the earth is decked with a semi-tropical
vegetation, which is luxuriant and rich. Even the heat of the
summer months is moderated by refreshing breezes coming fromI the
sea, while the mountain tops are enveloped in cloudy vapours which
cool the atmosphere. The autumn is most beneﬁcent in its gifts] and
ripens to maturity the banana, the guyava, the date, the orange, the
citron, the pine-apple, the peach, the apple, the pear, and the ﬁg.
Olives thrive here to perfection, and the vineyards produce the most
luscious grapes. In January, February, and March the rains fall in
torrents, and they loosen enormous rocks from the lofty mountain
sides which are precipitated into the valleys with great violence,a All
the islands are of volcanic origin, and are traversed by rugged moun-
tains which present high and lofty peaks. Lanzarota contains four
volcanoes in activity, it is destitute of forests, and the want of rain
makes itself frequently felt. It supports, however, a great nrllmber
of camels; and wheat, barley, and vegetables are articles of export.
It has two of the best harbours of the whole archipelago. Fortaven-
tura obtains its water supply exclusively from cisterns, but wheat and
barley are nevertheless cultivated with much success; cotton and an
inferior wine are also produced. Soda forms its principal article of
export. Grand Canary, Teneriﬂ‘e, Gomera, and Palmas form together
a chain of very high mountains extending from east to west. Grand
Canary is remarkable for its fertile soil, its pure and limpid rivulets,
s
l
GUANCHES. 329
and its mild and pleasant temperature. It produces maize, wheat,
barley, wine, sugar, olives, and silk. Las Palmas, the capital, has a
population of eighteen thousand souls. Tencriffe is the most popu- i
lous and largest of the islands. Its mountains, which are of basaltic
composition, rise generally to the height of from thirty-six hundred
to four thousand feet above the level of the sea. The famous peak
of Teyde is eleven thousand eight hundred and sixty-four feet high.
The lower ﬂanks of the cone are covered with a rich vegetation, but on
passing beyond the cloud-region the soil becomes arid and desolate,
covered with pumice stone and with obsidian or vitreous lava. A
vast and deep reservoir is ﬁlled with water of icy coldness, which
begins to freeze in the month of September. The crater sends forth,
from time to time, columns of smoke, and several localities all around
are sufficiently heated to render it painful to walk upon the ground.
The foot of the mountain is carefully cultivated, and produces the
most delicious fruits and the most exquisite wine. Sugar-cane of a
particular variety is also grown, and the cochineal nurseries are very
rich. Santa Cruz, the capital, contains from eight to ten thousand
inhabitants. Gomera is a small but fertile and well-watered island.
Its mountains, composed of granite, schist, and mica, are covered with
forests, and its delightful valleys produce lauiels, dates, citrons, ﬁgs,
nuts, and mulberries. The cereals, sweet potatoes, yams, wine, honey,
cattle, sheep, mules, fowls, and wild game abound here in greatest
profusion. Palmas is mountainous and contains an active volcano.
The southern part of the island is very barren, and it is only on the
coast that agriculture is followed with some success. F eroe is the
most western island of the archipelago. Its soil is composed of
volcanic materials and is not very productive. It is not well-watered,
but the frequent fogs diffuse much moisture through the atmosphere.
The breeding of cattle and the distillation of brandy from wine and
ﬁgs are the chief pursuits of the inhabitants.
The entire extinction of the Guanches as a distinct race is compara-
tively of but recent date. When Gran Canaria was ﬁrst visited by
the Spaniards the number of its inhabitants was undoubtedly over-
rated, as the island was supposed to contain no less than fourteen
thousand ﬁghting men, but still the native population must have been
considerable. The Guanches were extinct at the beginning of the
sixteenth century. The small states into which the archipelago had
been divided were constantly arrayed against each other in perpetual
war, and these mutual hostilities were encouraged, if not instigated,
by the trading nations of Europe whose merchant ships visited the
coast of Africa. The prisoners taken in this intestine warfare were
sold as slaves to European slave-dealers, and many who preferred death
to slavery killed themselves and their children. What was left of the
natives, after the cruel massacres of the Spaniards, perished in 1494 in
the terrible pestilence, called moclo'rra, which was attributed to the
quantity of dead bodies left exposed to the air after the battle of La
Laguna.
The Guanches presented in their physical characteristics a well-
developed type of the Libyo-Aramaeans. They were of tall stature,
33° THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
well made, active, and indefatigable. They were robust, hardy, bold,
and fearless 3 they ascended the steepest precipices, pitched poles of
great weight on the mountain cliffs, and deﬁed danger in the most
hazardous enterprises. They had a dark olive complexion, their hair
was ﬁne and smooth, of a brown or black colour, sometimes straight,
but frequently curled. Their features were regular and even graceful,
their eyes were black and large, their nose was rather bulky, their
eyebrows were full, their mouth was wide, and their teeth were well
ranged.
The moral character of the Guanches is of a very high order, and
exhibits them under a very favourable aspect. They were simple-
minded, open, frank, gentle, good-natured, conﬁding, and incapable of
harbouring the least suspicion against those whom they honoured with
their friendship. They were cheerful in their social intercourse, and
yet grave in their general deportment. They were affable and polite,
and strictly faithful to all their engagements. They were scrupu~
lously honest, and the utterance of a falsehood was considered the
greatest offence. Their intellectual capacities were well developed 3
their memory was retentive, their spirit was subtle, and their reason-
ing was just. On Gomera they prized their reputation above all
things, and loved to face danger to enable them to conquer difﬁculties.
At Teneriffe patriotism was the ﬁrst virtue 3 their self-esteem was
excessive, and exercised much inﬂuence upon their gallantry, their
sensibility, their honour, and their modesty. They were tolerant to
strangers 3 but when they were threatened with the loss of their indes
pendence and the conquest of their goodly land by brutal force, they
bravely defended their rights, and the plotting traitors that planned
ruin and destruction to the very country that had hospitably received
them were killed without mercy, and their doom was well deserved.
The habitations of the Guanches differed in different islands. On
Teneriﬂ‘e, where mountain caverns are common, the inhabitants were
real troglodites, for the greatest number dwelt in caves and grottoes,
which were ﬁtted up and enlarged by the hand of man. The darkest
and most capacious of these subterranean dwellings were reserved to
the chiefs. The poorer classes, for whose accommodation no cavern
could be found, were bound to live in badly-constructed straw huts.
At Fortaventura and Lanzarota, where caverns are rare, the houses
were low but substantial buildings. The walls were of unhewn
stones, which were so neatly and accurately ﬁtted to each other that
they required no cement to keep them in position, and the regularity
of combination and the compactness of parts gave to the external
appearance some degree of artistic beauty. The roof, which was
formed of wooden beams or rafters placed closely to each other, was
covered with a thick layer of earth. The ﬂoor was sunk at some
depth below the level of the ground, which enlarged the dimensions
of the interior apartment in height and afforded protection against
the cold of winter. On Feroe island the houses were of a round form,
rather low, but quite agreeable to the sight. Several of these dwellings
were surrounded by a circular enclosure, and as they were contiguous
they had a common entry. On Grand Canary the huts were partly
GUANOHES. 331
subterranean, and the roof only, which was made of thatch, projected
above the surface of the ground. Sometimes the roof was covered
with branches or with beaten clay. These huts were dug in a per-
fectly straight line, and an inclined plane formed the common entry,
in front of which a palm-tree was planted, to indicate to the traveller
and stranger the place where they would always be hospitably received.
The furniture of the Guanches was quite simple if not primitive.
Their bed was a wooden frame covered with goatskins and mats.
Their cookery vessels were of earthenware which never varied in form.
Polished stones covered with soft skins served as seats. Arms, ﬁsh—
ing-tackle, and agricultural implements were suspended from the walls.
Wooden spoons and dishes, screens, grain bags, sacks containing ﬂour
and other provisions, little purses and pouches, constituted the outﬁt
of their domestic establishment.
The costume of the Guanches differed on various islands. The men
were a mantle, called tamarco, which was generally of dressed goat-
skin, with the hairy side outward or inward according to the season.
At Lanzarota it was very short and simply covered the shoulders.
On Fortaventura it was much more ample, more elegant, and a skin
of the ﬁnest quality was selected. On Gomera it was worn still
longer, for it reached from the neck to the ankles. On Feroe it was
of sheepskin, provided with sleeves, made in the form of a jacket,
with the hair turned inside or outside at the pleasure of the wearer.
The dress of the Grand Canaries consisted of a tight tunic, to which
a hooded head-covering was attached 3 it reached down to the knees,
and was fastened round the waist by a leather strap or belt. It was
made of a kind of tissue woven from the ﬁbres of a rush, which was
separated into ﬁlaments by beating it with sticks. Over this under‘
garment the ordinary goatskin mantle was worn. Their head—dress
was either a cap of goatskin, which was so disposed that a kind of
beard was either hanging down on each side or was fastened under
the chin, or it was in the form of a skin bonnet ornamented with
feathers. The feet of most of the islanders were protected by skin
shoes or boots, of which the soles were of hogskin. The men of Fort-
aventura let their beard grow long, and divided it as well as their
hair into numerous bristling strings by using a certain composition.
At Teneriffe fashion changed the dress material 3 sometimes the gar~
ments were of matting, at other times of goatskin.
The dress of the women varied with the locality as much as that of
the men. On Lanzarota they wore leather robes which ﬁtted very
tightly 3 at Fortaventura their tunic was much more tasteful, and ﬁtted
closely round the waist so as to show their elegant form 3 it did not
descend below the knee, and left the throat exposed. A brightly
coloured band of ﬁne leather, with which their hair was interlaced,
encircled the head and was surmounted in front by a bunch of
feathers. They were no shoes, but a kind of sandals were tied to
their feet with leather thongs. On Grand Canary the women were
dressed in a closely-ﬁtting jacket made of matting which reached
down to the middle of the legs. Their hair was plaited into tresses
interwoven with variously coloured rushes, which hung loosely over
332 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
their shoulders. Their elegant little feet were protected by hide
sandals. At Teneriﬂ'e their tunic was of the softest yellow leather
girded rounded the waist by a variously coloured belt. They loved
to make a full display of their charms, their neck and shoulders were
left uncovered, and were only slightly shaded by their long tresses or
loose ringlets. The skirt of their robe did not conceal their nicely
formed ankles, and their beautiful little feet were exposed to the view
of their admirers. They tinged their cheeks red with the juice of a
plant, and white, yellow, and even green colours were employed as
cosmetics. Their only ornamental ﬁnery seems to have been strings
of coral beads.
The articles of diet of the Guanches were nourishing and of excellent
quality. Their national dish was called goﬁo, which was used as a
substitute for bread. It was prepared by grinding barley with a hand-
mill into a coarse meal which, after having been diluted with a little
goat’s milk and water, was roasted over a slow ﬁre. Pease and beans
were the vegetables mostly used 3 and on Feroe and Palmas mallow
roots were cut into small pieces and were boiled in milk. To this
simple diet was added an abundance of milk and goat’s ﬂesh which
was very fat and delicate. The meat that was not eaten in a fresh
state was either suspended from the roof frame to be smoked, or it
was dried in the sun, for no salt was ever used for its preservation.
Goat’s fat mixed with milk was a favourite dish. The meat of
castrated dogs is said to have been much relished. They dressed their
meat by broiling on the burning coals, and they loved to eat it half
raw without any seasoning, though they sometimes dipped it into
milk. They were very fond of ﬁsh and shell-ﬁsh, of which they had
an abundant supply. They were unacquainted with intoxicating
beverages, and pure water was their only drink.
The chief occupation of the Guanches was agriculture, and it was
considered such an honourable pursuit that even the nobles did not
disdain to work in the ﬁeld. They did not use the plough for break-
ing up the land. They associated for their agricultural labour upon
the principle of the co-operative system. A company of twenty or
more joined to assist each other. Each man was provided with a
wooden~handled instrument, with a spur or tooth at the upper extre-
mity, to which a goat’s horn or a bone was attached. l/Vith this
simple implement they traced a straight furrow, into which the
women, who followed their steps, dropped the barley and wheat grain
as well as beans and pease. They dug canals, which were supplied by
neighbouring rivulets 3 and appreciating the full value of irrigation,
they watered their ﬁelds if the regular rains were withheld at the
proper season. At harvest time they cut the corn close to the ear,
transported it to the threshing ground, threshed it by beating it with
sticks or by treading it out with their feet, and then they winnowed
it in their hands. The women were charged with the labour of
collecting the straw, which was usefully employed for various economic
purposes. The cultivators of the soil were not the owners of the land
which they tilled. All the lands belonged to the king or rather to
the state, and they were considered as common property. The arable
GUANOHES. 3 3 3
land was distributed by the public authorities among the people
according to the size and wants of the family, and the rank of those
who had rendered some great service to the state. But the principal
wealth of this primitive people consisted of large ﬂocks. On Lanzarota
and Fortaventura most attention was paid to goats (am'claman), and
they were so proliﬁc that sixty thousand kids were born every year.
On the other islands goats and sheep (tahamn) were reared with equal
assiduity. The flocks were mostly guarded by the young girls, who
found abundant pasturage in the shady groves, the green valleys, and
near the pure and refreshing fountains. Here the herds of the whole
community were browsing together, wandering away over the grassy
plain, and spreading as far as the mountain slopes ; and inspired by the
rural charms and the beautiful scenery by which they were surrounded,
the shepherdesses united in games and in songs, or they listened
to the soft echoes of the reed ﬂute of the shepherd boy that resounded
in the distance. Sometimes they formed a chorus, and their melo-
dious voices recited in harmonious notes the tale of their love, or
they gave expression to their feelings of delight, or they repeated the
story of the valiant deeds of their heroic ancestors. “ The fury of the
ocean, and the ravenous, gigantic animals by which it is peopled, could
not frighten Ananahui: he plunged into the water to tear from the
jaws of death his dearest friend 3 he brought him back to the eddying
shore, where the surging waves break themselves on the bank of
pebbles, which they roll into the sea with the receding tide. Henceforth
the friend of Ananahui became his constant companion, he followed
his steps in the ﬁght, and served him as shield with his body. But,
the bravest of warriors, did he need this protection’! He who had
vanquished Tanuithu, this ferocious giant, the tyrant of his neigh-
bours, who, to injure those that had not wronged him, precipitated
with pitiless malice the goats which had clambered up the giddy
height from the almost inaccessible rock on which he had established
a his bloodstained abode.” Such were the songs with which they
whiled away the weary hours. The Guanches had no orchards; the
art of grafting was unknown to them. They gathered, however, in
favourable years an abundance of vicacarras, mocanes, wild dates, and
green ﬁgs, the last of which they dried and preserved for winter use.
Fishing was an important pursuit, as it supplied a great part of their
means of subsistence. Along the shore they ﬁshed with large nets
woven of bulrushes, one side of which was fastened to the land,
while the other end was held to the bottom of the water by the ﬁsher-
men, and after some manoeuvring it was brought back to the shore,
doubled up, so that the ﬁsh, being entangled, could not escape. By
this means shoals of sardines were often secured which were driven
towards the net by men, women, and children, who waded out into the
water, and, as it grew deeper, they swam beyond the congregated shoal.
The rich haul was then equally divided among all those who had lent
their assistance, and so just and equitable was this distribution that
a pregnant woman was allowed a double share. During the night
they also practised torch—light ﬁshing, and they made not only use of
334 THE ARAMJEAN sTooK.
the bone-hook, but they’ stupeﬁed the ﬁsh with narcotic substances1
which they threw into the water. They visited the projecting rocks
along the coast and picked off numerous shell-ﬁsh, which were a staple
article of food.
The mechanic arts had made but little progress among the Guanches,
but there were men who devoted themselves to particular trades: some
were exclusively occupied with building houses, others with the weaving
~of mats or the dressing of goatskins. The art of dyeing and painting
was practised by the women 3 and for this purpose they proceeded to
the ﬁelds and the woods to gather the ﬂowers and the berries and
barks of shrubs from which the colours were extracted. The thread
for sewing was made of the sinews and tendons of the goat and the
sheep, which were supplied by the butcher. They were lubricated with
butter, and were then held over the ﬁre, so that by the application of
a certain degree of heat they could be split into ﬁne elastic ﬁlaments
at pleasure. As they had no metals, they transformed the tabonas
or splits of basaltic lava, which is very hard and compact, into knives
of various sizes which, after having been skilfully sharpened and
polished, became the most effective cutting instruments, and subserved
all the usual economic and domestic purposes. They manufactured
needles of bone and ﬁshhooks of horn. They shaped clay into vessels
for cooking and other household uses, and hardened them by exposure
in the heat of the sun. The trade of the butcher was a necessary and
indispensable profession, but it was considered a degraded vocation
and was only followed by the lowest dregs of the people. They were,
as a-class, the pariahs of Guanche society. They were required to live
in the outskirts, and they thus formed a separate outcast community
among themselves. They were not permitted to enter the houses of
the middle classes, and it was supposed that all objects brought in
close contact with them would be contaminated by their polluted
touch. They could only supply their wants by carrying a staff, with
which they pointed out, in the distance, the article they desired to
procure. They alone were authorised to kill the goat or sheep, of
which the ﬂesh was used as food. Every father of a family was
obliged to lead the animal destined to be served up as meat at his
table to the public shambles, which he was not allowed to enter, that
it might be disposed of by the butchers according to the rules of art.
The intellectual knowledge of the Guanches was of the most
primitive kind. They divided time into days2 and moons, and as
they were well acquainted with the solar year, they equalised the
difference between the lunar and solar revolutions. Their medical
practice, if not scientiﬁc, was at least free from superstitious mum-
meries. They were not much subject to diseases, and they employed
some simple remedies which experience had taught them to be
beneﬁcial in certain cases. They rubbed the affected part with

1 It is supposed that the substance used was the milky sap of a euphorbia.
2 It is said that they divided the days into twenty-four hours, but, as they
had no time-measurer of any kind, this is absolutely impossible, as hours are an
artiﬁcial, and not a natural, division of time.
. GUANCHES. 335
soothing or aromatic herbs, or with ointments made of goat’s fat
or mutton suet. The honey of Mocan was considered a speciﬁc
in a disease resembling diarrhoea. When bleeding and scariﬁcation,
which were frequently employed, were deemed necessary, the
operation was performed with a sharp tabona lancet called tafﬂk.
The inhabitants of Palmas were subject to a malady that was distin-'
guished by symptoms of consumption. After the sick person was
nearly reduced to a skeleton form, he refused to avail himself of
medical aid; and as he wished to accelerate the hour of death, he
assembled all the members of his family and his friends around him,
and cried out with an accent of despair, “ Vaccz guare ./ ” “I wish to
die I” If the remonstrances and prayers of his friends and relations
‘could not prevail upon him to renounce this savage resolution, it
was considered most humane to comply with his wishes. To accom-
plish the object, the patient was enveloped in a covering of hair, and
was carried to the grotto which he had selected as his last resting-
place. A few vases of milk were placed by his side, and those that
loved him departed, for, they were too kind as to trouble the last
moments of an unfortunate man who had no other desire but to die
unnoticed and alone.
The language of the Guanches is almost entirely lost, a few hundred
words only have been saved from the wreck of time. Judging merely
from verbal, aiﬁnity, it is reasonable to believe that this primitive
people spoke a dialect of the widely diffused Berber language. It is
very probable that the same language was spoken on all the islands,
although there existed undoubtedly many variations of expression as
well as pronunciation.
The Guanches, being to a great extent a pastoral people of the
classic type, had a well-developed poetical fancy. They were pas-
.sionately fond of music, and their songs interpreted at once their high
conception of musical modulation and the reﬁned passions and the
humane sentiments by which they were inspired. Their musical
instruments, which served as accompaniment to the song, were the
reed ﬂute and the tambourine. NVhistling was carried to a high
degree of perfection among some of the islanders. The melody of
their songs was grave and plaintive; they were either funeral dirges,
or they were expressive of the more joyous emotions of love and
courtship. Each community had a public hall where the young and
the old of both sexes met to engage in the national dances. The
Canary dance has survived the people that originated it. It is full of
spirit, and ﬁgures even in some of the ballets. In another dance
they placed themselves into two parallel rows, the men on one side
and the women on the other, holding themselves by the hand. Each
one of the dancers, in turn, performed some quick movements accom-
panied by corresponding gestures, which were repeated in strict
accordance with the measure of the music. The dances were some-
times accompanied by a chorus of voices, and they thus recited some
of their ballads or lyric compositions that frequently drew tears from
the eyes of the audience.
The young men who wished to become famous warriors engaged in
336, THE ARAMZEAN sTocK.
manly exercises which were rather painful, if not dangerous, in their
execution. A public place was set apart for the practice of single
combat or duelling. As there was generally a great concourse of
people assembled to witness the interesting spectacle, the arena was-
provided with eminences and raised stages, on which the combatants
exhibited their feats of gallantry and their dexterous manoeuvres of
attack and defence. At the two opposite sides of the enclosure were
placed two ﬂat stones, about one and a half foot in diameter, upon
which the two rival champions stood immovable till each had ﬂung
three round stones, directly aimed to hit the antagonist 3 and as they
were always good marksmen, it required the utmost agility to avoid
the missile by a skilful turn or a careful swaying of the body. They
next engaged in a much closer encounter. Holding in their left hand
a sharp ﬂint, and a club or cudgel in their right, they displayed
extraordinary agility. Now they gave a cut, then they inﬂicted a-
blow, then again they eluded the attempted thrust of their adversary,
and the exciting contest was continued until the strength of both
combatants was in a measure exhausted, when, by mutual consent,
they retired to join the group of their respective friends, to partake of
the refreshments provided for the occasion. After a short intermis-
sion the champions returned to the arena and repeated the same
gymnastic and martial exercises, which were only brought to a close
by the judges, who called out “ Gama, gamer! ” “ Enough, enough!”
Although only one of the parties was declared victor, yet they enter-
tained no ill-will towards each other, and remained friends ever after.
If by chance one of the cudgels was broken, no advantage was taken
of the mishap and the ﬁght was immediately discontinued, leaving
the contest undecided. If one of the combatants received among a
number of slight scratches a deep gash, he was taken in hand by his
friends, who applied to the wound a bunch of rush ﬁbres dipped in
rancid goat’s butter, which had been previously melted and was still
hot and seething from the effects of the ﬁre. '
The Guanche women were held in high esteem 3 and as they always
asserted their rights, they were duly protected by law. Every indecency
perpetrated against a woman was instantly resented and promptly
punished. Female chastity was regarded as a great virtue, as a price- .
less jewel, and stringent regulations were adopted to keep at a distance
licentious‘intruders. To avoid all temptation, it was customary for
men to turn their back or leave the beaten path altogether on meeting
a female in some retired place, and they would neither dare to speak
to her or look at her as she passed.1
The Guanches were allowed to contract marriage with their rela-
tions, excepting only their mothers and sisters. Polygamy was once

1 In contrast to this high appreciation of female virtue, it has been alleged that
the virginity of every bride was the property of the king, and that both parties
considered it an honour when he or his proxy condescended to claim his right.
The existence of this pretended custom, which is not supported by any credible
authority, could only be explained as a practice tolerated from superstitious or
political motives, and would not be incompatible with the sense of decency and pro-
priety which otherwise prevailed with regard to the intercourse between the sexes.
GUANCHES. 337
practised among them, but as the number of children became excessive
no man was henceforth allowed to marry more than one wife, and it
is even said that they had recourse to infanticide to diminish the
number of the useless mouths they were unable to feed. Divorce, in
the legal sense of the word, was unknown 5 but husband and wife might
voluntarily separate upon mutual agreement, and the boys born of the
marriage were called ashz'cuca and the girls cucaba. Girls were sub-
jected to a process of fattening‘ whenever parents wished to dispose of
their daughters in marriage, for it was supposed that lean women
were less ﬁt to bear children than those who had acquired a superﬂuous
quantity of ﬂesh. For this purpose the young bride was fed for
thirty days preceding her nuptials on milk and on roasted barley
meal (goﬁo), which she was bound to take in increased rations.1
As the Guanches were distinguished for their private virtues, they
paid much attention to the moral education of their children. They
not only corrected their evil propensities by prompt and effective
chastisement, but they attempted to form their habits by bringing to
bear upon their mind the powerful inﬂuence of example. They
selected two individuals out of the mass of the community as dis-
tinguished patterns of virtue and vice, and whenever their children
transgressed against the positive rules of good conduct, they reprobated
their acts by presenting to their contemplation the degraded condition
of their exampler of vice which they had selected as the most con-
vincing proof of the truth of their moral teachings. If, on the other
hand, their children had commended themselves to high favour by
meritorious acts, they held up to them the distinguished social position
occupied by the good man, whom they were encouraged to imitate,
and into whose footsteps they were admonished to follow. But their
practical education was carried still further. Means were devised to
develop the physical constitution of the young, to give strength and
nimbleness to their limbs and dexterity to their motions ; to rouse up
their martial spirit and excite them to emulation and deeds of daring.
To accomplish this desirable end the young were encouraged to
challenge each other to single combat, and on great festivals and other
public rejoicings a spirited contest for superiority was exhibited in the
presence of numerous spectators, which, with the exercise of leaping,
running, and throwing of disks, tested the prowess, the power of
endurance, and the skilful use of weapons of the rival champions.
Even as young children they were practised in the art of dodging and
swaying the body to and fro with agility, so as to enable them to
avoid the missile that might be aimed at them. At ﬁrst soft clay balls
were thrown, for which, as soon as they succeeded to avoid these,
nuts were substituted ; the exercise was continued with small pebbles,
which were followed by blunted darts, and at last sharp—pointed
javelins were used.

1 It is reported that at Lanzarota a Woman had three husbands, each of whom
was bound to serve her as domestic for three months, but that each in turn had the
privilege of having exclusive possession of her for a months Bory de St. Vincent,
Essai sur les Iles Fortunées, p. 100.
Y
3381 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
The Guanches paid great honours to their dead and disposed of
them by burial. The art of embalming was employed to reduce the
body to a mummiﬁed state. The professional embalmers of both sexes,
though they were well paid for their services, formed a degraded class
on account of their occupation, and they lived separate from the rest
of the community. After a death occurred the corpse was conveyed
to their dwelling, and they prepared it for interment and attended to
the proper construction of the tomb, which was more or less costly
according to the fortune and rank of the deceased. When one of the
nobles died the body was laid upon a stone table, and the operator
having made a cut in the lower part of the abdomen with the tabona
or stone knife, the viscera were withdrawn, and were, with the rest
of the body, thoroughly washed with fresh water strongly impregnated
with salt. After the soft ﬂeshy parts had been buried, the interior
cavities of the body were ﬁlled with aromatic plants‘, such as ambrosia
and scented chenopodium, and the corpse was then subjected to the
dessicating process in the hot sun, or in a furnace constructed for this
, purpose 3 and while thus exposed to external heat it was repeatedly
imbued with goat’s fat or some resinous oil, and absorbent and disin-
fecting materials, such as the powder of odoriferous leaves, of pine
bark, of resin, and of pumice stone, were spread over every part of the
external surface. On the ﬁfteenth day the acaazo or mummy was
sufficiently dry, when it was delivered to the relations for burial. A
less expensive mode of preserving the corpse consisted in drying it in
the sun, and introducing a corrosive liquid in the interior cavities
which effectively counteracted the decomposing process. After the
body had been duly prepared, it was sewn up in a dressed goatskin
with its hair sometimes preserved, but generally it was hairless. It
was tied fast with leather bandages, and was decorated with small
disks of baked clay. The chiefs and the great nobles were laid in a
cofﬁn made of the hollowed-out trunk of the Sabine tree, of which
the wood was considered indestructible. The corpse was either placed
in an erect posture or in a recumbent position with the head turned
towards the north. Among the rich and the great the family
sepulchre was generally a grotto or mountain cavern which was con-
secrated for this purpose. If no cavern could be found to serve as
funeral vault, the body was consigned to its last resting-place in a
tomb constructed in one of those strong tracts of land known as real
paz'ces. Here a coffin was made in the ground composed of large
slabs of stone, into which the corpse was laid, and a large stone of a
rounded form, about six feet long, was placed as lid on the top, while
the gaps and chinks were skilfully ﬁlled up with small pebbles.
Distinguished persons, who had been previously embalmed and dressed
upiin their best costume, were inclosed in a box of pine plank, and
were then deposited in one of these stone sepulchres, surmounted by a
pyramidal superstructure which was frequently of considerable height.
The poor people were merely buried in holes dug in the ground, and
the grave was marked by a pile of stones. It has been stated that
the secret as regards the entry of the sepulchral grottoes was conﬁded
to a select class of old men, who never divulged it, but transmittedit
GUANOHES. 339
inviolably to their successors. But this statement is by no means
well authenticated. The king’s death was universally mourned over
by the nation, but his body was placed in the common family grotto,
decorated, however, with all the badges of royalty, and a quantity of
' goat’s fat, milk, and other provisions were placed by his side.
Class distinction was recognised among the Guanches 3 the class of
nobles constituted a privileged order, and this class superiority was in-
vested with a religious sanction. Their priests pretended that the great
spirit Ashamas ﬁrst produced the ashz'menceys or nobles, to whom he
distributed all the goats that existed upon earth. The ashz'earcncts or
‘common people were next called into existence, and when they
demanded their share of goats they were contemptuously dismissed
by Ashamas, who told them that it was their lot to be the servants of
.the nobles, and that they did not need any property. An ashieaxnas
‘could, however, be ennobled, for the title was conferred, as a reward
‘of merit and as a recognition of deserved distinction, by the fag/can or
local chief, after having examined into the character and standing of
the applicant. To be qualiﬁed to attain this honour the candidate
was bound to be of a certain age, he was required to have long ﬂow-
ing hair, to have his physical strength sufficiently developed in order
.to enable him to endure the hardships of war; and combining all
IthBSG indispensable pre-requisites, he presented himself to the fez/cam,
declaring that he wished to be ennobled. The fag/can then assembled
:all the nobles and other men of inﬂuence of the town or village where
the candidate resided, and administered to them a solemn oath in the
name of Alcorac that they would give true answers to the interroga-
tories that were to be addressed to them. They were asked to state,
without reserve or equivocation, whether they had ever seen the appli-
‘cant for titled honours perform any menial services, such as dressing
victuals for the table, going into the fold to look after the goats and
.sheep, or milking or slaughtering any of the domestic animals. They
were required to declare whether they knew him guilty of any offence,
whether he had ever been engaged in a marauding expedition against
.his neighbours’ ﬂocks in time of peace, or had committed some act of
impropriety, had behaved indecently towards woman, had been slan-
derous in his language or discourteous in his manners. If these
‘questions were uniformly answered in the negative, the feyccm
approached the young acolyte, cut his hair in a rounded form so as
not to reach below the ears, placed a staﬂ or pole (mogade) in his
hand, and pronounced him a full member of the class of nobility,
with the full rank and dignity the promotion secured. If any one of
the disqualiﬁcations had been proved to exist, and the charge was
sufficiently substantiated by extraneous evidence, the head of the
applicant was shaved, and he was dismissed in disgrace under the
name of traskz'lat, and was for ever after ranked as a plebeian. The
nobility were distinguished from the common people by the peculiar
cut of their hair and the characteristic mode of trimming their beard.
All the functions of the government were exercised by them 3 they
were the officers that commanded the army, and they were the bene-
ﬁciaries of the dignities and emoluments of the state.
340 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
The government of the Guanches was monarchical in its essential.
features, with an hereditary king at the head of each island community 3
but the real power of the state was vested in the nobility. Of the-
government ofﬁcials the gucmarteme was of the highest rank, and held
the most distinguished position of honour and dignity 3 he exercised
priestly functions, for the ceremonial forms of religion were placed
under his guardianship and direction, and in civil cases he acted as.
judge, and decided all the differences that arose among the people in
the ordinary business of life. The second in rank and ofﬁce was the.
feyccm, who was the local chief representing the executive branch of
the government and supervising the affairs of the administration.
The administration of the government was mild and regular, and
was remarkable for the strict observance of the law. The king was-
looked upon as the father of his people and as the chief of a great
family. As he was taught from early youth that it was his duty to
assume the reins of authority, not for his own pleasure, but for the-
interest, welfare, and happiness of his subjects, he never failed in the
performance of his obligations, and there existed no example that he
ever violated the law. On this account he never lost the conﬁdence
and love of his people, who honoured and respected him, and they
would have deemed it sacrilege to think or speak ill of their chief.
When he walked abroad he was surrounded by the nobles and the
ofﬁcers of his army, and was preceded by a small standard of matting
waving at the end of a long pike.
The accession of a new king was 'a day of rejoicing and festivity,
in which the population of- the whole island community assisted.
Triumphal arches decorated with ﬂowers were raised in a spacious
plain, and the ground was decked all round with rush mats. When the
prince made his appearance within the enclosure, dressed in the most
splendid tamarco, and sometimes ornamented with a shell diadem or a
crown of laurels, he was greeted by the people with loud acclamations.
After having taken his place in the elevated seat provided for him,
the oldest and most revered lord of the royal blood approached and
presented to the new king the leg-bone of one of the most ancient
monarchs that once ruled over the land. The king bowed reverently
before the sacred relic, and placing it upon his head, he spoke in a
loud voice : “I swear by this‘ relic that, taking him as example who
animated it, I shall only wear the crown to practise virtue, and to
carry with me at my demise the regrets and good wishes of my
people.” The master of ceremonies then took the femur and placed
it upon his own head, and pronounced in the name of the nobility the
following oath, which all repeated :—“ We swear by this revered bone,
and by this memorable day, that we will protect the reign that com—
mences, and those that shall be born to the king.” 1

1 It is reported, on otherwise credible authority, that on the accession of a new
prince it was considered an act of the highest merit for a young man to offer
himself up as sacriﬁce, in order to secure the'divine favour and to render the reign
of the new sovereign prosperous and happy. This superstitious practice may have-
existed in one or more islands, but it was certainly not a universal custom to__con~
secrate a new reign by a human sacriﬁce.
GUANCHES. ' 341
Justice was administered with impartiality, and the principle of
equity and an intuitive sense of right guided them in all judicial
proceedings. At Teneriﬂ’e the court, which was presided over by the
king, assisted by associate judges, was held in an open space called
tagoror. The accused was brought before the judges by the public
executioner, who acted as ministerial ofﬁcer.1 The criminal laws
differed on different islands. At Feroe he who was convicted of
murder was punished with death 3 theft was expiated by the loss of
an eye, and upon a second conviction the other eye was also sacriﬁced.
At Fortaventura and Lanzarota he who was accused of a crime
punishable with death was committed to prison, and after he had
been duly tried and convicted he was immediately led to execution;
his head was placed on a ﬂat stone, and the executioner dropped upon
it from a considerable height a heavy weight, which crushed his skull
and put an end to his life. At Grand Canary the executioner con-
ducted the accused before the judges, and the law of retaliation was
applied in all cases to its fullest extent. At Gomera theft was not
regarded as a crime, and the thief who performed his part well was
considered shrewd and clever. At Teneriife homicide was very rare,
and the murderer was simply exiled, his lands were conﬁscated, and
his ﬂocks became the property of the family of the victim. On some
of the islands the laws were more severe. Disobedience to parents,
rape, and hostility towards the king were capital crimes, and even
theft was punished with death. An unmarried woman, that had been
convicted of illicit connection with her paramour, was doomed to
perpetual imprisonment, unless her seducer voluntarily consented to
marry her. For minor offences corporal punishment was inﬂicted
with the whip, which was disgraceful and dishonourable.
The war spirit of the Guanches was moderate, it was free from the
savage and heartless cruelty which gives vent to lawless passion in
indiscriminate slaughter and in ferocious acts of uncontrolled vindic-
tiveness. They spared the weak and the helpless, and to molest the
women and children of an enemy was considered ignominious and
cowardly. Nor were they ever guilty of sacrilege 3 they never bid
deﬁance to the vengeance of the divine powers by desecrating or
destroying a place dedicated to religion. Their most effective
weapons of war were long poles (amodogas) with sharp-pointed ends
hardened by ﬁre, and stones which they ﬂung with the greatest
‘dexterity.
Their pikes were armed with a tabona point, and their javelins
were thrown from the hand. In a hand-to-hand encounter they used
clubs, and their vigorous blows seldom failed to disable an adversary.
They also carried swords made of hard wood excessively sharp at the
edge. They were unacquainted with the bow and arrow 3 but after
they had been invaded by the Spaniards they were provided with a
round shield made of dragon wood, by the aid of which they success-
fully parried every stroke of the lance or the sword.

1 The executioners, like the butchers and embalmers, formed a degraded class
and lived separate from the rest of the people.
342 THE ARAMAEAN sTooK.
The religion of the Guanches, like that of all the Aramaeans, was
more or less mono-theistic in its general conception 3 but as the purely
abstract idea of a divinity is almost incomprehensible to the human
mind, some of the islanders represented their god under symbolic
types or by some visible images. The sun, the moon, and the stars
were typical representatives of the god-head, and were reverenced as
such 3 and an oath taken by the light of the sun was considered as-
sacred. Lofty mountain-crests were holy places, where they made
their vows and offered up their sacriﬁces, which consisted simply of‘
goat’s fat and milk.
The name of their supreme divinity was not the same on all the
islands, and they also differed in their mode of adoration. At Grand
Canary and Gomera their god was called Alcorac, or “the sustainer of'
heaven and earth 3” at Teneriffe the name given to their divinity was
Ashamas, or “great spirit 3” at Lanzarota and Fortaventura their-
deity was called Ahicanac, or “ god the high, the preserver,” and here‘
he was also known as Althos. At Lanzarota they invoked their god
in silence by raising their suppliant hands towards heaven, and offered
as sacriﬁce milk obtained from goats while the kids were sucking,
and which was set apart for this particular purpose. At Feroe they
believed that their god descended from heaven, and selected as
his terrestrial abode two neighbouring mountains, which they called
Bendayca (Santc'llos dc Zos Antigaos). The men proceeded to the foot
of one of these mountains and addressed their prayers to Eraoranham,
while the women made a pilgrimage to the other and offered up their"
supplications to Morayba. When the island was suffering from want
of rain the men and the women visited Bendayca, and, fasting for
three days, they uttered the most dolesome cries and the most plaintive
lamentations. If these pious exercises did not open the sluices of'
heaven, the most virtuous of the islanders went to the cave of Astehyta
and prayed with great fervour. If his prayers were heard it is said
that a hog appeared to him, which he wrapped up in his tamarco and
presented it to the people, who with a common _ voice named the
animal aramfaybo, or “intercessor with God.” '
At Palmas a pointed rock of great elevation was regarded as a con~
secrated place, where the deity was supposed to dwell, and where vows
were made and libations were offered. The entrails of slaughtered
goats and sheep were deposited, with ceremonious formalities, around-
the summit of this rock as a propitiatory offering to the god, which
was devoured by the ravens. At Fortaventura a religious sect, called
efcnek, assembled at a sacred spot surrounded by circular walls, in the
centre of which was a large stone which was known by the name of'
fayra. Here they worshipped their creative divinity by pouring milk
and fat upon the stone altar. A neighbouring grotto served as oracular
shrine where the mysteries of the future were revealed and the events-
of the past were unfolded, which were believed by credulous dupes to be
the utterances of divine inspiration. On Grand Canary religious women
called magaoles, who were a kind of vestal virgins, were recognised as
spiritual guides. Their community dwellings or convents, which were
styled tamagcmtcen-alcoran or “houses of god,” were held in great-
GUANCHES. 343
reverence, and served even as places of refuge, where the criminal
who found an asylum within their walls was protected from the
vengeful arm of retributive justice. They were distinguished from
the otherwomen of the land by being clad in white dresses, which
swept the ground with their long trails. Some of their cavern homes
were regarded as places of worship (almogaran), where they offered
prayers on behalf of the people and poured out daily libations of milk.
There were two rocks on Gran Canaria found on the top of two lofty
mountains situated in two different districts. One was called Tirmar
and the other Umyaya. Their immutability invested them with
solemn awe and excited religious emotions, and they were regarded as
sacred spots hallowed by the presence of divinity. To these sanctuaries
of nature they resorted when called upon to take a solemn oath 3 and
when some extraordinary calamity had befallen them, hither they
marched in procession, accompanied by the mag/aides, carrying in their
hands palm and olive branches and vessels ﬁlled with milk and goat’s
fat, which they poured out as sacriﬁcial offerings on these rocky altars,
giving expression to their religious fervour by dancing around them
to the plaintive notes of mournful and dirge-like songs. If a long and
destructive drought had desolated the land, they proceeded to the sea-
side, and there, in perfect unison, they raised a loud shout, and with
one accord forcibly struck with their long poles the calm and placid
waters or the ruffled surface of the waves. It is said that sometimes
a man would sacriﬁce himself for the good of the whole people, and
suffer himself to be swallowed up by the incoming ocean tide as a
propitiatory offering to the angry god.
On some of the islands they recognised the genius of evil either as
the presiding chief of some volcanic cavern, or as a mere personiﬁcation
of crime, to whom they had given the name of Guayota.
The Guanches had no mythology, and in place of mythical com—
positions they left behind poetical productions of a lyric order that are
simple and yet charming on account of their simplicity :—“ Pity
Attrabaya, she has swelled the solitary fountain with a torrent of
burning tears; she has ﬂed the ﬂowery valley that gave her birth,
where she sang the fecundity of her sheep and her goats which give such
sweet milk; she has left her companions and her relations and has
chosen the desert as her ﬁnal tomb 3 there was no longer a vacant spot
' in her heart, which was still ﬁlled by Trayoba.
“Attrabaya has loved the young man from the ﬁrst day of his
youthful years 3 she blushed for the ﬁrst time when she ﬁrst met the
eyes of her lover. Their fervent souls became confounded, happiness
was the ﬁrst-fruit of their love.
“But Trayoba seized his club and went forth to ﬁght 3 he picked up
two smooth pebbles, saying, ‘ I destine this one for Gahuaco, who is
a head taller than I, and this other for Guiomar, who has reddened
his hands with the blood of my father.’ The prayers of Attrabaya
could not retain him: ‘ I have the presentiment of misfortune,’
said she to him in lavishing upon him her tenderest caresses. ‘Can_
not love make thee forget thy vengeance ‘l Remain with her who knows
so well how to love thee 3 may the kisses of our lips re-echo in our
344 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
hearts! Is this murmur less sweet than the noise of the ﬁght 2 ’
But the young hero went away in silence, with a tear sparkling in the
corner of his eye. It is hard to tell, without shedding tears, that he
never came back. Pity Attrabaya, whose presentiments did not deceive
her.” (Canary)
“The hard-hearted Amarca disdained for a long time the avowals of
Garirayga, who‘ led a large ﬂock of goats across the valley of Icod 3
could she be blamed? for the heart cannot be given away at pleasure.
But we pity the unfortunate swain who did not know how to please,
and yet was well worthy to be loved. Unhappy youth ! he sought to
extinguish the ﬂame of his fatal love, as if the ﬁrst affection did not
last as long as life! He took up his arms and submitted to the
chances of war 3 he traversed the mountains strewn with ‘rolling
rocks 3 he crossed the sea which separates the islands 3 he exposed
himself to every danger.
“One day when he was oppressed with sorrow he cried out, ‘ My
whole breast is on ﬁre like the peak of Teyde, which raises its summit
to the sky, and which is seen at the extremities of the world. In
vain do the rocks resound with the tale that recounts the severity of
Amarca; what avail my bitter complaints’.l My ardour redoubles, I
can no longer restrain it. Cruel Amarca ! dread the excesses to which
thy heartlessness and thy disdain may drive a wretched yout .’”
(Teneriffe) '
“Young maidens, mistrust those who tell you that they love 3
those that truly love, would they dare to confess it? N enedan has
said to Zorahaya, ‘ It is already a long time since you have been
reigning over my heart 3 I could not live if thou dost not share my
affection.’ This speech was accompanied by a profound sigh, while
he pressed the hand of the young girl. Could she resist the fairest
of all men? Foolish girl! she permitted the honey to be sipped from
her lips, and her breath became intermingled with that of her seducer.
“But N enedan has passed beyond the mountains, he has abandoned
her whose heart has followed him. Zorahaya, forsaken, will pass her
life in sighing 3 she will never taste again the pleasures of love,
because she has no longer a heart to bestow 3 she will weep until
death shall bring her peace. But when she shall rest amidst the last
remains of her fathers, will N enedan be worthy to repose among the
tombs of his own ancestral dead? Is he not the most odious of
mortals?” (Teneriffe) '
AUTHORITIES.
Noticias de la Historica General de 1as Islas Canarias. For J 0s. de Kera
y Clavigo. 1772.
History of the Canary Islands. By George Glass. 1764.
Essais sur les Isles Fortunées, ou Précis de l’Histoire Générale de l’Ar-
chipel des Canaries. Par J. B. G. M. Bory de St. Vincent. An XI.
Adventures and Observations on the West Coast of Africa. By C. W.
Thomas. 1860.
Voyages aux Terres Equinoctiales. Par William Humboldt.
ARABO-ARAMEAN S. 34 5
ARAB O-ARAMZEANS.
GENERAL CHARACTER.
THE surviving nation of the Aramaean stock, which more than any
other race has maintained the purity of its original descent without
amalgamation and admixture, is that which comprises the Bedouin
Arabs of the desert. They have preserved from time immemorial
their language and the primitive customs of their fathers; and their
mode of life as shepherd warriors dates back to the patriarchal age
of human society.
The Arabs, like all other primitive races, originally subsisted, while
dwelling in the heart of Syria, on the fruits which grew spontaneously
in the forests, and the grains and roots which the swampy lowlands of
‘the rivers produced‘ in great abundance. The date, the ﬁg, the apricot,
‘the pistachio-nut, as well as the pulp of the tamarisk and the wild rice,
afforded them sufﬁcient nourishment in the infancy of their social
development. The lance was the only weapon which their ingenuity
could then devise to defend themselves against the lion, the hyena,
and the jackal. As soon as they multiplied in sufﬁcient numbers
they pursued the horse, whose native home was the adjoining desert 3
and as the Arabian species has no vicious habits and is good-tempered
and easily managed, it became the friend and companion of man,
rendering service whenever its wants were supplied with generous
liberality. They easily tamed the meek and patient camel, and made
it subservient to their use. They domesticated the goat and the sheep,
fed on the ﬂesh, consumed the milk, and covered their naked bodies
with the skins of these animals during the season of rain and frost.
When they became crowded in the narrow spot they occupied, and
‘their herds and ﬂocks rapidly increased, they sought during the winter
new pastures in the desert, while they passed the hottest summer
months in the cool breezes and shady forests at the foot of Mount
Lebanon. Having been forced, in the course of ages, by an advanced
civilisation supported by the murderous weapons invented for the
enslavement of mankind, to abandon their delightful Syrian home,
where they had passed their infancy, they retired with their ﬂeet and
trusty horse and abstemious and enduring camel to the far-stretched
treeless plains, animated by the breath of freedom which the unob-
structed expanse offered to their wanderings, where they enjoyed a
life of primitive simplicity, and where no rapacious enemy could follow
them. They made frequent excursions to the sea-coast and the more
mountainous regions of South Arabia. They found the coast of the
Red Sea already occupied by settled tribes of Arabo-Aramaeans who had
preceded them in their march of progress, and who, though still armed
346 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
to defend themselves against the encroachments of invading enemies,
already cultivated the arts of peace, had built permanent habitations,
lived in towns and villages, and were partially devoted to the pursuits
of agriculture. But the Bedouin, armed with his lance and mounted
on his ﬂeet horse, soon made himself master of the whole Arabian
__ peninsula from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, permitting the original
occupants to change their course of migration, and pass over into
Africa by the Isthmus of Suez and across the Strait of Babel-Mandeb,
where they colonised the valleys and mountain regions of Habesh or
Abyssinia.
According to tradition, these Arab tribes were early divided into-
two nations. The older claimed to be the direct descendants of J ock-
tan, and occupied the country now known as Yemen 3 while the
younger proudly traced back its ancestral pedigree to Ishmael, the son '
of Abraham, and inhabited the Hedjaz as their patrimonial domain.1-
Yemen, the country of the older branch, was blessed with a fertile
soil and a genial climate 3 its people were prosperous and happy, they
dwelt in towns and villages, and carried agriculture to a high state of
perfection 3 they were far advanced in civilisation, art and science-
ﬂourished, alphabetic writing was well known, they had a literature
and national monuments, and their government was well adminis-
tered. This ancient people were called Himaryites, who have left
behind them some faint traces of their former existence, and their
rulers were styled tobbas, who developed the resources of the country
they governed with justice and equity.
The Ismaelitic tribes assert that their authentic history may be
traced back to Maad, and that for this reason their nationality was
called the Maadic confederation. They led a wandering life, and their
habits were entirely nomadic. They were a race of shepherds whose
wealth was concentrated in their herds and ﬂocks, and who were
united together for common defence against a common enemy, all
being governed by the same ancient customs, all speaking the same
language, and all professing the same religion. By a singular concur-
rence of events, the tribe of the Koreish was recognised as the sole-
guardian of the Kaaba, that ancient religious shrine which, we are
told, had been built by the patriarch Abraham, and Mecca became
their permanent habitation. Each tribe was entirely independent, and
selected its own chief, who was always a man distinguished for courage,
wisdom, wealth, and a generous hospitality. As self-revenge and
retaliatory punishment were the fundamental principles which con-
trolled their actions in their public life, they were constantly embroiled
in internal vfeuds, and to plunder and ruin an enemy was regarded as
a valorous deed, a commendable act that increased the reputation as
well as the wealth of the hero, who, to render himself more popular
and beloved with his associates and fellow-clansmen, exercised the
most unbounded liberality, and wasted in an incredibly short time the
goods of fortune he had so lightly won, at the expense of those to
whom he was not bound by ties of good neighbourhood and personal

1 This tradition is altogether fabulous 3 it has no historical data for its basis.
ARABO-ARAMEANS. 347
' friendship. These plundering expeditions were therefore constantly
repeated; and, instead of being merely retaliatory measures, they became
a proﬁtable occupation by increasing the stock of horses and camels
of those who engaged in these hazardous enterprises.
But while the ancient Arab was a professional freebooter, nature
endowed him with a rich and fertile imagination and made him a poet.
He literally “ l'isped in numbers,” for the language which he spoke, in
its purest idiom, lent itself with great facility torhymed verses, and
his poetic temperament urged him with irresistible power to give to
his thoughts a metaphorical and ﬁgurative turn of expression, which
added elegance to the charming simplicity of his spirited and animated
conversation. When he gave utterance to his ideas in the satiric
style, his withering phrases and expressions of contempt, hurled
against an enemy, were the most powerful weapons of attack, more
ruthless and effective to. strike down a formidable foe than Damascene
blade or Arab lance.
The religion of these ancient Arabs was a mixture of nature and
hero worship of a very innocent character. The Kaaba was the central
shrine to which all the tribes made an annual pilgrimage, where they
enjoyed themselves in general festivities and interchanged mutual
assurances of friendship.1 In the national sanctuary were set up over
two hundred images, which were the representatives of the tutelary
divinities of the numerous tribes that dwelt far away in the distance.
Westward the Kinana tribe recognised as its patron divinity the goddess
Ozza, who was represented by a tree. The tribe Hawazan, which occupied
a tract of country south-east of Mecca, paid homage to the goddess
Lat. The goddess Ma-nah, represented by a rock on the caravan route
between Mecca and Syria, was a divinity of peculiar sacredness. To
these various, deities animal sacriﬁces were offered, but the meat was
not consecrated as a burntsoﬂ’ering and consumed in their honour, but
it was eaten by the worshipping multitude in a joyous banquet, amidst
mirth, hilarity, and eulogistic discourses on the heroic deeds of their
ancestors.
At a later period these rude, uncultivated nomadic tribes became a
conquering nation that subdued half the world, and diffused a know-
ledge of their religion, if not of their language, in every known quarter
of the globe. These fearless and daring adventurous hordes, inspired
by a religious fanaticism that conquered all obstacles and knew no
restraint, made themselves masters even of many Christian countries,
whose inhabitants were far more civilised than themselves. They

1 The spring festival was established by the Minaeans to secure to themselves
the trade of frankincense as a monopoly. To attract the Bedouins and advance
them to a higher civilisation, they were hospitably regaled by the Meccawies, and
two hereditary oﬁicers existed in Mecca whose duty it was to supply them with
meat and drink. To render the festival still more attractive to the strangers, the
women appeared naked, and the pilgrims were required to make the seven times
repeated circuit round the Kaaba equally naked. After the common festivities
each tribe paid a visit to its tutelar idol. The important part of the Mina festival
was that it commanded a truce between all the tribes for the period of four months,
during which time religion and honour made it their duty to lay aside their arms
and keep the peace. See Hellwald’s Culturgeschichte, vol. ii. p. 100.
348
THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
carried their conquest into Syria and Egypt, they advanced through
Persia into India, and everywhere they established ﬂourishing empires.
They introduced the arts of civilisation in the richest and most fertile
parts of Spain, and successfully brought under their sway the savage
tribes of North Africa, which the Romans even could never per-
manently subdue. Arabian colonies have established themselves on
the banks of the Senegal in Africa, 5“and are found in Asia on the
banks of the Indus. Modern Egypt is virtually Arabian in its popu-
lation as well as in language. Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algeria,
no less than the Libyan Desert, are mostly peopled by races of Arab
descent. Madagascar was partly settled by Arabian immigrants.
Their wandering tribes sweep through a region of country extending
from the Tigris and the Euphrates to the sea-coast. Nubia, Soudan,
and the oasis of the Great Desert are, in part, populated by settled or
marauding tribes of this very remarkable race.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 349
BEDOUIN ARABS.
ARABIA is a great peninsula formed by the Sea of Arabia, the Persian
Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea, while its northern extremity
connects with the mainland of Syria. It is intersected by sandy
deserts and vast ranges of mountains, and nature presents here the
most striking contrast of exuberant fertility and picturesqueness of
scenery on one side, and a desolate, barren wilderness, characterised
by unvaried uniformity, on the other. It combines all the advantages
of a torrid and temperate climate 3 it has the scorching winds and
the drenching rains of the tropics, and the delightful softness of
' the atmosphere during spring, and the invigorating frosts of winter
peculiar to mild temperate regions. Rains fall regularly on the Yemen
mountains from the middle of June to the end of September, but they
hardly ever continue longer than twenty-four hours at a time, while
during the rest of the year the sky is almost entirely cloudless. The
northern plains are watered by abundant rains in December and January,
but in the other plains it frequently happens that not a drop of rain
refreshes the thirsty earth for a whole year and even longer. On the
sea-coast the dews are heavy and abundant at all seasons. In July
and August the thermometer marks ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit,
while in the mountains at Sana it never rises higher than eighty-two
degrees. In the regions of the sea of Arabia the north-east monsoon
blows from the I 5th of October to the I 5th of April, and during
the hot season the samiel or south wind, with its sulphurous gusts,
frequently sweeps over the sandy plains. Arabia has undergone no
geological changes since the beginning of the tertiary period, and man
as well as animals have remained there in a comparatively stationary
condition, undisturbed by external causes, and only subjected to the
inherent force of development peculiar to their organisation. The
principal mountain chain follows the coast-line of the Red Sea to a
distance of from twenty-ﬁve to sixty-two miles. It rises to a much
higher elevation in its southern prolongation, and stretches along the
Indian Ocean and the sea of Oman. The interior of Arabia forms a
plateau which slopes down towards the Persian Gulf, and is princi-
pally composed of vast deserts which are separated by a series of small
mountain oases of considerable fertility. Its mountain chains run
from east to west, of which the best known are the Gebel-Shammar,
the Gebel-Imarieh, and the Gebel-Mokattib. But the group of granite
mountains in the Sinai peninsula, which extends from the Gulf of
Acabah and Suez to Cape Mohamed in the south, are by far the most
remarkable and most historically renowned. The coast is principally
composed of fossiliferous limestone, but some basaltic or volcanic out-
350 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
crops are occasionally met with on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
There are no real rivers in Arabia. The waddg/s are simply torrential
mountain streams, most of which are dry during the hot season. The
best known of these are the Aftan, the Haggar, the Massila, and the
Rekot. Fleet gazelles, black-eyed and of graceful form, roam in the
desert steppes in extensive herds. The wild ass here asserts his free-
dom3 active and vivacious, he mocks his brother of an ignoble race
that stoops to serve andsubmits to be beaten. Wild boars are secure
in their lonely home, for their meat is considered an abomination.
Here the ostrich, with its beautiful plumage, still deposits its eggs, as in
time of yore, in the hot sand, and male and female keep watch in turn
to protect the young brood against the violence of audacious enemies.
The eagle spreads it wide-spanned wings and speeds its ﬂight through
this pure atmosphere untainted by the breath of slavery. The stork
serves as scavenger and eats mice and vermin. _ The partridge passes in
ambling gait over the sand chirping for its mate. The lark sings its
matin song, and wild geese ﬁll the air with their piercing cries. Kattas
appear like heavy clouds in the distance. Hyenas, ounces, jackals,
wolves, and wild cats pursue their murderous trade unrestrained by
the hunter’s bloody instinct. The sandy plains are not entirely desti-
tute of vegetation, they produce many ﬂeshy-leaved plants, such as the
mesembryanthemum, aloes, euphorbias, and stapelias. The sea-coast
and the banks of rivers present a more inviting aspect. Here grow
the tamarind, the Indian ﬁg, the coffee bush, and the balsam tree.
There are no real forests in Arabia 3 the date, the cocoa-nut, and the
fan-palm are its loftiest trees. The fruit-trees cultivated are the ﬁg,
the orange, the banana, the almond, the apricot, besides the gum-
producing acacia, the China-tree and several species of mimosas.
In the wide—stretched plains of the desert the Bedouins lead a
wandering life, and after thousands of years have passed away they
are still the children of freedom whom no tyrant has ever subdued,
and who have remained faithfully attached to the traditions of their
ancestors 3 and while they retained their virtues pure and uncon-
taminated, they are also distinguished by the rude customs of nomadic
life, which discards the reﬁnements as well as the effeminacy of a
progressive civilisation.
The Bedouins are a homogeneous people, divided into numberless
tribal communities.1 Though united by a common language, common
pursuits, common customs, and a common religion, yet, politicallygthe
tribes are independent of each other.
The Bedouins are of small stature, rarely exceeding ﬁve feet two
inches, or ﬁve feet six inches, in height 3 and although they are not
possessed of great muscular strength, yet they are active and enduring,
are swift of foot and most untiring horsemen. They are of tawny

1 There are a few tribes so numerous and powerful that they form a nation
(kabeile), which is subdivided into many branches constituting well-compacted
clans (fende). Some small tribes (asheire) are of a mixed character; they are
composed of men who have left their friends and companions, and of foreigners
who have assumed the habit and manners of the Arabs of the desert. Burck-
hardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 351
‘complexion, produced by the constant exposure to the rays of the sun 3
they are extremely well-formed, their features are regular, and their
‘countenance indicates a noble and digniﬁed bearing. Their nose is
generally aquiline in form, and their eyes are black and incxpressibly
brilliant. Their hair is luxuriant, dark-coloured, and glossy; and
‘their beard is rather thin and short, but it is early developed. The
complexion of the women is of various shades from fair to a dark rich
‘olive. Their eyes are large and almond-shaped, expressive, and of
‘extraordinary brilliancy and ﬁre. Their black and luxurious hair falls
over their shoulders in clusters of curls. During the early. years of
girlhood their attitude is erect and graceful, and while the springtime
of youth gives animation to their face and ﬁgure, they are often
exceedingly beautiful 3 but as soon as they reach the age of twenty,
or after they enjoy the great felicity of becoming mothers, they rapidly
wither and fade away, and many of them become hideous and
unsightly, and the lightning-like brightness of their eyes alone
survives the general wreck of their physical constitution.
The character of the Bedouins exhibits the ﬁnest traits of primitive
virtue that can possibly be conceived. They never were professional
hunters, but during the earliest period of their social organisation
they became inured to the fatigues, the privations, and hardships of a
pastoral life. Though ever ready to engage in warlike adventures to
‘retrieve their fortune, revenge an injury, defend their rights and their
independence, and‘ accomplish objects required by a strict sense of
honour, yet they are neither cruel nor blood-thirsty 3 they may
dispossess an enemy or a wayfaring stranger of his goods and posses-
.sions, but they will spare his life, and do all in their power to prevent
unnecessary bloodshed or perilous exposure. Their feelings of pity
are easily roused; their natural kindness can be readily brought into
action by proper incentives 3 and even their charitable and benevolent
disposition may be relied on as a means of conciliation in all cases of
temporary rupture of the friendly relations that bind them to their
kindred and to the men of their tribe. Although no excuse or apology
is ever accepted when their honour has received a fatal stab, or when
their feelings have been deeply wounded, or their dignity insulted,
yet they are of a forgiving spirit, and never exceed the bounds of
moderation even in a paroxysm of anger, but retort upon an adversary
in measured language,1 and they never forget themselves so far as to
employ the reproachful term of liar, traitor, or inhospitable wretch,——
insulting words which would never be forgiven, and could only be
wiped out by bloody retaliation. They are brave and impetuous in
open. war, whenever an efficient cause exists for the exercise of their
martial spirit; but in ordinary circumstances they are of a peaceful
temper, and only engage in warlike enterprises when pressed by
necessity, or as the only means left of returning injury for injury. A
. deep sense of liberty and an indomitable passion for independence

1 The abusive epithets used by the Arabs are. characteristic: “Blindness to
thy eye, thou dog 3 ” “ A shot to thy heart 3” “ Disease upon thee 3 ” “ Perdition
to thy family.” Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins, &c. p. 558.
352 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
are the most predominant attributes of the intellectual nature of the
Bedouin Arabs. They treat with scorn and contempt those of their
race who have permitted themselves to be enslaved by the governing
power that claims supremacy in the state 3 or those who submissively
comply with the requirements of the ruling authorities, to enable them
to pass their life in some abject trade, or in mechanical or agricultural
pursuits. They do not envy the luxury and extravagance of the great
and the noble 3 nor do they aspire after wealth that has a tendency
to effeminate the mind and corrupt the manners3 but they prefer
their own mode of life above every other 3 and the only riches they
covet is the possession of ﬁne horses and camels, an abundance of
sheep, ﬁne clothes, and valuable ornaments for their wives, and the
means of practising the most lavish hospitality which would enable
them to excel all other men of their tribe in the liberal treatment of
guests and strangers. Their public spirit and patriotism are of the
highest order. Their pride of kinship and their love for the com-
munity to which they are attached are productive of the most
generous impulses and make them a band of brothers, always ready
to assist each other, and divide with the needy and destitute the last
drop of water and the most scanty store of provisions. Yet they are
frequently embroiled in quarrels and contentions, which are readily
excited and still more readily accommodated. Their attachment to
their tribe is so intense that they will cheerfully submit to every
sacriﬁce of property, if its interest and prosperity can be advanced
by their self-denial. They constantly labour to maintain its rank,
increase its power, and illustrate its fame. They recognise no other
authority but that of necessity or the will of God 3 they acknow-
ledge no other master but their strong arm and their trusty weapons 3
they yield obedience to no other law but that of honour and the
' immemorial customs instituted during the infancy of their race, and
perpetuated by the noble spirit from which they derived their original
force. The Bedouin Arabs, before they came in contact with the domi-
neering arrogance of the later caliphs, before they had witnessed the
shameless extortion and the bloodstained cruelties of the Turks, and had
been slightly affected by the inﬂuence of the submissive condescension
and abject servility of the oppressed Syrians, possessed an unwritten
law of primitive morality adapted to the existing circumstances, which
is remarkable for the noble spirit which pervades it, for the wisdom
with which it is marked in all its detail, and for that lofty principle
of honour which, when violated, brings, as its inevitable consequence,
eternal disgrace, and reduces its victim to an outcast and a Vagabond.
When the formalities are complied with by which the faith of the
Bedouins is pledged, their word is more sacred and inviolable than if
conﬁrmed by the most solemn oath. They will defend the guest who
has enjoyed their hospitality at the peril of their life. They will
protect those who have been placed under their guardianship without
the least regard to their own interest, and at the risk of incurring
any sacriﬁce. Their fortitude is of an exemplary character, they
suffer without complaint 3 bear misfortune with resignation 3 are
perfectly reconciled to their fate, no matter what dreadful calamity
BEDOUIN ARABS. ' 35 3
~ may befall them; no disappointment or distress can deprive them of
that life-giving hope in the bountiful goodness of God which regulates
their conduct and inspires their action. They are too proud to exhibit
any outward marks of discontent, and rather than beg for assistance
they prefer to endure the pangs of poverty, and serve in the menial
capacity of camel-drivers and shepherds, until a favourable opportunity
presents itself to retrieve their fortune, and to become sufﬁciently
opulent to dispense hospitality in a manner commensurate to their
means. They are amiable in their social intercourse, their politeness
and affability are of natural growth, and are not disﬁgured by counterfeit
deception and the coined phraseology of a stiff and heartless ceremonial.
They‘are cheerful without levity, free-spoken and candid without
rudeness, shrewd, sprightly, and witty without effort and without
affectation. Their good-nature and softness of temper are never
rufﬂed by depressing inﬂuences. While travelling in the desert they
are taciturn and seemingly reserved, because talking produces thirst,
and their mind is occupied with the external appearance of things
which furnish materials for observation and food for reﬂection. But
when engaged in familiar conversation with their companions and
friends, they never fail to show their remarkable proﬁciency in giving
utterance to their thoughts with the greatest facility and with a purity
,of language that is as astounding as it is extraordinary. They are
not only eloquent and frequently even poetical, but they cannot
disguise their merry mood under the serious aspect of digniﬁed
manhood, and they often break forth with jocose repartees, without
transcending, however, the bounds of strict propriety. They are
grateful for the beneﬁts received, and they never forget a generous
deed, and they keep it treasured up in their memory to await an
opportunity for making a suitable return, were it even to a bitter
enemy. Their wants are few, they are abstemious in their habits,
moderate in their sensual enjoyments 3 while they are profuse and
liberal in the exercise of hospitality, which is one of the most beautiful
traits of character by which they are distinguished.
This fascinating picture of the Bedouin Arabs is brought out in
still bolder relief by the dark shadows with which it is here and
there interspersed, but which, when viewed with the light reﬂected
upon it by the principles of a civilisation of a quite different order,
mar the beauty of its colouring and distort, in spots, the regularity of
its outlines. The Bedouin Arabs are no more perfect in their moral
characteristics than Jews, Christians, Turks, or inﬁdels. They have
their vices and their failings, and these vices and failings have been
intensiﬁed by the contaminating inﬂuence of that trafficking com-
mercial rapacity, and the arbitrary oppressive despotism with which
they have come in direct or indirect contact for the last three centuries.
In their estimation the stranger, who is not of their race, who does
not belong to their tribe, is an enemy who would rob them of their
possessions, if sufficient physical force were at his command to
accomplish the object, and they suspect his purpose if he ventures
within the limits of their patrimonial domain. They treat him there-
fore as a robber and an outlaw, and are, in their turn, styled robbers
Z
354 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
for daring to avert, by their self-defensive action, the wrong they
suppose to have been meditated to injure them. Contention and
strife between neighbouring tribes have given rise to armed conﬂicts,
and the victorious party deemed it in accordance with interest and
policy to despoil the defeated belligerents of their goods and chattels,
and thus punish them for their temerity and render them powerless
for the future. One act of violence produced another, feuds became
perpetuated, and many of the poorer Bedouins became professional
freebooters, expecting to be dealt with in the same manner as they
treat others. It is considered no disgrace among these people to steal
a mare, provided the thief has not eaten bread in the tent of the
owner. In buying and selling they feel no scruple of conscience to
lie and cheat 3 but in this disreputable practice they only follow the
example of the Syrian and Turkish traders and merchants, and conse-
quently their word cannot be trusted, nor do they consider themselves
bound by their promises. Their love of gain is the natural consequence
of their lavish hospitality and their generous disposition, by which
alone they are able to acquire reputation among their people, and
receive the respect and enjoy the consideration bestowed upon the
distinguished men of the tribe. This amiable failing has often
degenerated into base avarice and inordinate greed, which exacts a
tribute from the inoffensive peasants who are congregated in the
villages; but the Bedouins, in the presence of these submissive slaves,
insolently assume to be a controlling power, and arrogate to themselves
the same right as that exercised by the Turks of extorting blackmail
from the poor tillers of the soil.
The intellect of the Bedouins, though uncultivated, is of a high
order. Their perceptive faculty is quick and penetrating 3 their views
about the business relations of life are practical and just 3 their reason-
ing on subjects with which they are conversant is lucid and clear 3
their'imagination is fervent and bold 3 and their sagacity, based upon
their power of observation, is most remarkable. From the footprints
(athe) of men and camels, they can tell to what tribe the men and to what
persons the camels belong. They can judge from the slight impression
made in the sand whether the camel was loaded or unloaded, whether
it was fatigued or fresh. They can determine the time it passed, and
whether it was recently fed or was suffering from hunger. Although the
Bedouins are vivacious in conversation, energetic and prompt in action,
and rapid in movement, yet while lounging in their tents they are
indolent and lazy, and smoking the pipeis the principal amusement in
which they indulge to while away the tediousness of the weary hours.
The mode of life of the Bedouin Arabs is strictly nomadic 3 they
are in constant motion in search of new pastures for their herds and
ﬂocks. They take up their summer quarters near rivulets and springs
which abound in the desert, or close to the Syrian frontier in the
vicinity of the villages, where they purchase their wheat and barley,
their clothing and their winter provisions. Some tribes pitch their
camp near the Euphrates, where grass and water are abundant. Others
are proprietors of wells, near which they encamp for months, while
their cattle are grazing all around, and where no other tribe is permitted
BEDOUIN ARABS. 355
to intrude to water their camels and horses, except as a matter of
favour or for an adequate compensation. They never remain long in
one locality, but are incessantly wandering from spot to spot until the
whole range of pasturage is exhausted, when they return to the locality
from which they originally started out. Where there is no apprehen-
sion of an attack from hostile tribes, two or three families often
encamp together throughout the year on an isolated spot at a distance
of several hours from the general camping-ground of the tribe. As
soon as the ﬁrst winter rains fall they abandon their summer pastures
.and proceed to the heart of the desert, where their animals ﬁnd sufﬁ-
cient means of support; while the Syrian plains are, at times, covered
with snow, and heavy frosts are then of common occurrence. During
this season they sometimes scatter themselves in every direction, small
parties camping together at intervals of half an hour. \Vhen the
‘chief men of the tribe determine to strike the tents for the purpose of
moving to other pasture grounds, operations are immediately com-
menced, in which the women perform the principal part, while the
men are attending to the animals, and all necessary preparations are
completed in the course of a few hours. The order of march is regular
and predetermined. A reconnoitring detachment of a party of horse-
men precedes the moving caravan about four miles in advance of the
main body. The front line often extends many miles, which is
covered by horsemen armed with tufted spears, and camel-riders with
their short hooked sticks, at intervals of a hundred or a hundred and
ﬁfty paces from each other. Then follow the she-camels with their
young grazing in wide ranks upon the herbage. Behind these walk
the camels loaded with their provisions and tents, with huge caldrons
and variegated carpets hanging down their sides. Infants, crammed
into saddle-bags with their tiny heads thrust through the narrow
opening, are balanced on the animal’s back by kids or lambs tied to
the opposite side 3 young girls, in close-ﬁtting Arab skirts, bringing
their graceful form into full view; mothers with their children 3 aged
women no longer able to walk ;—-all are mounted on saddles made in
the shape of cradles, and which are frequently surrounded with curtains
to screen the riders from the sun. The men ride indiscriminately
.along on their ﬂeet mares dispersed in every direction amidst the
.slowly moving throng. The ladies of the sheikhs are mounted on a
saddle (Ireleb) stuffed with red camel’s leather, and covered with skins
‘of large size ﬂoating in the wind, and ornamented with various-
coloured cloth cuttings and ostrich feathers.l The shepherds, with

1 The-ladies’ saddle of the Shamar tribe of Mesopotamia is still more ornamental.
A light framework, varying from six to twenty feet in length, stretches across the
hump of the camel. It is brought to a point at each end, and the outer rods are
joined by distended parchment 3 two paunches of gigantic pelicans seem to spring
from the sides of the animal. In the centre and over the hump rises a small
pavilion, under which is seated the lady. The whole machine, as well as the neck
of the animal, is ornamented with tassels and fringes of worsted of every hue, and
with strings of glass beads and shells. It sways from side to side as the beast
labours under the unwieldy burden, looking, as it appears above the horizon, like
some stupendous butterﬂy skimming slowly over the plain. Layard’s Nineveh
‘and its Remains, vol. i. p. 104.
356 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
ﬂocks of sheep and goats, close up the line of march about a mile
behind the main body.
Encampments vary from ten to eight hundred tents. When the-
tents are but few, they are arranged in a circle (dowar) 3 when they
are of considerable number, they are placed in straight parallel lines
(meal) or in a single row, especially if the camp is pitched at the side-
of a rivulet. The tent of the sheikh is distinguished from the rest
by its greater size 3 it occupies the most forward position, the entrance
being turned towards the side from which guests are expected, to
whom he dispenses his hospitalities, or in the direction whence an
incursion of enemies may be looked for, whom he is the ﬁrst to meet
in hostile encounter. The tents are so constructed that they can be
closed or opened according to the prevailing wind 3 and during warm
weather the tent covering is raised on all sides, supported on poles to
permit the air to circulate freely, curtains being provided to keep out
the sun. It is considered contrary to the rules of good manners to
approach the back of the tent, or to step over the tent ropes, or ride
up to the compartment of the women, which is always to the right.
The tent is called the house (bait), for it is the home of the Bedouin
and of his family. Its covering (zhabcr cl bait) is made of stuff
woven of black goat’s hair, which is so thick and impermeable to
water that it keeps off the heaviest rain. The tent poles bear the
digniﬁed appellation of columns (am/tad); they are nine in number,
each of which is designated by a different name. They are placed
three in the middle, and an equal number at each side to support the
lateral walls. The back part of the tent is closed by a piece of goat’s
hair stuff (rowak), which is fastened to the tent covering by being
tied to the three hind-posts, and it is suﬂiciently long to hang down to
the ground like a curtain. The vertical edges of the back part of the
tent covering, in contact with the loose rowalc, are provided with iron
hooks, by which the curtain is kept in place to keep out the wind, or
it may be left wholly or partially unhooked when it is desirable to
admit a current of air. The tent is divided into two parts by a partition
composed of a white woollen carpet (hateaa), generally of Damascus
manufacture, which is fastened to the three middle posts. It is for
the most part plain, but among the more wealthy it is frequently
interwoven with patterns of ﬂowers. The apartment to the left
(melcaad rabz'aa) is occupied by the men. The ground is covered with
a decent Persian or Bagdad carpet. Round the middle post are piled
up, in the form of a pyramid (rccljoud), camel bags and sacks ﬁlled
with wheat, and here is the seat of honour, where the camel pack—-
saddles are stored away, upon which the sheikhs and the guests recline.
A corner of the tent covering (Toﬁe) hangs loosely in the fore-part of'
the tent, which serves as a towel for wiping the hands before and
after dinner. The apartment of the women (meharrcml, which is to
the right, is the receptacle of all the rubbish of the household. Here
are found the cooking utensils, the butter and water skins, and other
articles of domestic use, which are all deposited near the pole called
hadhem, where the slaves are sitting to await orders and the dogs are
sleeping during the day. Here also the corner end of the tent cover-
BED OU IN ARABS. 3 5 7
ing hangs down loosely over the hadhem ﬂoating in the wind. No
man of good reputation would be seen seated on the ground under
the shadow of the women’s roﬁe, for to denote a mean and despicable '
character the Arabs use the expression, “Your sitting-place is the
roﬁle.”
The richest Arabs have hardly ever more than one tent, unless one
of their wives is in constant disaccord with the others and stirs up strife in the family, and it becomes necessary to provide for her a ‘
separate establishment 3 or a side tent may be sometimes added to
accommodate a married son or the wife and children of a deceased
brother. Among some tribes each father of a family sticks his lance
in the ground by the side of his tent 3 if he has a horse or a mare it
is secured there, and his camels also repose near by at night, while
the sheep and goats are under the care of a shepherd, who drives them
to the pasture every morning, brings them back every evening, and
watches them day and‘ night. The horses are fed out of a feeding-
bag, but during the day they graze in the pasture ground ‘round the
tent, and to prevent their straying away the two forefeet are fettered
by an iron chain. At night the link of_ an iron ring, which ﬁts the
foot of the mare, to which it is secured by means of a lock, is attached
to a chain, of which the free end is fastened to an iron spike driven
into the ground at the place in the tent where the owner proposes to
sleep. The camels are watered on a sheet of leather, to which a
certain degree of concavity is given by placing a few stones underneath
or by scooping out the sand on the spot where it is intended to be
spread.
The dress of the Bedouins is extremely simple 3 it is neither gaudy
nor ornamental. During the summer months they are dressed in a
coarse cotton shirt of blue colour, with a light, thin mantle of ﬁne
wool thrown over it, which is covered with a rough and heavy piece
of woollen cloth (abbot), striped white and brown, and arranged in
graceful folds over the shoulders. All wear a girdle round the naked
waist composed of narrow strips of leather twisted together and
adorned with amulets and ribbons. In winter they protect themselves
against the inclemency of the weather by an additional article of dress,
which is a kind of pelisse made of several sheepskins sewn together.
The wealthier Arabs of some tribes wear a long robe of silk or cotton
after the fashion of the Turks. The head-dress of the greatest number
of Arabs is a square kerchief of cotton, or cotton mixed with silk
(kcﬁé), generally of a yellow colour, or yellow intermixed with green.
It is folded about the head in such a manner that one corner falls
backward and two others hang over the fore-part of the shoulders,
which subserve the double purpose of covering the face as a protection
against the sun’s rays and the effects of hot winds or drenching rains,
or of concealing the features if it be desirable to remain unrecognised.
Instead of a turban, a band or cord of camel’s hair (alrcil) is tied round
the head. Some rich sheikhs entwine their head with shawls striped
red and white, of Damascus or Bagdad manufacture, or they use a red
cap with a small under-cap of camel’s hair. Turbans are also in
fashion among some tribes. A few rich Arabs wear a great number
358 THE ARAMriEAN STOCK.
of caps, one over the other, of linen, cloth, or cotton; the uppermost,
which is richly embroidered with gold thread and adorned with a
sentence from the Koran, has a rich piece of muslin gracefully folded
around it, with the ends hanging down loosely over the shoulders,
ornamented with silk and gold fringes. In some parts of the Hedjaz,
in the direction of Yemen, men strip themselves of all their clothing
during the heat of summer and walk about quite naked. In winter they
fasten a leather apron round their loins by means of a girdle and cover
themselves with an abba. The women are clad in an apron reaching
to the ankle, and over this they wear an ample cloak with narrow
sleeves of soft leather neatly worked and sewn, and adorned with
numerous tassels, which gives them quite a gay appearance. Some of
the Bedouins of Mecca, instead of tying a camel’s-hair rope over their-
Ireﬁié, wind round their head a circle composed of wax, tar, and butter,
which looks like the areola of a saint.
The Aeneze tribes of Mesopotamia are distinguished, at ﬁrst sight,
by the manner of arranging their hair. They let it grow from infancy,
and twist it into tresses which hang over their cheeks, extending
down to their breast. The Maazy Arabs, who occupy the mountains
between the Nile and the Red Sea, look upon it as a mark of distinc-
tion to have their head shaved, and they allow the young men only
to do so after they have given evidence of their prowess by bringing
home some booty taken from an enemy. Every Arab without excep-
tion wears the beard long and the mustachios short. Although the
rich Arabs esteem yellow boots and red shoes very highly, and some-
of them wear sandals, yet the greatest number of all the tribes walk
and ride barefooted throughout the whole year 3 and their power of‘
endurance is so great that even during the rainy season they sleep with.
their feet unprotected, although the ﬁres are generally extinguished
about midnight.
The dress of the Bedouin women is as sober and unpretending as-
that of the men. It consists of a wide, loose gown, generally of a
blue colour, but it is sometimes brown‘ or black. Trousers are uni-
versally worn by them. A striped abba and a black keﬁé, conﬁned
by a band of spun camel’s hair, complete the articles of their ward-
robe. The headkerchief of the young girl is frequently red instead
of black. The fashion of wearing the hair is different among different
tribes. The Arab women of Mesopotamia wear it in long curls hang—-
ing loosely over their shoulders 3 the Sinai women tie it in a thick
bunch projecting over the forehead. In the Hedjaz they allow their
hair to grow, which falls in locks upon their checks. The Bedouin-
women uniformly cover their face with a dark-coloured veil tied in a
peculiar way so as to pass over the chin and mouth.
The Arab women, true to the natural instinct of the sex, are fond
of external ornaments. They not only adorn their ﬁngers with nume-
rous rings, but they weigh down their ears with silver trinkets, and
their face is disﬁgured by nose-rings of large size of the same metal.
Their wrists are encircled with bracelets of various-coloured glass or-
of silver, and anklets are no less favourite ornaments. Among the
Bedouin girls of Mesopotamia it is common to wear necklaces of silver
BEDOUIN ARABS. '' 359
coins, of amber, coral, mother-of-pearl, agate, cornelian, beads or cylin-
ders of precious stones which are picked up among the Assyrian rivers
after heavy freshets. These are ornamental heirlooms which pass in
every family to the prettiest young wife, who, when she gets old, is
obliged to resign them to a more favoured successor. The Sinai girls
have an ornament (slz-ebeyka) which they put on at the age of puberty,
and which is composed of pieces of mother-of—pearl fastened to a
string and hanging down over the cheeks and forehead. As no
married woman is permitted to wear it, the bridegroom takes it off by
force on the ﬁrst night of the nuptials. The Bedouin women not only
stain the nails as well as the hands and feet with henna and tinge
their eyebrows and eyelashes black, but they puncture their lips and
dye them blue, and tattoo their temples and forehead.
The Arabs are the most frugal and sober of all the nations, savage
or civilised. They can live for months on the smallest allowance, and
on feast-days or on occasions of general rejoicing they devour half a
lamb without injurious consequences. Their appetite is generally
eager and hardy, but the quantity of food of their daily consumption
is very moderate 3 and its quality, while it is nourishing and substan-
tial, is for the most part of the most ordinary kind. The poorer
classes rarely if ever eat meat 3 their diet is chieﬂy conﬁned to unlea-
vened wheat bread or dhom'a cake, kneaded with camels’ milk, butter,
oil, or grease. In the spring, after heavy rains, they gather a kind of
trufﬂes (hcmmage), which grow in greatest abundance in the desert.
Of these they form a paste by boiling them in water or milk over
which melted butter is poured, and they afford them sufficient support
for months, ‘for four or ﬁve camel-loads are frequently collected during
a favourable season. They grow beneath the surface of the ground,
which they lift up at maturity 3 and children and slaves, guided by
these slight eminences, dig them out with sticks. To give variety to
their frugal meals, fresh butter, curds, and sour milk are sometimes
added 3 and among some tribes pulse, asparagus, onions, and garlic
are favourite vegetables. Some of the A'e'neze tribes live almost exclu-
sively on dates and milk, or on the meat of gazelles whenever they
are successful in killing them. In the part of the Hedjaz where dates
do not grow, the common dish is rice mixed with lentils, which is eaten
without the addition of bread. The usual animal food served up
among the rich consists of kid, but more often of lamb or mutton. If
a camel is killed, the whole tribe is invited to partake of the delicious
feast. It is cut up in large pieces, and is partly boiled and partly
roasted. The grease is collected and preserved in goatskins, and is
used as a substitute for butter. In the desert, the persons present
when a sheep or goat is slaughtered eat the liver and kidneys raw by
adding a little salt. All the Bedouins of the desert, except those of
Sinai, eat locusts, not as a dish served up at regular meals, but merely
as an occasional relish. Rice is considered a choice dish, but it is
only eaten by the sheikhs, or by the tribes who encamp in the marshes
of the Euphrates where it is cultivated.
The Bedouins are also very temperate in their drink 3 they use no
intoxicating liquor of any kind. During meals they abstain almost
36o THE ARAMZEAN STOCK. l
altogether from drinking, but as they rise after wiping their hands
they drink some cold water and a cup of coffee. Sour milk (Zeben) is
the universal beverage. Camel’s milk is drunk fresh 3 it is pleasant,
rich, and nourishing, and is often given in large quantities to horses.
The unleavened bread of the Bedouins (khubg/ or is made up
in round cakes or balls, and is baked upon a plate of iron which is
slightly convex, and is moderately heated over a low ﬁre of brush-
wood or camel’s dung, and the whole operation is completed in the
course of a few minutes 3 or a great number of small stones are
arranged in a circle over which a brisk ﬁre is kindled, and when suffi-
ciently heated the ﬁre is removed, the paste is spread over this primi-
tive hearth, and being covered with the glowing embers it is readily
baked into a crisp cake. The lumps of dough are at times rolled on
a wooden platter into thin cakes a foot or more in diameter. This
kind of bread is principally used for breakfast. Unleavened paste
(ﬂita) is also prepared by mixing ﬂour and water to which milk is
sometimes added, which is thoroughly kneaded with some butter and
baked in hot ashes of camels’ dung. This bread is served up in a
bowl of wood or leather. Another farinaceous dish is composed of
ﬂour made into a paste with sour camels’ milk and afterwards boiled
(rig/ash). This constitutes a universal article of diet, and is used at
every meal. A kind of sweet cake is made of bread, butter, and
dates blended together into a paste. But the most common dish used
among all classes in Syria is called bra/‘gem, which is simply wheat
boiled with some leaven and dried in the sun. It is then preserved
for a year, and forms a favourite dish by being boiled with butter or
oil. The more sedentary Arabs dig a hole in the ground in the form
of an inverted funnel, which is fashioned into an even by being plas-
tered with mud. It is heated by burning brushwood, and the round
cakes of soft dough being stuck to the sides with the hand, are ready
for use in a very short time. Horsemen on an expedition either carry
bread ready baked, or they provide themselves with a bag of ﬂour, and
when they reach a spot where water is found they knead it on their
cloaks and form the dough into balls which they bake by covering
them with hot ashes. WVhen the Bedouins are compelled to move in
great haste, or to make a forced march to elude the pursuit of an
enemy, the women prepare the bread while riding on camels. One
kneads the ﬂour, a second rolls the dough, and a third bakes the bread
in an earthen vessel in which the ﬁre is lighted. Boys or women on
foot pass the materials from one to the other as they are needed.
The Bedouin ‘Arabs rarely indulge in luxuries, except on festival
occasions, or on the arrival of strangers. A common guest is. simply
treated with bread and ayesh. Coffee is added if he is a man of some
consideration 3 and if he occupies a high rank in the social scale a kid
or a lamb is killed. The mutton is generally boiled with bw'gool and
camels’ milk, and every morsel before it is swallowed is dipped in the
grease of the animal which has been previously collected in a bowl.
When the repast is ready to be served up, a large cloth is spread in
the middle of the room, upon which is placed a table about a foot
high. This holds a round plate of tinned copper, in which the differ-
BEDOUIN ARABS. 361
ent copper dishes neatly tinned are set, containing the various articles
of food for breakfast or dinner. Around this all are seated cross-
.legged on the carpet which is spread on the ﬂoor. Before sitting
down to the meal the principal man of the party repeats the short
prayer: “In the name of the most merciful God!” (Bis mz'ZZah !)
and each one rises without the least ceremony as soon as he has
ﬁnished, and, without waiting for the rest, pronouncing the words,
“ God be praised” (Allah alrbar /) The women eat at a separate table
in the me/zarrem, and are obliged to be contented with what the men
have left. They seldom enjoy the luxury of partaking of animal food,‘
and even if a lamb is killed, the head, the feet and liver are the
only parts which are allotted to them.
The mode of eating, as practised by the Arabs, is rather slovenly 3
they thrust their whole hand into the dish, and each one helps him-
.self with his ﬁngers. They invariably wash their hands before dinner,
but are not in the habit of always doing so after dinner; but fre-
quently they merely lick the grease from their ﬁngers, and wipe their
hands on the 7"0ﬁ6. .
Goats’ and sheep’s milk only is used for making butter. It is put
in a copper vessel (leader) over a slow ﬁre, and a little sour milk (1666-22),
-or a small piece of the dried entrails of a lamb, is thrown into it. It
is then poured into a goatskin (zeka) and tied to one of the tent poles,
where it is moved to and fro for one or two hours until the buttery
substance separates, when the water is squeezed out and the butter is
put into another skin. To clear it of extraneous materials it is boiled,
‘and some burgool being thrown into it, all the foreign substances are
precipitated, and the pure butter rises to the surface of the liquid.
The buttermilk which remains is coagulated into curds by beating,
which when dry become quite hard, and in this state they are pounded
and are eaten with butter.
In the desert the supply of fuel is limited. It consists principally
of brushwood derived from small shrubs, dried grass, and camels’ dung,
which is often carried in bags when, during the summer, they march
over an arid tract of country.
The wheat is pounded in a wooden mortar or ground with a hand-
mill, an occupation exclusively conﬁned to the women. This grinding-
mill is composed of ﬂat stones about eighteen inches in diameter, of
which the upper one moves loosely on a pivot, and is turned by a
handle. The grain is introduced through a hole in the pivot, and a
cloth is spread under the mill to receive the ﬂour.
Their water-vessels are simply large bags of tanned eamel’s skin tightly
sewn up on the four sides. They are provided with two openings, of
which the larger one in the upper corner serves to ﬁll the bags, and
the other, near the lower corner, is opened on a march to allay the
thirst of the traveller, while they hang on the camel’s side, two of
them being considered a heavy load. .
The Bedouin Arabs are not indolent by nature, but only from hatbi,
and because it indicates dignity and rank not to be occupied with the
ordinary pursuits of life. Their usual routine of labour is conﬁned to
the feeding of the horses and the milking of the camels in the evening.
362 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
They pass the day in hawking, or smoking the pipe, or playing a game
of draughts (sheici'y'i), or listening to the story of some wandering Arab 3
or they may visit a neighbouring tent, where a stranger has been
received as guest, to salute him, expecting an invitation to dinner,
which would afford them the privilege of drinking coffee with him.
The wives and daughters of the poorer Bedouins perform all the
duties of the household, and they are exposed to continual hardships.
They prepare the ﬂour in the mortar or with the handmill. They
knead and bake the bread 3 cook breakfast and dinner 3 make butter,
and cut wood, which they bring home on their head from a distance.
They work at the loom, and weave wool and goat’s hair into cloth,
carpets, and tent canvas. They strikezand raise the tent, load and
unload the beasts of burden 3 and, if there is no hired shepherd
employed, they drive the sheep and goats to pasture and milk them
at night. In addition to all this they take care of the children, and
often carry them on their back if they are too young to be left alone.
But fetching water is the most burdensome labour of the Bedouin
women, for when asses or camels are not provided for this purpose
they carry the long waterskins on their backs from the well, which is
often half an hour distant from the camp. But they are, nevertheless,
as happy and contented as the majority of women in the most civi—'
lised countries.1 Among the richer Arabs, slaves and servants drive
the ﬂocks and herds to pasture; but among the Sinai Bedouins and
the tribe of the Egyptian Sherkich, it is an established custom that
neither men nor boys shall attend to the grazing of the cattle. The
duty devolves exclusively upon the unmarried girls of the camp, who‘
divide themselves into small parties of three or four, and perform it in
turn. They are as fearless and as hardy as the men. They set out
before sunrise, carrying some water and provisions, and remain exposed
during the whole day, carefully watching the sheep that none go-
astray and be lost. If a man of their tribe passes, they extend to him
their generous hospitality, share with him their stock of water
and their scanty fare, and offer him a supply of sheep’s milk, for-
which they receive nothing in return, unless some friends be present.
In the evening they return to the camp, placing the ﬂocks under the
care of their owners.
Like all Eastern nations, the Arabs regard their women as inferior
beings, and although they are ordinarily treated with consideration,
and generally exercise great inﬂuence in the management of affairs,
yet the greatest number of them are domestic drudges, and as soon
as they are married they become the servants of the household.
Young girls, while unmarried, are treated with much respect 3 for a
father not only deems it an honour to have a virgin in the family,
but daughters are a source of strength and advantage from the alliance
they enable the father to make with powerful and inﬂuential chiefs,
and as a means of reconciliation to terminate feuds that may have
existed for years between rival families.

1 In every country in the world the wives and daughters of the poor are
compelled, by necessity, to perform all the menial services of the household 3 and
frequently they even assist in the labours of the ﬁeld.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 363.
The Arabs show universal respect to their elders, their ﬁlial
attachment is quite exemplary ; and the love which they bear to their
mother is the most affectionate. In all family quarrels, they invariably
vindicate her cause even at the risk of being expelled from the paternal
tent. Young boys show great deference to their father by never pre-
suming to eat out of the same dish, nor even in his presence, yet when
they reach the age of maturity they strive to render themselves
independent of paternal authority as soon as possible 3 but they
nevertheless continue to yield, contrary to the dictates of their own
judgment, to the superior wisdom and experience of their father while
they live with him in his tent. Their father generally gives them a
mare or a camel, that they may try their fortune in plundering excur-
sions, and if they are lucky in their adventures the property they
may thus acquire belongs to them in their own right. Whenever they
have accumulated suﬂicient means to make themselves master of an
independent establishment, they cease to be submissive, they no longer
listen to advice nor obey any earthly command, but follow without
reserve the suggestions of their own free will. They sometimes assume
the duties of married life when all their worldly possessions are
summed up in one or two camels.
The Bedouin Arabs are neither mechanics nor artisans ; they regard
all kinds of manual labour which is paid for as degrading, ﬁt only
to be performed by a lower grade of men or by slaves. The only
professional artisans among them are blacksmiths to shoe horses and
saddlers to mend leather work. Workmen do not occupy the same-
rank with the free-born Arab 3 their social position is of a far lower
order. They are called szona, whom no Bedouin girl will ever
condescend to marry; and as they form a class by themselves, their-
descendants follow the condition of their fathers, and are equally
excluded from the social intercourse of Arab life. They generally
intermarry among themselves or select a wife from the slave girls.
The Bedouins attend, however, to the tanning of skins, which is.
accomplished by covering them with salt and immersing them in a
liquid paste of barley meal. As soon as the hair becomes suﬂi ciently
loose it is removed, the’ skins are cleansed of all the fat and impurities,
and are soaked in water mixed with peelings of dry pomegranates,
which impart to them a yellow colour. The leather is then washed
and greased with camel’s fat, to render it smooth and pliable.1 The
art of weaving is ‘a branch of industry to which the women devote
their spare moments. The Arab loom is the most simple that can
possibly be devised. Two slender poles are stuck into the ground
in an upright position at some distance apart, and they are braced by
a ﬂat horizontal piece placed between them. On this framework the
Warp is properly arranged, and the woof is passed by means of a
wooden splint, which serves as shuttle, and the threads are driven
up, so as to render the web more compact, by a short gazelle’s horn.

1 The Arabs of the desert of Suez use in the process of tanning, instead of the
pomegranate peelings, the stalks of the Periplaea sca-mone, a climbing plant which
contains an acrid milky juice and grows in those regions. Wilkinson’s Egypt,
vol. iii. p. 155.
364. THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
' a‘ ._ _ - “-
. "x" Us ’ v v ., _ , a". ',V_-4.-o_->‘i-v.
~w~<4~n2m-mr>1~1 ‘
The wives and daughters of the Arabs spin wool with the distaff,
and knit the yarn of camels’ hair into caps worn by the men.
The Bedouins have no internal commerce. They would consider
it disgraceful to sell milk or other provisions to their neighbours or
to travelling strangers. For their supply of wheat or other articles
of food and clothing, they are dependent on the villages situated on
the borders of the desert, where Syrian merchants congregate? and
sedentary Arabs cultivate the soil. Their purchases are effected by
means of exchange 3 and for this purpose a select party is despatched
with a sufficient number of camels to the Syrian towns, where all
the necessary articles for a whole year’s supply are procured.
The wealth of the wandering Arabs is exceedingly circumscribed 3
they are poor, but their poverty is self-imposed 3 the free air, and the
unrestricted liberty of locomotion which they enjoy, are far dearer to
them than all the pageantry of a reﬁned but eﬂfeminate and corrupt
civilisation3 they prefer the simple style of living of the wandering
shepherd to all the luxuries and extravagances of grandeur and power.
Herds of horses and camels and ﬂocks of sheep and goats are all the
kind of property they value, to give them consideration and obtain for
them the respect of the men of their tribe, as distinguished for their
acts of generosity, and for their hospitable reception and liberal treat-
ment of guests and strangers. If they have a mare of good pedigree
which produces a colt every spring, they are enabled to enrich them-
selves and increase their popularity as well as their inﬂuence. With
a swift mare the Bedouins are always master of the situation. They
may rob, plunder, and ﬁght to their heart’s content, and no one can
overtake them. A mare is a treasure that is clearer to them than all
else, and which they would not part with for any earthly consideration.
They and their families might suffer hunger and privation, but their
mare must be fed and duly cared for3 for it is on her services that
their happiness and glory depend, and she is the mainstay of their
very existence.1
The camels are hardly more than sufficient to supply their simplest
wants and those of their family. If they possess thirty or forty they
are considered in easy circumstances, and they are esteemed rich if
they increase the number to sixty. But the vicissitudes of fortune
are more rapid, and the sudden change from wealth to poverty is more
3 1 The Arab horse is more remarkable for its exquisite symmetry and beautiful
proportions, united with wonderful powers of endurance, than for extraordinary
speed. Their colour is generally white, light, or dark grey, light chestnut and bay,
with white or black feet. The average height is fourteen to fourteen three-fourth
hands, rarely ﬁfteen. Layard’s Nineveh, &c., p. 329.
The Bedouins count three noble breeds of horses. The pedigree is often put
into a small piece of leather covered with cloth and hung round the horse‘s neck.
The Arabs almost exclusively ride their mares and sell their horses to the towns’
people. During the whole year the Arabs keep their horses in the open air.
They are accustomed, like their master, ‘to the inclemency of the season. They
never clean or rub them, but are careful to walk them gently after returning
from a ride. From the time the colt is ﬁrst mounted the saddle is but seldom
taken off its back. They all ride without stirrups or bridles and guide the horse
with a halter. Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, vol. i. p. 194.
BEDOUIN ARABS. ‘365
common, among the Bedouins than among any other people; for the
unexpected night-attack of robbers, or the hostile incursion of a neigh-
bouring tribe, may strip them in a few days of all their possessions
and reduce them to absolute beggary. Riches only confer inﬂuence
and power if they are distributed with unstinted liberality whenever
occasion requires it. The most wealthy sheikh lives in‘ the same
simple unostentatious style as the poorest of the tribe 3 they both
partake of the same humble fare and eat out of the same dish, and
high and luxurious living is entirely reserved for feasting or rejoicing,
or when friends are to be entertained, or a stranger is received in the
tent as a guest. The only advantage the chief enjoys is that he rides
a swift mare, and his wives and daughters are provided with the ﬁnest
dress materials and ornaments most highly prized and sanctioned by
Arab fashion.
The Bedouins, always apprehensive of .an attack and ever prepared
to defend themselves, are never unarmed. The most eﬂicient weapon
which they wield with great expertness and skill is the lance (remalch).
One, procured from Gaza in Palestine, is made of bamboo, and the
other kind, which is of wood, comes from Irak or Bagdad The
head is pointed and is of iron or steel. It is frequently simple and
unadorned, but generally it is ornamented at its upper extremity with
two balls or tufts of black ostrich feathers trimmed with short white
plumes, the interval between the two tufts being fringed with twisted
strips of red cloth. It is thrown with much exactness at a short
distance when they are in pursuit of a horseman, and to strike with
more certainty they balance it over their head before thrusting it
forward. An Arab has always his sabre ($62)") by his side, even if he
steps over to a neighbour’s tent to sip a cup of coffee, and he hardly ,
ever fails to carry a knife (sekt'n) in his girdle. If a horseman is not
provided with a lance, he arms himself with a club or mace (cobbous)
composed of a wooden handle and a hammer-like head of iron, if it is ‘not
wholly formed of iron. The Aeneze tribes use matchloc as, which they
discharge by crouching on their belly, and they are so well practised that
they hardly ever miss their aim. The Thyats of Arabia Petrea have no
lances, but they are armed with guns, and they exhibit such a degree
of skill in the manipulation of ﬁrearms that they have rendered themselves
formidable to the neighbouring tribes. Their cartridges are prepared
by means of short wooden tubes which they arrange in regular lines
across their breast, and a large pear-shaped ﬂask containing powder for
charging, and a smaller one for priming, with a cutlass in the girdle, com-
plete their military equipment. Some of the Arab chiefs are provided
with a brace of pistols. Their defensive armour comprises a target
(darakc) made of the skin of the wild ox strengthened with iron bars,
a coat of mail, either covering the whole body from the elbow over
the shoulder down to the knees, or reaching only to the waist 3 the
arms from the elbow down being protected by two pieces of steel
ﬁtting into each other with iron ﬁngers. They also wear an iron cap
(tas), which is but rarely adorned with feathers.
The shepherds, who drive their ﬂocks to pasture at a considerable
distance from the camp, are supplied with a short lance, and they are
366 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
remarkably dexterous with the sling, from which they hurl stones as
large as a man’s ﬁst with good effect.
A pretty girl is as much appreciated among the Arabs as among
more civilised people, and many an aspiring lover endeavours to win
her hand and heart. ‘When an Arab becomes smitten with a young
lady he does not attempt to conceal his passion, but the object of his
love is known to the whole tribe. It often happens that the pangs
and agonies of love which gnaw his heart rob him of his slumbers,
and to relieve himself of this torturing sensation he visits the ‘men’s
apartment of the tent where his mistress resides, and, gathering some
friends around him, they sing love-songs in honour of the fair damsel
until the break of day. When he obtains a glimpse of the young
maiden he fancies, as she goes to the well to fetch water, or on the
march when the tribe is moving to new pastures, his passion is
excited in a moment, the ﬁre of his soul is kindled with glowing
fervour which agitates him, disturbs him, and gives him no rest. He
falls into a melancholy mood 3 he meditates some desperate feat to
become distinguished 3 and while in this state of intense excitement
‘he would be ready ‘to die for the idol of his heart. All this time the
lady of his love is entirely ignorant of the sentiments she has uncon-
.sciously inspired. As a means of relief and to bring the matter to an
issue, he communicates his passion to a relative of the girl, or to a
member of the tribe who has access to her father’s harem, previously
binding him to secrecy by an oath, and he entreats his conﬁdant to
see the young lady and make arrangements by which an interview
can be effected. If the person addressed consents to act as love
messenger, he pays a visit to the girl when he knows her to be alone,
and gathering on his way a blade of grass or a ﬂower, he says to her,
“ Swear by him who made this ﬂower and us also that you will not
reveal to any one that which-I am about to unfold to you.” If she is
disinclined to receive the address of any lover, or is otherwise prompted
to reject proposals of this kind, she will refuse the proﬁered oath, and
leave the question unanswered, without, however, disclosing to any
‘one what has passed. If, on the other hand, she is favourably
disposed to encourage advances of this character, she answers, “ I
‘swear by him who made the leaf you hold and us also that I will
not reveal to any one that which you are about to unfold to me,” and
the time and place of the interview is then agreed upon.
The ordinary mode of matchmaking is, however, far more simple.
When a young man desires to marry a girl he intrusts the manage-
ment of the affair to a friend, who enters into negotiation with the
father. If the proposal is favourably received, the wishes of the
young woman are consulted, and if she has no objection to the match,
the mutual friend seizes the hand of the father and pronounces these
words, “You declare that you give your daughter as wife to N.”
This formal proposition being answered in the affirmative, the parties
agree upon the time the marriage shall take place, which is generally
the sixth day after the betrothal. On the day appointed for the
marriage the bridegroom proceeds to the tent of the girl’s father, and
carrying a lamb in his arms he cuts its throat, and as soon as the blood
BEDOUIN ARABS. 367
falls to the ground the marriage ceremony is considered complete.
The rest of the day is passed by the women, as well as the men, in
feasting, singing, and other amusements. At sunset the bridegroom
retires to a tent expressly pitched for him at some distance from the
camp, and there he remains solitary and alone, impatiently awaiting
the arrival of the bride. In the meanwhile the bashful girl is required
by custom, in order to prove her virgin purity, to show some reluct-
ance to be united to the man she has accepted as her husband, and
she attempts to conceal herself by passing from tent to tent until she
is ﬁnally caught by the women and conducted in triumph to the
lonely retreat of the bridegroom, who receives her at the entrance and
takes her inside by force. Impressed with the novelty of her situation,
she naturally utters some startling exclamations, forced from her by
her maiden timidity.
Most of the Bedouins consider it a dishonour to sell their daughters
for a “price.” Presents are sometimes made by the suitor to the
damsel herself, and she is at liberty to accept them 3 but the favour
of the parents is hardly ever purchased by gifts. The father, if his
circumstances permit, frequently bestows a dowry upon his daughter,
of which she remains the sole mistress, with the exclusive right of
enjoying the income it may yield.1 Among the Shemal tribes the
father receives from his future son-in-law the “ ﬁve articles” (khomse),
which consist of a carpet, a large silver nose-ring, a silver neck-chain,
silver bracelets, and a camel-bag of Bagdad manufacture, which
become the wife’s property, over which she has absolute control, and
are not returned even if a divorce should take place.
An Arab girl may reject a suitor if she thinks ﬁt so to do, and her
determination will be respected 3 but if her cousin asks her in marriage
she is not permitted to refuse him, he having the prerogative claim
on her affections above all other competitors. She is not bound,
however, to wait for him or consult his pleasure 3 if he loses the
opportunity of availing himself of his privilege, she is free from all
obligations to him, and may marry whenever it suits her convenience.
. Among the tribes of Mount Sinai the girl’s inclinations are never
considered in the marriage settlement, but the father bestows his
daughter upon the man who offers him the highest money value. As
soon as the negotiations are completed, the father gives to the bride-
groom a branch of a tree or shrub, or some other green plant, which
he wears in his turban for three days as a token that he has taken a
virgin in matrimony. The girl remains ignorant of the change in her
condition, when, to her surprise, she is met in the evening, as she
drives home the cattle from the pasture, by her husband accompanied
by a few friends, by whom she is seized and carried off to her father’s
tent. If she has any intimation of what is about to happen, she
prepares herself for defence, and hurls stones at her assailants and

1 Mr. Burckhardt, in his Notes on the W'ahabys, states it as a general fact that
the girl never receives anything from her father at the time of her marriage 3 but
this does not apply to the Bedouins of Mesopotamia visited by .Mr. Layard, who
makes the statement as given in the text.
368 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
uses other means of resistance; for, according to custom, the more she-
struggles, bites, kicks, and cries, the more she is applauded by her
companions and friends. Having been placed in the women’s apart-
ment, the relatives throw a man’s cloak or abba over her, completely
enveloping her head, and exclaiming, “None shall ever be thy lawful
spouse but such an one 3 ” here the girl, for the ﬁrst time, hears the-
name of her betrothed mentioned. After this ceremony she is dressed
by her mother and the female relatives in the new apparel provided
by the bridegroom, and is then mounted on a camel ornamented with
tassels and strips of cloth. She still continues to show some signs of
resistance, but she is securely held by two friends, one on each side,
and led three times round her husband’s tent, while the women are
uttering loud lamentations. She is next introduced into a private-
recess closed in by curtains prepared in the women’s apartment, and
there she is left with one attendant. Outside of the tent women sing
the praises of the newly married couple, and several sheep having
been killed the assembled guests feast on meat and bread, and merry‘
making and rejoicing continue till late at night. In the meantime
the bridegroom contrives to escape his congratulating friends 3 he
enters the recess of the bride, leaving his shoes outside, and passes thev
night in the bridal chamber. Next day every father of a family
brings a goat as a present to the bride, and a bountiful dinner of
goat’s meat being prepared, all partake of it, which concludes the
marriage celebration. Decency requires that the young wife should
remain secluded in her tent for a fortnight, and that she should only
leave it at night so as not to be seen by men.
If the girl objects to the marriage, she is compelled to yield at
least one night to the embraces of her husband, but she is at liberty to-
abandon his tent next morning and take refuge in the paternal home.
The formalities observed before entering into the full relations of
married life among the Mezeyne tribe of the Sinai peninsula are still
more singular and capricious. After the betrothal of the girl she is.
wrapped in an ether, is furnished with provisions by her female friends,
and is encouraged to run away and ﬂy to the neighbouring mountains.
If the bridegroom succeeds to ﬁnd her retreat, he is bound to‘ con-
summate the marriage on the spot and pass the night in the-open
country. He brings the bride home to her father’s tent, but she
repeatedly escapes and again returns, and only consents to live in her-
husband’s tent after she is far advanced in pregnancy. After remain-
ing, with her family one year, she has the privilege of joining her
husband, although her hope of progeny may not yet be realised.
It was customary among the Asyr tribes before they had submitted
to the rule of the VVahabees to attire their marriageable daughters in
their best dresses and most valuable ornaments, and walk with them to
the public market, offering them to the highest bidder by crying aloud,
“ Who will buy the virgin?” (Man jz/shterjz/ eZ aclem .?) This mode of
disposing of young girls was strictly adhered to, although the terms
upon which the marriage settlement was made had been previously
arranged by the parties.
The marriage obligations are held sacred by most of the tribes, and
BEDOUIN ARABS. 369
though cases of inﬁdelity occasionally occur, yet as the penalty incurred
'upon discovery is so summary, they are exceedingly rare, for as soon
as the matter is communicated to her father and brothers, and unequi-
vocal proof is furnished of the fact, the disgraceful conduct of the
faithless wife, which casts dishonour upon the character of the family,
is immediately resented by cutting her throat. An Arab readily
engages in some distant expedition, and leaves his young wife at
home without the least apprehension as regards her safety and good
conduct. The women’s apartment is always respected, and even pro-
fessional robbers will never invade the sanctity of the place which
serves as refuge to the female part of the household Polygamy is a
legalised institution among the Arabs, but they rarely marry more
than one wife. The right of repudiating a wife is also recognised
among the Bedouins, but many tribes consider it dishonourable to
exercise the right of divorce, unless urged by weighty and satisfactory
reasons 3 yet cases frequently occur where a man becomes dissatisﬁed,
and pronounces thewords emf talelc, “thou art divorced,” which can
never be revoked. He is required to give to his repudiated wife a
she-camel, and, mounted upon this, she is sent back to the tent of her
family. He is not asked to assign any cause for this action, nor does
this circumstance reﬂect dishonour upon the divorced woman or her
relatives. If, on the ﬁrst night of his nuptials, a Bedouin is in doubt
as regards the virgin purity of his wife, he does not expose her to
public reprobation, lest he might incur the retaliatory vengeance of her
family, but, after having retained her for a few days, he sends her
back to her parents with the simple excuse that she did not please
him. The husband may marry immediately, but the repudiated wife
must wait forty days after her separation to ascertain whether she is
pregnant, before she can unite herself to another husband. The father
is entitled to the children born of the marriage, unless it be a suckling
babe, which the mother nurses until it can walk, after which the
father takes it to his tent. ‘
If the wife cannot reconcile herself to the humour of her husband,
and feels unhappy in his society, she is allowed by law to separate
and seek protection among her family and kindred 3' and it is only by
promises and presents that her husband might induce her to return 3
while any act of violence to that effect would be visited by the rela-
tives with condign punishment upon the offending party. But he can
revenge himself for her waywardness by refusing to pronounce the ant
talelc, in which event she will be compelled to remain unmarried.1
If a young man dies and leaves a widow, she generally receives
an offer of marriage from her husband’s brother, and she hardly ever
refuses to accede to the proposal, because it is the best means of
keeping the family property together.
1 Among the Ahl e1 Shemal, if an Arab elopes with another man’s wife and takes
refuge in the tent of a third party, this last kills a sheep and thus marries the couple.
Among the Aénezes, the wife in such a case returns safely to her parents and
awaits the ent talelc from her husband ; her lover is likewise secure from personal
danger, being dakheil of the family in whose tent he has taken refuge. Burckhardt‘s
Notes on the Bedouins, &c., vol. i. p. 113.
2 A
370 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
Like all the women who do not violate the laws of physical nature
by restrictive regulations imposed by modern society, the Arab women
are entirely free from the painful effects of parturition so common
among ladies of fashion, and they are frequently delivered in the open
air without the least assistance, when they immediately rub the child
with sand or earth and carry it home in their handkerchief 3 or
labour may overtake them while travelling, and dismounting at the
ﬁrst symptoms, they screen themselves behind the camel, so as not to
be seen by the men, and as soon as they are delivered in due course
of nature, they immediately remount and proceed on their journey as
if nothing had happened. Bedouin mothers always suckle their
children till they are able to eat solid food, and in order to accumulate
a sufficient supply for their new-born babe they drink an abundance
of camel’s milk during the closing period of pregnancy. The infant,
immediately after it is born, receives a name which owes its origin to
some incident attending its birth, or it may be derived from some
object which struck the fancy of the mother or some other near relative.
In addition to this, every Arab is individually designated by the name
of his father and that of'his tribe or ancestor.
The education of an Arab boy is entirely left to nature 3 he is free
to act according to his pleasure, guided only by his natural good sense
and the example of his parents, without the necessity of resorting to
the expediency of coercion or the more degrading alternative of bodily
correction. He is, however, accustomed from his earliest youth to
the fatigues and dangers of a pastoral life, and his constitution is steeled
to endurance, hardships, and privations. Fathers desire to see their
boys possessed, at an early age, of a manly spirit of independence and
of a prudent assurance of self-conﬁdence. They permit them to accost
strangers in an overbearing manner and assume an insolent air of
superiority. When they play their pranks on invited guests by beat-
ing and pelting them, or by hiding an article of value belonging to
them, they are highly commended for their cleverness, as an indica-
tion of their future enterprising and warlike disposition.
Negro slavery exists among the Bedouin Arabs, but its character is
exceedingly mild. The slaves are kindly treated by their masters,
and as they are never beaten, and their labour is light, they have no
disposition to run away. During the period of their servitude the
Arab slaves of the desert are distinguished for their unswerving
ﬁdelity, and after a certain lapse of time they are invariably set free.
There are tribes of enfranchised negroes who follow a nomadic life and
form separate and independent encampments in the desert. The
females are frequently emancipated after the service of some years
and are married to male slaves. The men, in token of their freedom——
the right being conferred upon them in the presence of witnesses——
are allowed to shave their head, but they are not permitted to take
an Arab girl as wife, nor does a free Arab ever degrade himself by
marrying a negro girl. The descendants of slaves intermarry among
themselves or among the workmen (szona), who constitute a part of
the tribe, and are considered as permanent settlers. The rich are not
only served by slaves, but they are, in addition, attended by Arab
BEDOUIN ARABS. 371
servants, who are proud of their personal dignity and would resent a
blow or an insult if offered by one of equal rank. A younger son or
a poor man of the tribe is commonly employed as a shepherd, who
watches over the herds and ﬂocks and drives them to the pasture for
ten months in the year, for during the two ﬁrst spring months the
cattle graze around the tent without the guardian care of a shepherd.
The shepherds receive, as stated wages, a young camel and the ﬁve
articles (Ithomse) made up of a pair of shoes, a shirt, a keﬁé, an abba,
and a sheepskin.
Hospitality is one of the most prominent virtues of the Bedouins;
it is a part of an Arab’s nature to be hospitable, and he could not
forego the pleasure of exercising it even if he would. Among many
of the tribes a guest once received in the tent becomes one of the
family, and the duty of protecting him becomes sacred He is pro-
vided with food and lodging, no matter what his station in life may
be, but the consideration and respect with which he is treated depend
much on his rank and character. A stranger, once under the shadow
of the owner’s tent, becomes all at once the friend of the whole tribe,
and all are tacitly pledged for the security of his life and property.
Even when lying helpless by the roadside, a solitary destitute traveller
will always ﬁnd relief when he meets with a wandering Bedouin, who
will share with him his scanty meal and divide with him his supply
of water, without giving the least intimation to the stranger of the
.sacriﬁce he is making to satisfy his wants, and that even without
having any immediate prospects of replenishing his own store of pro-
visions. A traveller who has no friends or acquaintances in the camp
.stops at the ﬁrst tent he passes on entering the encampment ; for it is
considered discourteous, if not an insult, to ride up to the front of a
man’s tent without stopping and eating his bread. If it should happen
that the owner is not at home, his wife or daughter will receive him,
.a carpet will be spread, and arrangements will be made to prepare
breakfast or dinner. The mare or camel of the guest will also receive
due attention. The host salutes his guest with “Peace be to you ”
‘(Salaam aleykoom) ; or if he is an old friend or acquaintance he will
embrace him, and even kiss his beard if he be a man of distinction.
As soon as “the stranger is seated, the master of the tent considers it an
act of politeness to address to each one of the company present a short
colloquial phrase, by saying, “Perhaps you are well ‘l ” “ I hope you
.are well.” After this all ceremonies are discarded, the stranger is
pressed to detail the news he has gathered in his journey, to relate all
the incidents of interest that occurred among his tribe or neighbours,
.and ﬁnally a general discussion commences about the politics of the
country. During three days and four hours from his arrival the
.stranger may consider the tent as his home, but at the end of that time
the host will ask him whether he will continue to favour him with
the honour of his company 3 if the guest replies in the affirmative, he
is expected to assist in fetching water, milking the camels, and feed-
ing the horse; but he may decline rendering the service and still
remain, which would, however, expose him to censure from the whole
tribe. He can, nevertheless, prolong his stay in the camp, indepen-
372 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
dent of any conditions, by making himself the guest of another
tent.
Among the tribes of the N edjed, it is customary to pour a cup of'
melted butter on the head of the guest who partakes of the hospi-
talities of their tent. The el Merekedes, in the southern extremity
of Yemen, long preserved the ancient custom of their forefathers,
until abolished through the inﬂuence of the Wahabees, to assign to their‘
guests one of their wives as companion, with whom he was required
to pass the night, no matter what her age or her condition might be-
If the stranger’s attentions were received with favour by the lady,
on the following morning he was treated by his host with the utmost.-
kindness, and was provided with a supply of provisions for the rest
of his journey 3 but if his manners were disagreeable, and he happened
to displease the lady, he found his cloak mutilated, a piece having
been cut off as a mark of contempt. As soon as the circumstance-
became known in the camp, the women and children collected and
drove him, like a disgraced vagabond, beyond the bounds of the--
encampment.
A natural concomitant to the sacred duty of hospitality incum--
bent upon the Arabs, is the no less important relation which exists.
between the protector and the protected (dalthcz'l and dakhal), which
involves mutual obligations religiously observed, and good faith fully
guarded against all violations and shortcomings. A Bedouin who:
proves false to the pledged faith which the dairhez'l implies, would
not only draw disgrace upon himself but upon his family and tribe.
To reproach a man with having broken his cZakhez'Z is to touch him
on the most tender point of honour, for it constitutes the grossest-
insult in the social ethics of Arab manners. An Arab can claim the-
right of dakhez'l from any man of his tribe, unless engaged in a
criminal act, in every emergency where violence is apprehended, or-
the security of life and property is imperilled, by touching any part
of his person or tent, announcing to him the object intended to be-
accomplished, or by eating his salt and bread. - When this protection
is once given by a Bedouin, whetherformally or by an act which
confers the privilege of dakhez'l, his obligation is imperative under-
all circumstances, even at the risk of his own property and life.
Among the Shamar tribe, if a man can seize a thread or string, one-
end of which is held by his enemyfhe immediately becomes his.
dakheil. He acquires the privilege of dalrheil if he only touches the
covering of the tent, or even if he can hit it by throwing his mace‘
towards it; and this right of claiming protection has been carried
so far that by spitting upon a man he becomes his dakhez'l. Among-
the Arabs of the Desert of Sinai, the dakhez'l is only considered effec-
tive if the fugitive has contrived to eat or sleep in the tent. If two
enemies unexpectedly meet and the salam (deg/71200772 passes between
them, this is regarded as a signal of truce, and they will refrain from
every hostile act, although the salutation may have been exchanged by
mistake. The claim of protection of awoman is considered paramount.
to all others, and she can protect any number of persons or tents.
It is disgraceful to rob her of her clothes 3 and if a straggling female is
BEDOUIN ARABS. 3 7 3
found among a party of ‘plundered Arabs, an enemy will give her a
horse or a camel to send her back to her tent.
‘ Another custom which exists among some tribes,1 and indicates a
high degree of moral advancement, is that of guardian (wasy). This
beneﬁcent institution, which makes a Bedouin who accepts the responsi-
Tbility the special friend and perpetual protector of the family of an
Arab even after the death of the latter, is principally designed for the
security of minor children, women, and old men, over whom the wasy
assumes the guardianship. As the obligation of wasy and the claim
(of the protected are generally mutual, and descend by hereditary
succession to the heirs, they have a tendency to bind together two
families in the closest ties of friendship, and to temper their disposition
to mutual forbearance. The wasy thus preserves the peace of the
tribe, and is one of the conservative means which prevents a nation
of such ﬁerce passions and such rapacious instincts from being
destroyed by domestic dissensions. Almost every Arab is a protector,
and is, in his turn, the protected 3 and even the greatest sheikhs do not
disdain an alliance of this character, and are seldom without a guardian.
The ceremony required for the institution of a wasy is simple, and yet
it is fully adapted to the occasion. The Arab who wishes his friend
to become the guardian of his children leads a she—camel before the
tent of the wasy, ties one of the loose corners of the keﬁé of his friend
into a knot, and presenting the she—camel he says, “I constitute you
coasy for my children, and your children for my children, and your
grandchildren for my grandchildren.” The acceptance of the camel
renders the obligation of guardianship complete, and gives a right to
the ward to apply to his wasy whenever he feels himself aggrieved.
One of the most remarkable laws which is recognised by all the
_Arabs without distinction, and which probably derives its origin from
the most ancient organic structure of society, is that of blood-revenge,
called thar, prescribing the degree of consanguinity within which it
.is lawful to claim the blood for that of the person slain. This law of
retaliation, which is'sanctioned by the Koran,2.has proved the most
effectual check to bridle the impetuous and unruly propensities of war-
like races who are constantly engaged in armed conﬂicts with each
ether‘; and their hostile encounters have thus been rendered almost
bloodless, and far more humane and much less injurious in their con-
sequences, than the modern scientiﬁc warfare with its myriads of mur-
dered victims, its countless stolen treasures, its robberies in the form
of military requisitions, and its pitiless ravages and devastations. The
severity of the law is only liable to objection on account of the extensive
scope of its application, for it strikes not only the actual homicide,
but all his relatives within the ﬁfth degree (kkomse) are made respon-
sible 3 and this right is never lost, but is perpetuated to the remotest

1 It is universally prevalent among the tribes of the Nedjed.
2 The Koran contains the following passages on the subject of blood-revenge :—
“ 0_ true believers! the law of retaliation is ordained to you for the slain, the
free shall die for the free 1” “And whosoever shall be'unjustly slain, we have
given to his heir power of demanding satisfaction, but let him not exceed the
power of moderation.”
3 74 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
posterity on both sides, unless satisfaction is offered and accepted.
As it would be disgraceful, on the part of the relatives of the victim,
to make any advances in order to secure the price of blood, the kadc“
generally takes the initiatory step to prevail upon the nearest kindred
to accept a compensation, the amount of which is regulated according
to the custom of the different tribes. In most cases the price of blood
is accepted, and no censure attaches to the friends of the deceased for
acceding to the arrangement. Among the Aénezes the price of blood
is ﬁxed at ﬁfty she-camels, one deloal (a camel trained for mounting),
a mare, a black slave, a coat of mail, and a gun. Among the Ahl el
Shemal it is paid in money, amounting to a thousand piasters or about
ﬁfty pounds sterling. As a conﬁrmatory act, giving binding force to-
the agreement, and as a mark of reconciliation, the homicide (damawy),
or his principal friend, kills a camel before the tent of his adversary,
whose blood is supposed to wipe away that of the person slain, and at
parting he ties a white handkerchief to the end of his lance, which is-
intended as a public notice that he is now free from blood. The ﬂesh
of the camel, after it is duly prepared, is immediately eaten by the
friends of the parties. But if the price of blood offered is refused,
there is no other recourse left to the guilty man and his relatives,
comprised within the khomse, but to take refuge with some tribe where-
the arm of vengeance cannot reach them 3 and to enable the fugitives?
to accomplish this object, custom allows them three days and four
hours to make their escape, during which time it is the sacred duty
of the injured party to refrain from pursuit. The effective operation
of the thar renders bloody wars between two tribes impossible, for the
price of blood is exacted for every person killed, and he who did the-
bloody deed is responsible. ‘
The most odious of all the Bedouin customs is undoubtedly the‘
professional pursuit in which many of the young men engage to-
deprive an enemy of his property by stealth or force, and strip even
the father of a family of a neighbouring tribe or a neighbouring camp-
of his movable wealth. This practice of freebooting, ordinarily called
robbery, which was an honourable profession during the Middle Ages,
when many a chivalric knight risked his life for “beauty and booty,”
is not a disreputable pursuit among the Arabs, who rob and plunder
for the mere pleasure and excitement which danger and glory afford 3-
and no sooner is the prize secured than they will divide it out among‘v
their friends, and spend carelessly what they had acquired after much
toil and labour at the risk of their life. A youthful adventurer, who
has his fortune and reputation to make, will not disdain to devote his-
energy and talents to the arduous toils and hazards of a plundering‘
expedition, and furnish proof of his dauntless spirit as a hero, and his
matchless bravery as a robber (haramy). But while it is neither a-
criminal nor a disgraceful act to commit a robbery among a friendly
tribe, and even in the camp, it is not at all creditable, and lowers the
standard of respectability of the perpetrator of the deed. While this
practice often leads to violence and frequently requires the exercise of
brutal force for its accomplishment, it has one great redeeming fea—»
ture: it is hardly ever attended with bloodshed, for to push the adven~
BEDOUIN ARABS. 375
ture to such an extreme would entail too serious consequences not only
upon the persons engaged but upon their families.
The glory of Arab freebooting chieﬂy consists in robbing an enemy,
and securing by stratagem and skilful management what could not be
obtained by open force. As robbery is a legitimate business pursuit
which any Arab may follow, if prompted by necessity or inclination,
the natural barriers interposed by the existing social organisation to
check its excessive abuse are numerous and effective. In a country
where such a custom is recognised, it renders all parties who are pos-
sessed of valuable property extremely vigilant. They are constantly
on their guard against surprises, never travel unarmed and hardly ever
alone; and as the robbed may, in turn, become the robber, retaliatory
measures will surely be initiated whenever a favourable opportunity
presents itself. On this account enterprises of this kind are not as
common as is generally supposed, which, if they fail of success,
although they may not endanger the life of the persons engaged, will
render them prisoners of the injured party, who will deprive them of
their liberty and subject them to many hardships until they are
relieved by their relatives by the payment of an adequate ransom.
Like the warfare of civilised European nations, Arab freebooting is
regulated by well-established rules. “Then Bedouins meet a stranger
in the midst of the desert, they will deprive him, if they can, of his
property, especially if interest urges them to do so ; yet they will not
leave him to die of hunger and thirst, but bring him within a certain
distance of tents, and direct him to the place where his immediate
wants will be supplied. A Shamar would regard it as a cowardly act,
unworthy of his tribe, to deprive even an enemy of his camel or horse
where he could neither reach water nor an encampment.
Whenever the determination is reached to start out on a plundering
excursion to rob a neighbouring camp, three persons are selected to
make their journey on foot so as to reach their place of destination
late in the night. Having arrived before the tent intended to be
robbed, one draws off the watch-dog, another stands sentinel to knock
down with a stick any one who might venture to stir out, and a third
cuts loose the cords of the camels and leads away as many as he can.
But a plot, though well-arranged, is not always successfully executed 3
many unforeseen circumstances frequently intervene to thwart the
most wisely-conceived plans. It sometimes happens that the hammy
is caught in the act, and he becomes the prisoner (Tabez't) of the person
who apprehended him (what), and is doomed to suffer for his wilful
daring and hostile intentions. He is buried in a hole with only a
portion of his face exposed, his hands are tied, and his hair is fastened
to stakes by means of leather thongs. In this condition he remains,
being but sparingly fed, until he agrees to pay a ransom for his
liberation. He loses his right of claiming the dale-hail from the mbaf,
and great precaution is taken to shut out every opportunity which
would enable him to claim it from others. If he is too poor to redeem
himself, and his relatives can give him no assistance, his mother "or
sister sometimes comes to his relief. Disguised as a beggar, she
proceeds to the camp where her son or brother is conﬁned, and is
376 THE ARALTJEAN STOCK.
received as a poor guest in one of the tents. Having gathered all the
necessary information with regard to the precise locality of the hole
where the hammy lies bound in fetters and entirely helpless, she
visits the place during the night holding a ball of thread in her hand,
one end of which she throws over the face of the prisoner and guides
to his mouth, which he has reason to regard as a star of promise fore-
boding speedy relief. The friendly messenger of glad tidings retraces
her steps and unwinds the coil as she passes on until she reaches a
tent, where she introduces herself, awakens the owner, and applies
the other end of the thread to his bosom, addressing him in these
words: “Look on me by the love thou bearest to God and thy own
self 3 this is under thy own fprotection.” The woman then explains
to the startled Bedouin the object of her nightly visit, who, being
fully impressed with its importance, follows the guidance of the
thread as he winds it on his hand and ﬁnds himself in the presence of
the hammy. He immediately awakens the rabat and shows him
the thread still held by the captive, and declares the rabez't to be his
clakhcz'l. The rabat then cuts his bonds asunder, frees him from
conﬁnement, and he is entertained as a guest newly arrived, and: is
suffered to depart in safety.
The Arabs of Sinai do not recognise robbery as a legal institution
or as a tribal custom 3 and the tribes who occupy the territory near
Egypt and round Mecca brand with the stigma of dishonour
those who are engaged in robbery among their own people, and
it is but rarely practised by them even outside of their own tribal
community.
The legalised practice of freebooting unquestionably derived its
origin from the perpetual conﬂicts and the predatory warfare in which
the Bedouin tribes are constantly involved, arising most frequently
from the arbitrary exercise of power over watering-places and pasture-
grounds, and the bad feelings engendered by disputes about possessing
rights, which cannot fail to excite much animosity among the
contesting parties. Plunder or crippling the resources of an adversary,
and thus render him powerless, is the principal object of Bedouin
warfare. When an open attack takes place, the partisan skirmishes
are almost always bloodless, for the dreaded consequences of blood—
revenge prevent sanguinary conﬂicts. As their favourite tactics consist
in taking an enemy by surprise, and in overwhelming him with a
superior force, the resistance encountered is but feeble, and the weaker
party generally retreats without losing a single man, cherishingithe
hope of retaliating at some future day on a defenceless encampment
of the victorious tribe. In these plundering excursions, undertaken
as an act of retribution or for purposes of gain, the conduct of the
Bedouins is undoubtedly dictated by prudential motives 3 but it is
utterly devoid of manliness, and would render them amenable to the
charge of cowardice, were it not a well-established fact that in meeting
a national enemy in open battle the Bedouin Arabs have displayed
the most heroic valour, and have won honour and fame on many a
ﬁeld of glory. The intertribal conﬂicts of the Bedouins are hardly
ever of long duration, they are readily induced to agree to terms of
BEDOUIN ARABS. 377
peace 3 but their restless spirit constantly conjures up new grievances,
and the strife is renewed upon the slightest pretext.
A party that undertakes a distant expedition is necessarily com-
posed of horsemen armed with lances and sabres, and provided with
camel-bags, a stock of food and water. Every horseman selects a
friend as companion (zammal) who is mounted on a camel, and he
himself mounts behind him, leading his mare by the bridle, that she
may not be jaded by the fatigue of the journey, but be ready for
effective service whenever the decisive moment arrives. Being at a
considerable distance from their own encampment, it would not be
easy for them to capture and secure any other property but camels or
horses, and the tents and all they contain are left undisturbed. But
if the conquering marauders belong to a neighbouring camp, every
species of property is appropriated to be distributed among those
who are engaged in the enterprise, and each receives his share according
to previous agreement, unless every horseman acts upon his own
responsibility, and he then acquires a title of ownership to what his
lance may touch. The most inveterate enemies even never fail to
respect the sanctity of the women’s apartment, and afford protection to
the female sex; for the Bedouin does not claim the right of taking
prisoners, and does not even regard the slaves of his enemy as lawful
prize of war. WVhenever the whole camp is plundered, a woman of
.spirit and determination may recover one camel by following the
retiring enemy and exclaiming, “ O noble chief! I beg my nourish-
ment from God and from you 3 we shall be starved.” If she is able
to keep up with the party for some length of time, and fatigue does
not oblige her to fall back, the chief will be in honour bound to give
her a camel from his own share of the booty and send her back to her
‘own people.
A few of the tribes display a banner (merlreb) in important and
decisive actions, which excites them to the most heroic deeds of daring
and valour; and round this they rally in their utmost extremity, for
as soon as the war-standard is lost defeat is inevitable.
A night attack is looked upon among the A'e'neze tribes as treachery;
the Shamar, on the other hand, have adopted the peculiar tactics of
surprising a neighbouring camp during the darkness of the night, and
creeping up unobserved they suddenly knock down the tent poles,
.and while the owners and their families are engaged in extricating
themselves their horses and cattle are driven off.
If a ﬂying Arab is overtaken by a pursuing enemy, and he cries out
to him, Howel ./ (“get down ”), he has a right to wound him with the
thrust of his lance, or if he is so disposed he may kill him. But if
an Arab who is pursued ﬁnds that the strength of his mare is about
failing, he may save his life by having recourse to the bowel and
begging for protection. But this condescension is considered disgrace-
ful, and he is set adrift deprived of his mare and divested of his
clothes. The negotiation for arranging terms of peace between hostile
tribes is generally conducted by the sheikhs in the camp of a tribe
friendly to both parties.
During a regular campaign, when the Bedouins are engaged in
378 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
actual war, drawn up in order of battle before the face of an invading"
enemy, the command devolves upon the ag'yd, an hereditary war chief
who possesses the conﬁdence of the warriors as an efficient military
leader, no matter what his personal qualities may be 3 for he is held
in great veneration as a saint and an augur, who is supposed to be
enabled, through the supernatural agency of dreams, visions, and
forebodings, to bring military operations to a successful issue, and
discriminate between lucky and unlucky days, when it would be
judicious to make or refrain from an attack. As soon as the war is
ended and the soldiers have returned to their homes, the sheikh’s
authority is as much respected as ever, and the agyd retires to private
life without any recognition of superiority or distinction.
The Bedouins are not a learned people 3 their education is entirely
practical, suitable to their mode of life. The arts and sciences are
not cultivated among them, and indeed their wandering habits and
their restless spirit would render such pursuits difficult, if not impossible.
There are but few Bedouins that can read and write, and although
they can boast of a few excellent authors and possess some stray
copies of the Koran, yet books are very rare and are scarcely appreciated.
As their Sabaean ancestors worshipped the heavenly bodies, they have
some slight notion of practical astronomy, which does not extend
much beyond a knowledge of distinguishing the different constellations
and planets by speciﬁc names. Their medical practice, even for the
cure of diseases, is very primitive and extremely limited. They are
acquainted with the aperient effects of some desert plants, and experience
has taught them to set a broken leg by means of splints. They have
more faith in the efficacy of charms, in the form of magic words
written on a slip of paper, which the patient swallows, than on the
mild simples of the herbalist. A few historical works,1 composed in
the pure language and the peculiar style of the Bedouins, are highly
esteemed and are frequently recited by the more literary class. But
their literary genius is poetical—an innate faculty which pours forth
its illuminations in spontaneous effusions and without the least effort.
Their extemporaneous productions. of poetry, recited in glowing and
sonorous language but in irregular numbers, celebrate, in picturesque
delineation and beautiful allegories, the virtues of their chiefs, the
glory of their warriors, and the beauty of their women. Some tribes
are more distinguished than others for poetical and musical talents,
and their most famous poets, like the troubadours of old, visit diﬂ‘erent
encampments and are hospitably received in the tents of the sheikhs,
where they entertain the company by recitation and singing, frequently
accompanied by the guitar (rcbabcQ—the only musical instrument of
the desert—for which they are entitled to a triﬂing compensation.
The music to which the Arabs are principally devoted is vocal
music, and their national songs are impressed with the stamp of their
pastoral origin. On festival occasions the women, whose songs are

1 The history of Antar, an excellent work, the history of Selim el Zyr, and
three or four similar works, composed in true Bedouin style, are known to a few
and occasionally recited. Burekhardt’s Notes, vol. i. p. 73.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 379
called ascimcr, amuse themselves in the evening by singing in divided
chorus their favourite melodies, the words being expressive of their
appreciation of acts of generosity and deeds of valour. The inspiring
effect which they produce is so powerful that the warriors will
impetuously rush forward to meet the enemy fearless of death; and
when returning from the ﬁeld of battle, the maiden’s asa'mcr of welcome
will prove an ample reward for the dangers they have encountered
and the hardships they have endured. The love-songs (hodjcmy) of
the men are also sung in unison by several male voices, but the tone
never varies. The verses are simple, and, as the following strains
show, are quite Arcadian in their language :-—“ O wolf! O thou who
art taller than the Kara (a high hill), I have seen my love and her
family’s tent.” “ O cousin ! rise, bring me the camel, The black camel
which the solitary maiden likes; Cover it with its beautiful saddle
and the waterskin of Nedjed leather; Let us proceed towards the
fountain.” 1
When the Arab foot-soldiers come up with the front column of an
enemy, they all with one accord sound their national war-song
(hadan): “0 death! suspend thy rage, 0 death! that we may take
our blood-revenge.” The camel-driver’s song is a pious invocation in
the form of a prayer, “0 Lord! preserve them from all threatening
dangers. Let their limbs be pillars of iron.”
The high social character of the Bedouins is not only favourably
exhibited in honouring every stranger with a banquet to which the
friends of the host are invited, but more especially in the friendly
intercourse fostered at their public feasts and private festivals. On
these occasions sweetmeats are prepared, lettuce and parched peas are
served up, and a great number of sheep are killed, which supply the
assembled guests with an abundance of boiled and roast mutton
swimming in melted butter. The dinner is sometimes followed by a
dance (debke), which is only joined by the women, if they can be
persuaded to lay aside for a short time their habit of modest retire-
ment. The numerous spectators, composed of men, women, and
children, are seated on the grass, forming a circle round the dancers.
Those who are engaged in the dance hold one another by the hand
and form a closed ring. They move slowly round at ﬁrst, and go
through a shuffling step with their feet while twisting their bodies in
various attitudes. As the music quickens their gestures become more
vehement, their movements are more active, and stamping the ground
with their feet, they utter their war-cry in a shrill yell ; and while in
a state of excessive excitement their step becomes hurried and they
jump and leap as they circle round the musicians. The motions of
the women are not without grace, but their elegant form is concealed
by the coarse cloaks in which they wrap themselves. Two warriors
of different tribes, armed with shields and drawn scimitars, next enter
the ﬁeld and go through the evolutions of the sword-dance. The

1 These are examples of the songs of the Arabs inspired by their native poetical
temperament, and which are found quoted in Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins
and Wahabys, vol. i. p. 80. ‘
380_ THE ARAMZEAN sTocK.
excitement of the performers increases with the quickened measure of
the music, and their exercises become sometimes so hazardous that
the more sober lockers-on deem it necessary to deprive them off their
weapons and replace them by stout staves. With these they inﬂict
upon each other the most vigorous blows, and whenever a lucky hit
is made by one of the warriors, the tribe to which he belongs sound
the war-cry and set up shouts of applause, whilst the air is resounding
with the deafening taZehZ of the women, a noise produced by the
motion of the tongue and throat with the hand rapidly vibrating over
the mouth. Social dances to the measure of a song (messamer), of
which the. words are often of an extemporaneous composition, are
frequently made the occasion for the gathering of the young men and
girls after sunset. The men range themselves into lines at some
distance from each other, with the girls collected in a group between
them. While one of the men sings a verse followed by a choral
refrain, the whole line is swinging backward and forward, and all are
simultaneously dropping on their knees. Two or three girls closely
veiled, and with their blue cloaks (mellaye) spread on their outstretched
arms, advance in graceful motion, repeatedly bowing and keeping
time with the cadence of the song. As they approach nearer the line,
their steps are quickened and their movements become more lively
and animated, without laying aside, however, for one moment their
usual coyness and reserve. In the meantime the girls are cheered by
loud exclamations and expressions of endearment without calling their
names, which would be a breach of politeness. Some gay young men
often throw their turban or Ireﬁé at the feet of one of the dancers,
which, if she snatches it up, she throws behind her, and it must then
be redeemed with a present.
The greatest festival of the Arabs is that celebrated on the occasion
of circumcision, for it is a universal custom, having more of a national
than a religious character, to have this operation performed whenever
the boys reach the age of six or seven years. On the morning of the
day appointed for this purpose, a sheep is killed in the tent by the
father, and the uncle or nearest relation contributes a whole mutton
ready to be boiled, or a large dish of cooked food for the entertain-
ment of the guests. While the men are feasting in the tent the
women of the encampment gather round the ornamented camel’s
saddle placed in front of the entrance, and sing, in chorus, their
favourite national songs in honour of the young candidate who is to
be initiated, by a ceremonial rite, into the full fellowship with the
older members of the tribe. As soon as the dinner is completed, the
usual arrangements are made for the performance of the rite 3 the
women standing round cheering the boy by their presence, and raising
their voices in loud songs and characteristic cries of applause. The
men, with lance in hand, and mounted on their mares, ride three
times round the camel’s saddle, and then, ranging themselves in two
lines at some distance along the sides of the tent, they execute their
warlike evolutions. The horsemen of the two opposing lines gallop
up to an adversary who, on being challenged, attempts to pass the
challenger’s mare, and if he succeeds to reach the opposite side he, in
BEDOUIN ARABS. 381
turn, bids deﬁance to the opposing horsemen. This equestrian sport
continues for more than an hour, while the women are singing the
assdmer and are lavishing their praises upon the best horseman and
the owner of the swiftest mare.
The Arabic, which is the language of the Bedouins, is the richest
and most perfect of the Semitic languages known. In the desert it is
spoken with the greatest purity and the most remarkable grammatical
accuracy. In their idiomatic phraseology the Bedouins use many
select words and elegant terms, and they have preserved for centuries,
without books or the aid of writing, the correct construction of their
expressive mode of speech, uncorrupted by the cant phrases of the
vulgar Arabic of Egypt and Syria. Although there exists some
diversity of dialect among the different tribes, yet they are all equally
distinguished for pronouncing each letter with the utmost precision,
and expressing its exact force and power without deviating much from
a recognised standard of uniformity. The Arabic is the most generally
known and the most widely diﬁ’used of all the spoken Eastern languages.
As the development of language depends on the development of the
human mind and the state of advancement of society, the Arabic,
during its long and checkered career of progress, has been subjected
to numerous radical changes and many important alterations; and
although the Koran is studied and read by all good Mussulmans, yet
the Arabic written and spoken by Mohamed may, to a great extent,
be regarded as a dead language 3 and it is this antique idiom which
gives unity and permanency to the religion and laws of the Mohamedan
states, from the ‘Ganges to the Straits of Gibraltar and the banks of
the Danube, and from Cape Comorin to Chinese Tatary. In this
idiom are composed not only the Koran, but the ﬁnest poetical pro-
ductions of Arabic literature, distinguished by the most sublime
metaphors and the most exalted moral sentiments. The educated
men of the East devote their most profound study to the knowledge
of this language; it is the only science which they fully appreciate,
and it is their highest ambition to write it with purity and to become
familiar with the ﬁnest passages of the ancient Arabic classics.1
The phonetic utterances of the Arabic language have been reduced
to writing at an early period of its evolution by means of thirty-eight
symbolic characters, representing the consonants, the vowel intonations
being indicated by three distinct marks of sound placed either under
or over the letter. Like all the languages of the Semitic stock, it is
written in horizontal lines from right to left. The learned ulemas of
Cairo and those of Persia have softened down the harsh and guttural
sounds of the language, and have thus rendered its pronunciation
more harmonious and musical. The principal parts of speech, the
verb and the noun, present in Arabic, as in every other inﬁectional
language, the most complicated inﬂections and many characteristic
peculiarities. All verbal expressions are derived from tri-literal and
quadri-literal root-words or radicals, which, in their signiﬁcation, are

1 The most celebrated ancient poets of Arabia are Motanebbi, Abel Ola, and
Ibn el Faredh.
382 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
always in the third person singular, masculine, and of the preterite
tense. The verbs of the ﬁrst class are conjugated in thirteen different
forms, by which the action is not only qualiﬁed by various modifying
conditions and states of the agent, but the action itself is adverbially
affected by colour and its degree of intensity. It points out the nor-
mal and abnormal state of the agent or object, indicates increased
energy, and assumes a supplicating sense by the mere inﬂection of the
primitive rootwords.1
The Arabic verb has, properly speaking, but two tenses: the past
or preterite, and the indeﬁnite tense, which may be either present or
future. The compound tenses are formed by the addition of verbal
substantives,2 and the combination of two verbs to determine the
circumstance of time is not considered as forming a compound verb.
Nouns are either appellative, denoting the names of persons or
things, or adjective, denoting qualities.3 In nouns of action, the same
word indicates the place and time of action.‘1 Nouns of instruments
are derived from the operations which they perform, or the materials
which they contain.5 Nouns of unity apply to actions which occur
but once.6 Possessive nouns signify possession, relation, origin, and
quality.7
In Arabic there exists but one article, which is called notification,
because it renders deﬁnite the noun to which it is preﬁxed, which
would otherwise be general or indeterminate. The adverbs are but
few in number, but the deﬁciency is supplied by putting nouns in the
accusative or adverbially, and this applies to all nouns of action, and
active participles 3 and there is no noun, adjective, or verb which may
not form an adverb. The distinction of number, which may be sin-
gular, dual, or plural, as well as the distinction of gender—masculine,
feminine, or common—is indicated in nouns, adjectives, and verbs by
the change or addition of letters.
When a Bedouin dies, his wife, his daughters, and female relations
express their grief in loud cries of lamentation (welouloua), and these
are repeated until the strong current of their irrepressible feelings
becomes quieted. In token of their heartfelt sorrow, the sons as well
as the daughters of the deceased cut off the tresses of their hair—an
act of self-humiliation which serves as a sign of mourning among the

1 If a verb expresses yellow colour, by changing it to the eleventh form its sig-
niﬁcation is intensiﬁed to “very yellow .” A verb expressing deformity may, by
a change in its inﬂection, be made to express to have the face or mouth distorted,
or to be crooked. By the tenth form, “to pardon” may be changed into
“ begging for pardon 3 ” “to water,” to “ begging for water,” or “ to put up prayer
for rain.”
2 In the phrase, “he was writing,” was is the verb in the preterit tense, and
writing the verbal substantive.
3 “A man,” “ a garden,” are proper or appellative nouns; (The) little, (the)
white, are adjective nouns.
4,, (The time and place of the) Writing, (the time and place of) speaking, are
nouns of action.
5 Milk forms milkpail'; key is derived from the verb “to open.”
6 From the action of “rolling,” the action of “sending out ” is formed, signify-
ing the rolling and sending out but once.
7 (The) “heavenly,” from “heaven,” (the) “solar,” from the “sun.”
BEDOUIN ARABS. 383
Arabs. The burial takes place immediately after death, and the body
is consigned to the grave in silence without any ceremonies. The
grave is covered with a pile of stones, to indicate the spot to the
traveller. The Bedouins have no common cemeteries, but if their
camp is near the ruins of a village, the locality is generally and very
appropriately selected as a burial-ground
The religious opinions of the Bedouin Arabs are neither tinctured
by fanaticism nor perverted by intolerance; they are Mohamedans
much more in spirit than in form. They have much more faith in
the wise and merciful dispensation of a merciful God than the inter-
cession of the Prophet, or the mere compliance with heartless forma-
lities. The simplicity of their religious belief has never been tainted
.and corrupted by the cunning devices of priestcraft and the absurd
mummeries and senseless ceremonials of degrading superstition.
Imams and mollahs, the religious teachers of Islamism, are but ,rarely
found in their camps, unless introduced by some sheikh to educate
his children and instruct them in reading and writing. Only a few
of the tribes are regular in their daily prayers; but the greatest
number of Bedouins strictly observe the fast of Rhamadan, and dur-
ing this period they perform their devotions in a large square (mesdjed)
enclosed with walls of loose stones. Three things the Bedouins con-
sider as unclean: swine, whose ﬂesh, like all other Mohamedans,
they never eat, dead bodies, and blood.
On the feast of sacriﬁce on Mount Arafat (korban) each Arab
family commemorates the death of their adult relatives who have died
during the year by killing a camel for each deceased person ; and this
custom is so strictly observed that if there were but a single camel
bequeathed to the family, it would be sacriﬁced, or a substitute of
seven sheep would be offered in its place, and if there should be a
deﬁciency in one year it is supplied the following year. The day of
this festival is an occasion of great feasting and rejoicing among the
tribes.
The government of the Arabs, considered from a national point
of view, is loose and incoherent; it is founded upon the authority
which a father exercises in his family, and it is in the strictest sense
patriarchal. This form of government is the most primitive that
‘exists, and the Bedouins are the oldest nation in the world who
maintained their political organisation intact, without subversion and
revolutionary changes, from the remotest antiquity. Every head of a
family is, so to say, a prince; he administers the laws founded on
traditional customs, which are binding upon all; he summons the
family clan to arms to avenge an insult or to protect their rights ; his
counsel and advice are treated with respect and consideration. The
Bedouin is as free as nature has made him, being only restricted by
necessity which the existing social conditions impose upon him. The
civil institutions of the people possess an inherent cohesive force,
which binds together into tribal communities the independent family
chiefs, who acknowledge no other master but the God of the universe.
Having been developed during the primitive state of society, they
bear the impress of rude energy, and they are prompt and effective in
384. THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
their practical application. They are characterised by all the virtues
and purity of family life, and while they are the safeguard of indi-
vidual liberty, they sanction wise and salutary regulations dictated by
the severe mandate of uncompromising austerity, and the exa-ctions of
retributive justice, to guard the nation against the greater evils of social
anarchy. Every tribe, composed of a certain number of families, is
an independent community 3 it manages its own internal affairs, and is
not responsible to any central authority. Each man of the tribe-
voluntarily recognises the superior rank of a chief called sheikh,1 who-
is honoured for his experience, his wisdom, and his hospitality, and
is treated with much deference. But while he exercises considerable-
inﬂuence among his people, he does not possess any real authority 3
he cannot inﬂict the most triﬂing punishment; his advice may be
followed, but his orders receive no attention 3 he cannot execute an
act of power and exact obedience to his commands 3 and any attempt,
on his part, to control public affairs with a domineering spirit would
be met with derision and contempt. If a feud or quarrel arises
between two families of the same tribe, the chief may be called upon
to act as judge, or he may, of his own accord, make an attempt to
bring about a reconciliation 3 but if one of the parties be dissatisﬁed
with the decision or the proposed mode of settlement, the sheikh
cannot insist that his friendly suggestions should be carried out 3 and
to adjust the difficulty a war between all the kindred of the two-
families becomes inevitable, unless an actual conﬂict is averted by the‘-
persuasive arguments of the relatives of the hostile parties. The few
prerogatives the sheikhs enjoy involve responsibilities, and are, at the
same time, onerous and expensive. They hold the foremost position
in making an attack upon an enemy 3 but in all important warlike-
enterprises the command of the active forces devolves upon the ag'yci’,
who is the hereditary military chief. They conduct negotiations for
peace and war 3 but they can neither declare war nor conclude peace
without previously consulting the principal men of the tribe. ‘They
ﬁx the spot for a new encampment 3 but before they can break up the
camp, they must ask the opinion of their people concerning the:
security of the roads and the sufficiency of pasture and water in the
district which they propose to select as camping-ground. They have
the privilege of entertaining strangers of note, but it is expected that-
they would treat the guests in a more expensive and magniﬁcent style-
than any other man of the tribe. Their revenues are entirely restricted
within the limits of their own resources, in addition to the tribute
exacted from the Syrian villages and the emoluments derived from
the caravans of the Mecca pilgrims. They receive no contributions
from their people 3 but, on the contrary, they can only support their
title by extraordinary expenditures, and maintain their inﬂuence by
acts of liberality and by a constant display of public spirit. Their
tent is always open to the poor as well as the rich, and their table is
muniﬁcently provided for the reception of visitors and guests. The
poor apply to them for a share of their bounty, and friends consider

1 Sheikh means elder, a title truly patriarchal.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 38 5
themselves entitled to a portion of the presents which they receive.
If the sheikh dies, his son, his brother, or some other relative dis-
tinguished for valour and liberality, is chosen to be his successor.
But the title of sheikh is by no means hereditary, for any other man
who possesses eminent capacity for the position, and has rendered
himself conspicuous as a generous friend and muniﬁcent host, may be
selected to ﬁll the place left vacant by death, deposition, or resignation.
Though the Bedouins have no regular judicial tribunals that have
power to enforce their decrees, yet they have traditional forms, under
which justice is administered and their private conduct is regulated.
The judge of the customary law (lcaclz' cl ferda) is a functionary whose
oﬁice is hereditary 3 and although he may not know how to read and
write, his memory serves him as a faithful guide in conducting judicial
proceedings according to established customs and the ancient laws of
the nation. The kaclz's are men of great sagacity and almost unerring
judgment, and are distinguished for their impartiality, their love of
justice, and the acquired knowledge derived from the accumulated
experience of their ancestors, which is transmitted from father to son
in uninterrupted succession. When neither the sentence of the sheikh
nor the decision of umpires can bring the matter in litigation to an
amicable conclusion, the adversary may be cited before the ltaclz' to be
judged in conformity with well-known usages and authoritative pre-
cedents. Justice is dispensed in these courts upon an equitable basis,
without the delays and the chicanery of the law, and without the
cunning devices of attorneys; but the expense incurred in suits of
importance is considerable, and the judge is the sole beneﬁciary of
the judicial emoluments. If a horse or a mare is the object in dispute,
the keel/l is entitled to a young she-camel (beltra) for his services. If
a sum of money is involved in the claim of the contested case, the kaclz'
is allowed to charge twenty-ﬁve per cent. on the amount adjudicated
to the successful party, for the fees are never paid by the person who
loses the cause. As» corporeal punishment is entirely unknown among
the , Arabs, no sentence, decision, or judgment ever extends, in its
penal con-sequences, beyond a pecuniary ﬁne or the payment of money
value. Every offence has its ﬁne invariably ﬁxed by long-established
custom, and the majority of Bedouins are well acquainted with the
ordinary tariff of ﬁnes. This knowledge exercises a conservative inﬂu-
ence, and contributes much to prevent acts of violence to be committed
and to, preserve the peace and tranquillity of the tribe. Insulting
expressions, such as, “You are a slave 3” or, “You are a dog 3” or,
“You treat your guests ill;” or, “I know you well;” a blow, how-
ever slight, the inﬂiction of a wound from which only a single drop
of blood.ﬁows,—-are offences punishable by ﬁnes, the amount of which
is determined and ascertained.1
Among the Aeneze tribes, in cases of murder and manslaughter, or

1 The lcadi’s sentence resembles more the statement of an account than a judg
ment. It is sometimes to this effect: “Bokhyt called Djolan a dog; Djolan
returned the insult by a blow upon Bokhyt’s arm; then Bokhyt cut Djolan’s
shoulder with a knife. Bokhyt therefore owes to Djolan :---For the insulting
expression, one sheep; for wounding him in the shoulder, three camels. Djolan
2 B
386 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
any other cause which “has blood for its object,” where the party
charged with the crime denies the fact, and no witnesses are admis-
sible, or in civil matters which the kad'zl has been unable to determine,
an appeal is taken to the tribunal of a higher judicial functionary
called the 'mcbeshae. If the attempt of the judge to bring about an
adjustment acceptable to the contesting parties proves unavailing, he
has recourse to the ordeal, the result of which leads to a ﬁnal and
irreversible conclusion. The judge has a ﬁre kindled before him, in
which he holds a long iron spoon until its temperature is raised to a
red heat.1 He then withdraws it and licks the upper end of it on
both sides with his tongue. After having replaced it and held it in
the ﬁre until suﬁiciently heated, he commands the accused to wash his
mouth with water, and then requires him to lick the spoon as he had
done. If the tongue of the accused is burned by the hot iron the case
is decided against him, but if he escapes without injury he is pro-
nounced innocent 3 but the Arabs attribute this wonderful escape not
to God, the protector of virtue and innocence, but to Sheidan. For
instituting the ordeal the mebeshae receives a compensation equal in
value to forty piasters, or a she-camel two years old.
The rules of proceeding in the kadi’s court are simple and uniform.
The testimony of witnesses is heard, and their statements are weighed
and considered 3 but the evidence is not admissible if the opposite
party objects, unless the witnesses have been summoned in due form
by calling on all persons present when the transaction takes place and
exclaiming, “Bear thou witness, O . . .” (ashehed ya falan), or by
touching their arm with the hand. The kaclz' decides the case accord-
ing to the testimony, and pronounces his sentence immediately after
all the evidence bearing upon the controversy has been produced. If
there are no witnesses in the case, the isaclz' requires the defendant to
take a solemn oath, protesting that he is innocent of the charge of
which he stands accused, which is considered sufficient to entitle the
party to a verdict of acquittal. The plaintiff or claimant is never
permitted to take the oath, upon the principle, “ It is not proper that
one should swear and eat.” The various forms of oaths taken by the
Arabs are very simple, and still they are sufficiently solemn and
impressive. One which is often taken before the kadc' is called the
“oath of the wood.” A piece of wood or some straw is picked up
from the ground and presented to the person whose veracity is to be
tested with these words, “Take the wood (or straw) and swear by God
and the life of him who caused it to be green and dried it up.” On
more important occasions, when a Bedouin is accused of having com-
mitted a considerable theft, and there are no witnesses to prove the
fact, the complainant takes the accused before the sheikh or kadz' and
challenges him to swear in his defence any oath he may require of
him. If he assents to the proposal he is led to a secluded spot at

owes to Bokhyt :—-For a blow upon his arm, a camelfl Remains due to Djolan, two
camels and one sheep.” Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys,
vol. i. p. 123.
1 It is very probable that his tongue is coated with some substance that
prevents it from being burnt.
BEDOUIN ARABS. 387
some distance from the camp, that the magical nature of the oath may
not be productive of pernicious consequences to the tribe ; and there
the accuser draws a circle in the sand with his knife, marked with
several oblique lines crossing each other. He then places his right
foot within the circle and obliges the defendant to do the same, at
the same time addressing him in these words: “By God, in God and
through God, I swear I did not take it, and it is not in my posses-
sion.” To add solemnity to the oath a camel’s udder bag (shemle) and
an ant (cl ncmlc) are placed within the area of the magic circle, indi-
cating that the accused swears by the hope of never being deprived of
his camel’s udder, and of never having the misfortune to want even
the winter provision of an ant. To swear falsely by this oath would
be an indelible stain upon the character of an Arab, and would dis-
grace him through life. In domestic life a simple oath is sometimes
taken on touching with the hand the middle post of the tent, swearing
“by the life of the tent and its owner.”
The laws of inheritance prevalent among the Bedouins are similar
to the laws prescribed by the Koran on this subject. Male children
are the exclusive heirs of the father’s property, which is divided in
equal proportions. If any of the children are minors, the nearest rela-
tion becomes the guardian and administrator of the property. If their
father’s tent has been struck, he takes them into his own, provides for
them, and extends his protecting care over them. The oldest boy
assumes the management of the estate as soon as he arrives at the age
of discretion, which is generally the age of twelve; but before this
time he is measurably under the supervisory control of his natural
‘guardian.
AUTHORITIES .
Travels in Arabia. By John L. Burckhardt. 1829.
Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. By John L. Burckhardt. 18 31.
Nineveh and its Remains. By Austin H. Layard. 1853.
Journey in Arabia Petrea. Par Léon de Laborde. 1830.
Mesopotamia and Assyria. By James B. Fraser. 1840.
Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca. By Richard F, Burton. 185 5.
Meine Wallfahrt nach Mecca. Von H. v. Maltzen. 1865.
The Bedouins of the Euphrates. By Anne Blunt. 1879.
Eastern and Central Arabia. By William Gifford Palgrave. 186 5.
Arabic Grammar. By M. Stewart.
Reisen in Mesopotamia. Von J. Petermann.
Travels in Arabia. By Lieutenant J. B. Wellsted. 1838.
Voyage en Arabic, séjour dans le Hedjaz. Par l\laurice Tamisier. 1840.
388 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
WAHABEES.
THE Wahabees are unmixed genuine Arabs who received their name
from the founder of the religious sect whose peculiar tenets they: pro-
fess. The Wahabee dominions comprise, besides N ejed Proper, which
forms a part of Central Arabia, the provinces of Sedeyr, Woshem, Aared,
Yemanah, Hareek, Aﬂaj, and Dowasir. Aared, which is the native
country of Saood—the founder of the Wahabee dynasty—is the most
faithful of the Wahabee districts. The country is principally com-
posed of highlands, and the people are poor, but they have a‘ restless-
and warlike disposition. Yemanah is equally devoted, not‘ only to
the religious principles of the Wahabees, but also to the reigning
dynasty. In Hareek a difference of opinion exists among the people,
both in a religious and a political point of view. Aﬂaj is a barren
and wild tract of country, but the inhabitants are strict and even
fanatic sectarians. Still more fanatic are the,people of Wady Dow-
asir 3 they are wild and uncivilised, and much addicted to plunder
and pillage. Woshem is the most commercial of the N ejed provinces;
its people are quiet, peaceful, and unwarlike 3 they are' zealous in the
performance of their religious duties as true Wahabees. Sedeyr is
the largest district, and stands highest in point of civilisation. The
people are, so to say, the noblemen of N ejed; they are distinguished
for their physical development, in which they are superior to all their
neighbours, and they have besides the reputation of being generous,
courageous, perseveri-ng, patient, and enterprising. The greatest num-
ber of the inhabitants are true Wahabees, and are sincerely attached
to the tenets of their ‘sect. The Bedouins that roam about through
these districts are comparatively few in number, and though they
nominally recognise the supreme authority of the central government,
yet their ﬁdelity cannot be relied on under all circumstances, for they
are too sincere lovers of civil and religious independence. Kasseem,
which lies west of N ejed, and is separated from Shomar by Gebel
Solma, is a dependency of N ejed'by conquest, and‘ the majority of its
people profess orthodox Mohamedanism. Hassa and Kateef, which
are situated between the Persian Gulf and the coast range, are tribu-
tary dependencies of N ejed. The territorial outlines of N ejed are
almost triangular in shape. It is bounded on the east by Gebel
Touweyk, on the south‘ by Aﬂaj and Hareek, and on the west it is
separated from Kasseem by the Nefood or‘ Sandy Pass of Harb. It
is essentially a mountainous country, presenting a wide, ﬂat plateau,
which has the form of a crescent, with its broadest segment in the
province of Aared, its north-eastern horn in that of Sedeyr, while
wAHABEEs. 389
the extreme part of its southerly limb lies in VVoshem. Kasseem
and its lowlands lie in front of the crescent, with the intermin-
able valley of the Dowasir to the south-west, which forms its back-
ground and appendage. Its elevation may be estimated at about
three thousand feet above the level of the sea. The country subject
to the IVahabee power contains three hundred and sixteen towns and
villages, with an estimated population of one million two hundred
.and nineteen thousand souls, supplying a military force of forty-seven
thousand three hundred men. The Bedouin population of Central
Arabia does not exceed seventy-six thousand ﬁve hundred souls, who
furnish about eight thousand nomad warriors.
Riad, the capital of the N ejdean empire, is situated at the foot of a
gpebbly slope, in a wide and open valley. It is a large town of
quadrangular form surrounded by strong defensive walls crowned
with lofty towers. The houses are built of loam or stone, and are
provided with terraced roofs which are overtopped by the huge,
irregular pile of buildings that form the royal castle and the more
recently-constructed palace. To the west and to the south the plain
presents a large extent of green cultivated ﬁelds and wellswatered
gardens, interspersed here and there with groves of date-palms. On
the opposite side southward the valley opens into the vast and fertile
plains of Yemanah, and behind them stretches along the Dahna or
.the immeasurable desert‘: of the south. On the west the valley
‘contracts in its upward winding, while in the south-west low mounts
divide Aﬂaj from WVady Dowasir. It connects eastward, through
undulating and broken ground, with the long valley of \Vady Soley.
Due east the farthest heights of Touweyk shut out from view the low
ground of Hassa and the shores of the Persian Gulf. The landscape,
though wild, is rich and beautiful, and presents the most charming
view to the eye, and excites feelings of the grand and the sublime in
the mind of the admirer of nature.
The physical characteristics of the Wahabees are similar to those of
‘the sedentary Arabs of the Hedjaz and of Southern Arabia, with an
‘occasional intermixture of negro blood. The population is said to be
divided between the Ishmaelitic and the J ocktanic stock of Arabs, a
division which is purely imaginary 3 for if it really has any historical
foundation, which is extremely doubtful, the period of forty centuries
would have long since wiped away all distinctive differences 3 and if
‘any distinct traits of physical characteristics exist at all among the
genuine Arab population, it is due to the difference in their mode of
life, and to the peculiar circumstances of the locality which they have
occupied from time immemorial.
The moral character of the VVahabees does not differ in the main
from the Arab character in general. They have a strong love and a
high appreciation of national liberty and independence. They are
patient to endure, slow in preparing the means of action, cool in the
execution of their designs, tenacious in their purposes, and persevering
in adapting the means to the end. They are self-conscious of superiority,
and know how to make it felt when placed face to face with an adver-
sary. They are highly patriotic, are not only attached to their
390 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
ancestral usages, but to their country and their nation. Althouglr
they but illy brook foreign rule, and look upon personal freedom as
the greatest boon, yet they respect legal authority, provided it be
reasonable and well exercised. In their mode of life they are sober
to austerity, and are wholly averse to luxury and display. Their-
courage in war never fails them, and they are distinguished for the
most unﬂagging vigour and energy in the pursuits of peace. On
the other hand, while they are free from petty vices, they regard
every stranger with suspicion, if they do not treat him as an enemy 3
and though hospitable among themselves, yet they watch foreign
visitors with a jealous eye, and often force them even to leave their
dominions. Many of the Wahabees of the poorer districts are much
addicted to robbery and plunder to enrich themselves at the expense-
of the more fortunate portion of mankind. In Hassa the people are-
kindlier and more generous towards strangers, they are pleasant and
amiable in their intercourse and are little disposed to exclusiveness
and asperity.
The houses of the Wahabees, which are solid and capacious, are-
generally constructed of stone or of loam, or in part of both together.
They are almost always built in a spacious courtyard surrounded by
high walls. The two rooms on the ground ﬂoor, as well as the
7rhawah or reception-room, are of good size, and are mostly oblong in
outline. Three or four small rooms are exclusively reserved to the-
women. The ﬂat terraced roof of timber is reached by ascending a.
badly-lighted winding staircase of irregular steps. The terrace is
divided into two compartments by a partition wall, and is surrounded
by a parapet six feet high. The doors are of massive wood sometimes-
neatly carved, and there are several small windows close under the
roof for the admission of light and ventilation. Sometimes the apart-
ments are built round a square courtyard, one side of which is occupied
by the stable. The interior is either whitewashed or is rudely
decorated by some coloured devices. The ﬂoor of the khawah is
strewed with clean white sand, and is covered along the walls with
strips of carpet or felt, upon which cushions are disposed at regular
intervals for the accommodation of visitors. The room is provided
with an open ﬁreplace bordered by a raised stone with andirons upon
which the fuel is placed. On the broad end of the ﬁreplace stands a
range of copper coffee-pots of various forms and sizes, ornamented
with mouldings in elegant relief, with beak-shaped spouts and steeple~
like covers. The place of honour of the host is in the corner, and in
wealthy houses a slave is always in attendance whose business it is to
pour out the coffee and wait on the visitors. The peasant houses are
mostly very insigniﬁcant, for they are simply mud hovels or palm-leaf
sheds.
The ordinary costume of the Wahabees is very simple, and resembles
that of the Bedouins. They generally wear, for their everyday dress,
a number of ample skirt-like garments, varying from two to three,
which are mostly of white cotton stuff. The better classes throw
over their shoulders a woollen mantle of a black colour. Their feet
are protected by leather sandals or coarse brown yellow shoes, and
WAHABEES. 39 I
their head is covered by a keﬁé or the square handkerchief of the
Arab. In Hassa they frequently dress in a more elegant style. Their
body-dress is a close-ﬁtting, saffron-dyed, embroidered silk vest,
imported from Oman. Over this is worn a light red cloak of broad-
cloth. Their head is entwined by a white or coloured turban, while
their feet are partly covered by elegantshaped sandals of shining red
leather. Sometimes a silver-hilted crooked dagger is stuck in their
girdle.
The staple articles of diet among the Wahabees are rice and boiled
mutton, which are served up together in a large dish. Dates form an
important article of food; hard-boiled eggs and bread, in the form
of leavened or unleavened cakes, with hashed gourds and cucumbers
as a relish, frequently make a part of the regular meal. Like all the
Arabs, they are seated round the dishes and eat with their ﬁngers;
but they always wash their hands before and after the meal. Their
only beverage is coffee, in which they indulge frequently, though in
extremely small quantities at a time. To prepare it properly it is
but half-roasted, is coarsely pounded in a mortar, and is but slowly
boiled so as to retain all its aromatic properties. Sometimes it is
spiced with saffron or some other aromatic ingredient. On sitting
down all who partake of the repast say the usual bism'illah or blessing,
and at the close of the meal they repeat, .E'Z hamdu Z’ HZah (“ Thanks
to God ”), adding a well-turned compliment addressed to the host as a
mark of politeness.
The chief occupation of the Wahabees is agriculture and the breeding
of domestic animals. Every chief of a family is owner of a piece of
land, however small, from whence he draws his principal means of
subsistence. Their mode of cultivation is quite judicious and practical
in its application, and quite favourable in results. The soil being light
though sufﬁciently productive, and the climate being very mild, the
tillage of the land is by no means laborious, and a plough of inferior
construction, drawn by bullocks or asses, is the principal agricultural
implement necessary to realise a plentiful return for the quantity of
grain conﬁded to the ground. A rough hurdle answers the purpose
of a harrow, and a large shovel, which is often of wood, is used as a
spade. As the rainfall is irregular, irrigation is everywhere an indis-
pensable agency for the growth and the maturity of the crops. It is
effected by means of buckets which are operated by pulleys ; and the
supply of water is furnished from wells which are dug at convenient
distances from the patch of ground under cultivation. The principal
cereals cultivated are maize, sorghum, and in some parts even wheat.
Of vegetables, melons, radishes, cucumbers, gourds, onions, garlic,
beans, vetches, and other nutritive plants are produced in sufficient
quantities for home consumption. But the cultivation of the date-
palm receives everywhere the most assiduous attention. The fruit
ripens in the middle of August and the ﬁrst of September, and in the
fresh state it is most luscious and pleasant. Date-trees are the main
source of wealth of the landed proprietor, and they frequently
constitute the principal available resource for the maintenance of the
poorer classes of the peasantry. The ﬁnest date plantations are found
392 THE ARAMi/EAN STOCK.
a... .
»~»_._.“1.~--.,..._ ~ ,m .i . _
‘r ""‘V - ~ ' “"4"” ‘M5-:-~.<1.~.-_'..;_. aw“. ,.-~. -__ ,___
» ~‘~I'¢\v A,’
in Kasseem, but more especially in Hassa. The nebek (Rhamnus
lotus) reaches the dimensions of a stately tree in Hassa, while in N ejed
it is only a shrub. Cotton is grown to a limited extent in Kasseem, in
Yemanah, and Hassa. Indigo and sugar-cane are produced on a small
scale in Hassa, where rice ﬁelds are very common and very productive.
The rearing of domestic animals is a favourite pursuit of the
Wahabees. Horned cattle are abundant, and are of the zebu or hump-
backed kind. They are generally small-limbed and of a dun colour.
The breed of ﬂattailed sheep of N ejed is of superior quality, and they
have a reputation for their well-savoured meat even beyond the bound-
aries of Arabia. Their wool is very ﬁne and almost equals that of
Cashmere in softness and delicacy. Camels are most abundant 3 they
are generally of a white or grey colour, have very ﬁne hair, but are not
of the largest size. Dromedaries, which are frequently met with, are
not of the two-humped kind, but are simply high-bred animals more
elegantly shaped and ﬁner-haired than the ordinary camel, which they
excel in lightness of step and in an easy pace, and they are also more
capable of enduring thirst. Nor are the Nejdean horses less famous
than their sheep, for the breed is only inferior to the genuine Arabian
horse. They are somewhat of a low stature, hardly reaching fourteen
hands in height, but they are exquisitely well—shaped, full in the
haunches, with a most elegant slope of the shoulder. They are but
little Saddlebacked, with just enough curve to indicate springiness
without weakness. The head is broad above, and is tapering down to
a ﬁne nose. Their fore and hind legs are clean and well twisted with
sinew, with a clean round hoof. Their coat is shining and is mostly
of a grey or chestnut colour. Bay, iron-grey, white or black, are much
more rare.
Hunting is rarely followed as a pursuit by the Wahabees, though
game is quite plentiful throughout Nejed. Partridges, quails, pigeons,
and kattas are abundant everywhere. Gazelles are very numerous,
and wild boars and pigs are frequently met with in the mountains.
Commercial pursuits are not much favoured among the Wahabees,
although in the coast districts and the villages situated on the cara-
van route many people are engaged in proﬁtable trade. Ordinarily
barter is the only mode of traﬂic, especially in the interior villages.
The principal trade of N ejed is conﬁned to provisions and sheep.
Dates are exported in large quantities from some of the provinces.
Riad is a commercial centre of the I'Vahabee territory 3 but the active
part of the business pursuit is abandoned to merchants from Hassa,
Kateef, Oman, Wady N ejran, and Yemen. N 0 national coin exists
among the \Vahabees, though in the coast districts, and in Riad and
other places, Spanish reals and English sovereigns are accepted as
current money. In some provinces an old debased silver coin of the
size of a sixpence, of Egyptian origin, called djedeeclah, is in circula-
tion for small change. The smallest current coin in Nejed are small
pieces of copper known as khordah, that may be either square, round,
triangular, and even polygonal, which are the product of the Basrah
mint, coined two or three hundred years ago. Thirty khordcrh are
valued as the equivalent of one cijedeedah. The toweelah, which is the
WAHABEES. 393 '
able importance.
local coinage of Hassa, is a small copper bar, about an inch long, split
at one end, and is marked with Cuﬁc characters, indicating its Carma-
thian origin. Six toweelah are equal to one cljedeedah. The Persian
toman and the Anglo-Indian rupee, ama, and pica are also universally
accepted as legal currency. '
Industrial pursuits, such as the working of metals, weaving, leather-
work, and making pottery, are only followed in the larger towns on a
very limited scale. In Hassa manufacturing industry is of consider-
The cloaks made there, adorned as they are with
embroidery, are of the most elegant patterns, and are marked by great
delicacy of tissue, which is at once strong to the wear and beautiful
to the eye. Its borders are of gold and silver thread tastefully inter-
mixed with the gayest colours. The I-Iassa artisans also excel in
ornamental work of the precious metals. Their decorative devices of
sword-hilts, powder-ﬂasks, and daggers bear a just comparison with
the best articles of Oriental workmanship, and their coffee-pots of brass
and copper combine elegance with utility.
The language spoken in Nejed and other Wahabee provinces is the
pure and unchanged dialect of the Koran. Some depravations have,
however, crept in, more of a local than a general character 3 such as
the affected use of diminutives, the narrowing of the satiatecl vowels ,'
and the common people are commonly less exact in expressing the
vocal inﬂections denoting diversity of case.1
Certain rules of politeness and etiquette are not uncommon among
the Wahabees. When a visitor passes the threshold of the house
with his riding-stick in his hand, he says Bzlsm‘z'llah (“ In the name
of God”), then advances in silence, and when he reaches half-way
across the room, he greets those present, but more especially the
master of the house, with the usual Es salamu’ aleylroom (“Peace
with you”); to which a strict Wahabee will reply, IV’ ’aleykoom-s-
.salamu 'w’ rhamat’ Ullahz' w’ baralratuh (“And with you be peace and
the mercy of God and his blessing”). All present rise and salute the
guest in the same way. The visitor and the host then mutually
approach each other, and the former places his open hand into the
pal-m of the latter without, however, grasping or shaking it. Some
polite expressions are then exchanged, and mutual inquiries after
health are made. After a little contest of courtesy the guest takes the
seat of honour near the ﬁreplace, having previously made ‘an apologe-
tical Salutation to a black slave on the one side and to his nearest
neighbour on the other.
The Wahabee women do not live in absolute seclusion or retire-
ment, and yet they never take their meals with the male members of
the family, nor do they join in their social gatherings, and much less
do they thrust themselves forward to welcome guests or strangers and
enter into conversation with them. If the guest is, however, an inti-
mate friend of the family, the female portion of the household are by
no means precluded to take part in the chat in which they may ﬁnd
themselves interested. Amongithe higher classes women cover their
1 For language, see supra, p. 381.
“ “"Wuv-gnm
394 THE ARAMJEAN sTooK.
faces with a veil, and live in separate apartments in harem fashion.
Polygamy is tolerated among the Wahabees, and, like the rest of the-
Mohamedans, they are restricted to four legitimate wives; but they
are at liberty to marry an indeﬁnite number of concubines. In prac~
tice, however, monogamy is the rule and polygamy the exception.
The Wahabees, like other Mussulmans, dispose of their dead by
burial. The body of the deceased is wrapped in a white shroud, and
is deposited coffinless in the grave with his face turned towards the
Kaaba. Appropriate prayers read over the dead give solemnity to the-
funeral service.
Slavery exists among the Wahabees, but the slaves are invariably-
African negroes, who are happy and contented, though they enjoy
neither political nor civil rights. In Southern N ej ed negro slaves are
frequently emancipated, and are allowed to intermarry with the poorer-
classes of Arabs 3 and men of a mixed breed are by no means very
uncommon.
The government of the \Vahabees is a centralised despotism, compact
in its parts and efficiently organised in all its details. The ruling
monarch exercises absolute authority over his subjects, which is only-
restricted by the nature of the circumstances and the prescriptions
of the Koran. The founder of the monarchy was Ibn Saood, who‘
adopted the doctrines of the religious reformer Abd el VVahab, and,.
having married his daughter, he became the most zealous defender of
the new creed. Ibn Saood was the most remarkable man modern
Arabia has produced. He followed the example of Mohamed, and
wherever the new doctrines were not accepted after three successive-
warnings, and compliance was refused after the last summons Was-
made, he ordered his troops to attack the irreclaimable heretics, and
allowed his soldiers to kill and pillage at pleasure. Jews and Christians-
were left unmolested, but they were required to pay the ordinary
. tribute for the privilege of freely practising their religious ceremonies.
A great portion of Arabia was made tributary to the Wahabee chief,
JAMCM
; and the nomadic tribes, as well as the sedentary Arabs who were-
ranged under his banner, enjoyed the most perfect peace and tran--
55 quillity 3 the roads were secure and the people were free from every
kind of oppression, except that of religious conformity, which was
forced upon all. In return for this protection on the part of the-
' central authority, an annual tribute was exacted which was regarded
in the light of an obligation due to the chief on the part of his
followers. The Wahabee power had a tendency to unite the people--
of Arabia into a large and powerful confederation, and as Turkey
claims supremacy over the whole country, Mehemed Ali, pasha of '
Egypt, prompted by his own ambitious designs, was permitted to wage
a war of extermination against the Wahabee sectarians. He drove-
the hero-conqueror out of his newly-acquired territory, and compelled
him to take refuge in his native mountains, where his successors still
maintain their independence. WVhile the government is tyrannical in’.
its form, exercising absolute control over the people, not only in a
political but in a religious point of view, it affords protection to the
, traveller against Bedouin plunderers, and the settled population is no-
WAHABEES. 395
longer exposed to the predatory excursions of wandering Arabs.
Local chiefs can no longer trample on the rights of their subjects, and
no village community is now allowed to plunder the gardens or cut
down the fruit-trees of a neighbouring hamlet. The government is,
however, very exacting and oppressive, and makes itself pay dearly for
its protecting care.
Justice is administered in regular courts by judges or kaclz's appointed
by the sovereign, who are assisted in trying cases of importance by
two or three of the most respectable inhabitants of the community.
In criminal cases of much gravity witnesses are summoned and sworn,
and the trial frequently lasts several days. The accused pleads his
own cause, and he has a right to answer the plaintiff, who also appears
in person. After the sentence is passed an appeal may be taken to a
higher tribunal up to that of the monarch himself. In capital crimes,
after the ﬁnal sentence has been conﬁrmed, execution is deferred for
twenty-four hours, and is even sometimes prorogued for weeks or
months ; and it often happens that in the meantime a free pardon is
obtained, or the legal penalty is mitigated. By the police regulations
established in Riad all ﬁres have to be extinguished after sunset, street-
walking is rigorously prohibited, and in the daytime not even a child
is allowed to play by the roadside.
The revenues of the Wahabee monarch are extravagant when com-
pared with his expenditures, for he is the proprietor of numerous ﬁelds
and plantations which are cultivated for his beneﬁt. The tribute
collected in the nine dependent provinces amounts to no less than one
hundred and seven thousand pounds sterling. He also levies extra-
ordinary contributions, is the beneﬁciary of the ﬁnes imposed, receives
occasional presents, and derives an income from the spoils of war, all
of which supply him with an additional revenue of from ﬁfty to sixty
thousand pounds.
N o standing army is entertained by the Wahabee chief, but his
people are naturally a warlike race, and the number of soldiers that
can be called into active service is estimated at seventy-six thousand
ﬁve hundred men, in addition to eight thousand warriors supplied by
the Bedouins in time of emergency. War is carried on by the N ejdean
monarch in a methodical way. The WVahabees look upon Mohamedans
who have not accepted their doctrines as inﬁdels that may be pillaged
and plundered at pleasure. Their predatory excursions are directed
against the wealthy coast traders of Hassa and Oman, and they even
make inroads into the Hedjaz to bring back rich spoils from the most
populous and wealthiest portion of Arabia. They are generally armed
with muskets, but in the poorer provinces their arms are restricted to
swords, daggers, and spears.
The Wahabeesl are Mohamedans ; their profession of faith is La

1 Mohamed-ebn-Abd-el VVahhab, founder of the sect named after him, Wahabees,
was born in Horey-melah somewhat before the middle of the last century. Like
many Nejdeans of the better sort, he began life as a travelling merchant, and his
ﬁrst excursions were in the direction of Basrah and Bagdad. Commerce ultimately
led him to Damascus, where he fell in with some of the learned and very bigoted
sheikhs of the town, who were opposed, like himself, to the prevailing laxities of
396 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
an?“ :
Ecih z'ZZa Allcih (“There is no God but God”)3 and they trace back
their religious doctrines and practices directly to the Koran, which
they alone recognise as authority to guide them, without regard to the
traditions or later innovations. They admit the divine mission of
Mohamed as a prophet of God, and hold him in high honour 3 but
they do not approve of the superstitious veneration which is paid to
him by Mussulmans, who consider it a great merit to make a pilgrimage
to his tomb. They hold that the invocation of saints, and praying by
counting the beads of the rosary, are not authorised by divine law,‘
and they reject these idolatrous observances. They enjoin it as a duty
upon the faithful to visit the Kaaba at Mecca, and especially to offer
the annual sacriﬁce on Mount Arafat 3 but they condemn the practice
of making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Mohamed at Medina, or to the
shrines of patron saints. They perform their daily prayers at stated
times 3 but they do not consider it an imperious duty to make the
ablutions with water. When entering the djamz'a or musalla (mosque)
they are indiﬂ’erent about taking off their shoes or sandals, and they
frequently say their prayers with their feet shed in the ordinary
manner, for they say, “Our ground is pure.” Their summons to
prayer (adam) is only made twice instead of four times, which is in
strict accordance with early traditions. They offer up no prayers on
Friday in behalf of the kaliph or Turkish sultan, but substitute a
prayer for their own sultan in its place. They dress in the most
simple manner, and do not permit their followers to wear silk garments
or silver or gold ornaments. They abstain from smoking, because it
stupeﬁes and intoxicates, and strictly prohibit games of every kind.
They are opposed to music, singing, and dancing, all these being
stepping-stones to luxury, self-indulgence, and idleness. In their
social relations they live together on terms of the most perfect
equality 3 the greatest among them is but a servant, and it is a prin-
ciple universally recognised, that no superior respect is due to any one
but God, before whom all mortals are equal.
The Wahabee creed is comprised in the following articles of their
catechism—I. My Lord is God, through whose favour I have been
bred up; him I adore, and adore none but him. 2. I know the
Lord by the signs of his omnipotence and the creation. 3. God
created me to adore him. 4. God commands the Unity, which means
to adore him exclusively and solely 3 and what he above all prohibits,
is the association with him, or the adoring of any other God besides
himself. 5. I evince this adoration, by which I am to worship him,
by the Islam, by faith and alms, by prayers, vows, sacriﬁces, by
resignation, fear, hope, love, respect, humility, timidity, and by
imploring his aid and protection. 6. Islam is a submission to the
Almighty. 7. There are three principal duties of our religion: Islam,
faith, and good works. 8. Islam has ﬁve parts, viz. : the profession
that there is no God but God, and Mohamed is his prophet; the

the Nakshbundees or northern freethinkers, and the superstitious practices of the
dervishes and others. He now learned to distinguish clearly between the essential
elements of Islam and its accidental and recent admixtures. See Palgrave’s
Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. i. p. 363.
WAHABEES. . 397
performance of the prescribed prayers; the distribution of alms; the
observance of the fast of Rhamadan 3 and the pilgrimage to the holy
house of God. Our duty is to obey the commands of the Prophet, to
believe what he related, to renounce what he forbade; and it is by
following his precepts that we evince our devotion to God, and we
join God and Mohamed to show our piety and perfect obedience.
Faith comprises seventy-nine ramiﬁcations. It is divided into six
parts. These are to believe in God and his angels, and the revealed
books and his prophets, and the last day, and the omnipotence of God,
from whom all good and evil proceed. 10. The duties of good works
are comprised within a single precept, which is: “Adore God as if
thou didst see him 3 and if thou canst not see him, know that he sees
thee.” II. The third foundation of knowledge is the knowledge of
our Prophet Mohamed—may God’s mercy and peace be with him—who
is a delegate whom we dare not adore, and a prophet whom we dare
not belie, but we must obey and follow him 3 for it has been ordained
to spirits and to mortals to be his followers. He is a mortal; he is
sent to the whole race, and no other religion but his can be accepted.
N o prophet comes after him, for after him comes the last day.1
AUTHORITIES.
Narrative of a Year’s Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia
(1862-1863). By William Gifford Palgrave. 1865.
Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabees. By John Lewis Burckhardt.
1831a _
Voyages d’Ali Bey El Abbassi en Afrique et en Asie. 1814.

1 This catechism, which is found in Burckhardt’s “ Wahabys,” has been much
abridged, yet it contains all the essential points, but in the original each tenet is
supported by an appropriate passage of the Koran. See Burckhardt’s Notes on
the Bedouins and Wahabys, vol. ii. p. 363.
398 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ.
THE western portion of Arabia is bounded by the Red Sea, and is
intersected by mountain ridges formed of granite, gneiss, feldspath,
and crystalline limestone. The land is fertile and productive, and the
climateris mild and salubrious. The Hedjaz and Yemen form two
distinct territorial divisions along the coast line, and they are princi-
pally occupied by sedentary Arabs who cultivate the soil or are engaged
in mercantile or mechanical pursuits. There are Bedouin‘ tribes
scattered here and there of a pure and unmixed stock, but they are
not strictly and exclusively nomadic in their habits, for they are, in a
partial sense at least, tillers of the ground. The ﬁelds yield abundant
crops of wheat and barley, maize and dhoara. The apricot, the peach,
the ﬁg, the almond, the pomegranate, the apple, and the grape-vine
produce a great variety of the most delicious fruits. In certain spots
the date-palm is cultivated, and affords to the inhabitants not only a
supply of nourishing food but an article of commerce of great value.
Coffee, which brings the highest market price, and is considered the best
in the world, is the staple product of the mountain-slopes. The ‘coffee
trees when in bloom exhale the most delicious odour. They are
planted upon terraces, and stand so close together that they form
shady groves, where the rays of the sun can hardly penetrate beneath
the intertwining branches. Lemons, oranges, bananas, mangosteens,
and the Indian ﬁg ﬂourish here to perfection. Acacias, with their
yellow clusters of ﬂowers, and the henna shrub, whose pulverised
leaves and ﬂower-buds form a cosmetic, are of indigenous growth.
The beautiful red blossoms of the mimosa are woven into garlands
with which the women crown their heads for festival occasions. The
juicy pulp of the tamarind supplies a refreshing beverage. The celatha
shrub bears a berry which is distilled into brandy. The gardens are
planted with lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, onions, pumpkins, and
melons. ‘
The most important instrument of agriculture used by the people
of Western Arabia is the plough. It is simple in its construction, is
drawn by oxen which do not walk in straight lines to trace regular
furrows, but the plough is dragged in every direction until the ground
is broken up and pulverised. The ﬁelds are fertilised by irrigation,
the water being supplied from reservoirs or dyked dams, or it is drawn
from the wells by means of leathern buckets suspended over a pulley
from one end of an iron chain, while to the other end a cow is hitched,
which, in advancing, lifts the ﬁlled bucket from the well. The water
is collected in a reservoir of clay or masonry, from which it is distri-
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJ AZ. 399
buted through ditches to the square beds into which each ﬁeld is
divided.
The houses in the agricultural districts are frequently scattered over
the ﬁelds, three or four being clustered together. They are built of
stone cemented with mud, divided off into several rooms or apartments,
and are clean and neatly kept. Their furniture, which is of true
Bedouin style, simply comprises a good carpet, woollen and leathern
sacks, wooden bowls, earthen vessels, and a matchlock which is highly
valued and is’ kept in a leather case to protect it from injury. A
large and well-tanned cowskin is used as substitute for a bed, and
small sheepskins sewn together serve as covering. The huts of the
poor are small and insigniﬁcant, and their ﬂoors are spread with straw
mats which answer the purpose of seat, table, and bed.
There are numerous towns and villages in the Hedjaz, as well as in
Yemen, mostly inhabited by indigenous Arabs. Some of the smaller
towns near the mountains are celebrated for their beautiful gardens,
watered by wells and rivulets, where the people seek enjoyment on festive
occasions, and to which the wealthy resort as favourite summer retreats.
The most celebrated and most populous city of all Arabia is Mecca,
which bears the same relation to the Mohamedans as Jerusalem does
to the Jews and the Christians. It constitutes a principality of its
own, which in former times exercised independent power and enjoyed
much consideration. Its political as well as its religious importance
is clearly indicated by the title of honour it bears. It is styled‘ the
“Mother of Towns ” (Om eZ Kora), “the Noble,” the “ Region of the
Faithful.” It was the birthplace of; Mohamed 3 it was here where he
ﬁrst started out on his mission as a religious teacher 3 it was here
where he was persecuted by his enemies and driven away from his
native home, and it was here where he was proclaimed the triumphant
conqueror and the prophet of God.
Mecca is situated in a sandy and narrow valley enclosed by low
mountain ridges, composed of naked rocks entirely destitute of trees.
It is a town of considerable size, with a native population exceeding
twenty-ﬁve thousand souls. Its streets are broad and regular; it is
well built up; its houses are constructed of stone, and many of them
are three stories high, provided with numerous front windows, the
framework of which is elaborately carved and neatly painted. The
sunlight is excluded by means of blinds made of reeds, leaving narrow
open spaces for the admission of fresh air. Every private dwelling
has its sloping terraced roof surrounded by parapet walls, where the
women, perfectly screened from the scrutinising eye of vulgar curiosity,
perform many of their domestic labours. -
The inhabitants of Mecca are a mixed race 3 they are, in great part
at least, the descendants of pilgrims from every part of the Moha-
medan world, who considered it a meritorious act to pass their life in
the holy city 3 or of merchants and tradesmen who, impelled by inte-
rest and the lust of gain, settled here to enrich themselves by the
successful pursuit of a proﬁtable traﬂic. Although their forefathers
came from Yemen, Hadramaut, Hindostan, Egypt, Syria, North
Africa, and Turkey, as well as from Persia, Tartary, Bokhara, Koord-
W‘; .-.i.».» _.__
400 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
istan, and Afghanistan, yet, as they all adopted Arabian manners, they
became homogeneous in character, and they can no longer be distin-
guished from the indigenous Arabians.
The complexion of the Meccawies is of a yellowish sickly brown,
and whenever men of some shades darker are met with, it is to- be
ascribed to the colour of the mother, who is sometimes a Gallas slave.
The lower classes of the population have generally stout and muscular
limbs, while the more aristocratic Meccawies are distinguished" by
slender and wiry forms, and are never oppressed by excessive .corpu-
lency. All the native male inhabitants of Mecca, as well as those of
the neighbouring seaport of Djidda, are tattooed with a distinctive
mark by which they are recognised from every other class of people,
the operation being performed by the parents as soon as the boy
reaches the age of forty days. This badge of origin is more honour-
able than ornamental. Three long cuts running down both cheeks,
and two similar gashes in the right temple, leave permanent ineﬂ'ace-
able scars that remain through life. The shereefs, who are the direct
descendants of the Prophet, were once the absolute rulers of the
district, and they are still the chief dignitaries of the town, are highly
honoured, and are treated with much consideration. They are men
of ﬁne countenances, with regular and expressive features, and, like
the Bedouins, they are of pure, unmixed Arabic blood.
In their dress the Meccawies rather conform to the Turkish than
the Arabic fashion. The higher classes wear not only an under-coat
(djubbe), but an outer robe (blemish) of ﬁne cloth, or of silk stuff of
Indian manufacture, in addition to a grey-coloured silk robe tied
round the waist with a thin cashmere sash. As head-dress they wear
a red fez, or a linen cap embroidered with silk and ornamented with
passages from the Koran embossed in large characters and gracefully
entwined with a white muslin turban. To complete this gaudy and
stylish attire their feet are encased in yellow slippers. The middle
classes are ordinarily well but not extravagantly dressed. Their short
and sleeveless vests (bedm) are generally of white Indian muslin.
Over this a cloak of- light cloth or silk is worn, which is thrown over
1 the shoulders when the weather becomes hot and oppressive. Their
under-garment is a shirt of Indian silk, or Egyptian linen of as ﬁne a
quality as the means of the wearer will allow. The lower classes are
contented during the summer with a simple shirt and a piece of yellow
nankin or striped linen wrapped round their loins, to which, as a pro-
tection against cold, an over-cloak (beden) of striped Indian calico is
added, which hangs loosely round the body without being fastened by
a belt. Instead of shoes, sandals are in general use among the lower
and middle classes.
The ladies of fashion are more simply, but no less elegantly, clad
than the men. They are attired in ample blue-striped trousers reach-
ing to the ankle, and richly embroidered below with silver thread.
Over these they wear a black silk gown (habm), or a silk meZZay/e
striped blue and white. Their face is concealed by a white or light
blue veil (borko), while their head-dress is composed of a fez or a
linen cap, around which a narrow strip of coloured muslin is tightly
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 401
twisted in folds adorned with a string of gold sequins. Gold neck-
laces and bracelets, as well as silver anklets, are highly prized as orna-
mental adjuncts of the toilet. The poorer women are restricted, by
their limited means, to the two chief articles of dress, large trousers
and a blue Egyptian shirt 3 and if their social condition admits of
such an extravagant outlay, their wrists are encircled with bracelets
of horn, glass, or amber.
One of the cardinal virtues of the Meccawies is cleanliness 3 they
are proud of their external appearance, and the rich change their dress
every day. On public festivals all classes vie with each other to make
a display of dress of the most costly materials and the gayest colours,
and those that are not able to purchase a new suit hire one from the
dealers suitable for the occasion, which is returned after the lapse of a
few days, when every one again assumes his ordinary station in life.
The Meccawies take but two meals a day. These engaged in daily
labour breakfast early in the morning and dine at sunset, but men of
wealth and leisure have a repast spread for them before mid-day, while
the principal meal is served up early in the evening. Their table is
abundantly provided with substantial food, and even the poorer classes
eat meat daily, although it is an expensive article of diet. The coffee
is constantly kept hot over the ﬁre, ready to be poured out to any one
who desires to be served.
Men, women, and children all indulge in the luxury of smoking
the Persian pipe (narglm'lé), inhaling the tobacco fumes through a long
and ﬂexible stem after they have passed through a cistern ﬁlled with
water connected with the apparatus, which is frequently adorned with
silver and elaborately ﬁnished. The sitting-room and harem are
luxuriantly furnished with the ﬁnest carpets, and elegant sofas and
divans covered with costly brocade. The various apartments are
embellished with beautiful china vases and cups and other orna-
mental and useful articles _
All the inhabitants of Mecca are more or less engaged in commercial
pursuits. Even men of wealth and learned ulcmas as well as the
subordinate ofﬁcials connected with the service of the mosques, who
have regular salaries, frequently engage in private business affairs of
importance. The rich merchants who monopolise the export and
import trade sell only to dealers in large quantities, while Hindoo
brokers act as intermediary agents who strike bargains with customers
and regulate the prices of the market. The pilgrims who come
to Mecca provided with abundant pecuniary means are made the
victims of a system of cheating universally prevalent among the
mercantile community. They are imposed upon by extravagant
charges, undue exactions, and a crowd of abject, clamorous mendicants
who infest every thoroughfare and every public place in the city.
The Mecca guides (dclg/l) are also a numerous class 3 they are impor-
tunate in offering their service, and frequently take advantage of the
liberality and ignorance of strangers. They sometimes serve as
vicarious husbands to widows who come to Mecca for pious purposes,
for no woman is permitted to perform the pilgrimage without being
accompanied by her husband or some near relative.
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402 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
To enter into the state of matrimony in Mecca a considerable
amount of cash is required, which varies among the respectable classes
from eight to sixty pounds sterling where a virgin is the object of the
engagement, while poor girls can be bought for two or four pounds;
half of the sum being paid to the girl’s father, and the other half is
retained by the husband and paid over to the wife in case of divorce.
After the marriage settlement is agreed upon the money is conveyed
to the house of the girl’s father in solemn procession 3 it is wrapped
up in silk handkerchiefs, and is placed upon two tabourets which are
covered with embroidered satin. At the head of the procession and
immediately in front of the tabouret-bearers march two‘ persons,
holding in one hand a ﬂask of rose-water and in the other a censer
ﬁlled with burning perfumes and odoriferous woods which diffuse the
most delicious odours; and the friends and relatives of the bride-
groom, dressed in their holiday costume, form a long train in the
rear. On the day of the wedding the bride is carried to the house of
her husband accompanied by all her female friends, making a full
display of their ﬁne dresses and tasteful ornaments. The feasting is
sumptuous and often lasts three or four days, and professional female
singers and dancing girls are in attendance to entertain the assembled
guests.
The married ladies of Mecca enjoy much liberty. They visit each
other at least once a week 3 and while they spend a whole day with
their friends in pleasant conversation, they are regaled with all the
dainties and delicate viands usually served up on such occasions.
As Mohamedanism, like Christianity, did not interfere with existing
social institutions, the holding of slaves is not prohibited but only
regulated by the Koran. All the male and female servants of the
Meccawies who attend to the domestic concerns of the household are
negro slaves, while the concubine slave~women are always Abyssinian
Gallas. N o distinction is made between a son born of a slave mistress
and the legitimate oﬂspring of the wedded wife, and it is an approved
custom for the master to marry a concubine as soon as she gives birth
to a child.
The moral characteristics of the Meccawies are on the one side
bright and luminous, but on the other the picture is marred by dark
shadows of moral deformity. Their intellectual faculties are well
developed 3 they are distinguished for never-failing sagacity, sparkling
wit, and an easy ﬂow of humour. They are vivacious in temper,
yielding in disposition, agreeable in their social intercourse, and polite
and courteous in their manners. They are hardly ever seen without a
smile on their lips, and, notwithstanding their ‘natural pride and the
usual gravity of their race, they often give vent to their animal spirits
by loud peals of laughter, and their conversation is spiced with good—
natured puns and witty repartees. Their gaiety, politeness, and easy
turn of mind render them the most delightful companions and agreeable
acquaintances. Their suavity of deportment is not only merely
‘occasional, but it is habitual. The young kiss the hand of their
elders and inferiors and that of superiors in rank when they meet for
the ﬁrst time during the day, and the salutation is returned by a kiss
SEDEN-TARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 403
‘on the forehead, while acquaintances of equal rank and age mutually
kiss each other’s hand on meeting. Strangers are addressed by the
friendly greeting of “Faithful” or “Brother; ” and a shopkeeper
will solicit the patronage of a foreign customer by inviting him with
the ﬂattering words, “Welcome, a thousand times welcome; you are
a stranger of God, a guest of the holy city, my whole property is at
your disposal.” When an applicant for employment offers his services,
he says, “Our whole subsistence, after God, is owing to you pilgrims 3
can we do less than be grateful?” Nor is this politeness merely
expressed in formal phrases, but it also exhibits itself in action. If
on his‘ visit to the mosque a stranger, mingled with the crowd, is
exposed to the sun, the Meccawies will make room for him in a shady
place; if he passes a coffeehouse they will invite him to enter and
take a cup of the delicious beverage, and even upon the slightest
acquaintance they will overwhelm him with their kindness by saying,
“When will you honour me at home and take your supper with me ‘.3 ”.
Their hospitality is free and easy without the least ceremonious
formality. They are of a conciliatory and a forgiving spirit, and in
their most violent disputes or quarrels they hardly ever come to blows 3
nor do they use scurrilous language, and they will promptly act upon
the suggestion of friends to bring about a compromise of the existing
difficulties, and accede to the proposition by adding the humiliating
confession: “ God has made us great sinners, but he bestowed upon
us likewise the virtue of easy repentance.” Although the Meccawies
are excessively proud, they are neither insolent nor haughty. Their
pride is simply an exhibition of self-complacency which delights in
the thought that the holy city is their native home; that the birth-
place of the Prophet is their country; that they have preserved
much of the purity of the language spoken by Mohamed; that their
manners, although changed by time and circumstances, approach much
nearer the primitive standard than those of any other Mohamedan
nation 3 that having the Kaaba, the sacred shrine of Islamism, in their
midst entitles them to the glorious anticipation of distinguished
honours in a future state of life 3 and that they enjoy much greater
freedom and exemption from oppressive taxation than any of the
foreign pilgrims that are collected in their city in immense numbers
from all parts of the Mohamedan world. They believe that a special
providence watches over the city and its inhabitants, and they implicitly
trust in its divine care and protection. “This is Mecca!” they exclaim,
“ this is the city of God; none ever wants his daily bread here, none
fears here the incursion of enemies.”
But attractive as are these splendid moral qualities, the reverse
side of the picture is the more repulsive and abhorrent. WVhile the
Meccawies are free from the vulgar crimes of murder, robbery, and
theft, they feel no scruples of conscience to defraud each other when-
ever a favourable opportunity presents itself, and even perjury is not
considered criminal when every other means fails to accomplish the
object proposed. Their extravagance, luxury, and liberality render
them greedy and rapacious, and their time and their thoughts are
devoted to the successful issue of commercial enterprises to increase
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404 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
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their fortune, and thus acquire additional claims to social consideration.
The immense multitude of pilgrims that assemble in Mecca during the
pilgrimage season being made up, among others, of the most barbarous
nationalities, necessarily including some of the vilest materials disguised
under the hypocritical garb of sanctity, the Meccawies, even if they
wished to do so, could exercise no control over the morals of the
.strangers, who are in a manner their guests as well as their customers
and patrons, and to whom they owe kindness and consideration 3.
much less could they establish police regulations or impose restrictive
measures upon a mixed crowd of temporary sojourners, coming from
countries widely separated, and governed by laws and customs entirely
distinct from their own. Their morals have undoubtedly been more
or less contaminated by the indiscriminate contact with men of a
lower civilisation, and it cannot be surprising that they should connive
at the grossest depravity and corruption practised in the very courts of
the temple which they so highly venerate. Proﬂigacy and debauchery
are not only permitted to follow their vile trade uncondemned and
unrebuked by public opinion, but they are even protected by the
existing authorities. Notwithstanding that the Koran expressly pro-
hibits the use of wine and interdicts gambling, intoxicating liquors
are sold at the very gates of the mosque, and cards are played in
every Arab coffee-house.
Looking upon themselves as a privileged people, the Meccawies
consider themselves to some extent exempt from the performance of
religious duties imposed upon less favoured communities. They are
either irregular in their prayers or do not pray at all. They pretend
that the injunction of the Koran requiring to be diligent in almsgiving;
does not apply to them 3 for as the holy city was assigned to them by
Providence as a place of abode, it is their privilege to receive charity,.
and not their duty to bestow it.
The streets of Mecca are crowded with professional beggars or-
poor pilgrims whose importunities are most annoying, and who ask
for charity not as a favour but as a right; and frequently, when their-
demand is not fully complied with, they will sullenlyrefuse the free-
will offering of the charitable stranger.
mendicity even in the mosque, where they are often heard to exclaim
immediately after prayer: “ O brethren ! O faithful ! hear me; I ask 4.”
twenty dollars from God to pay for my passage home, twenty dollars 5?
only. You know that God is all-bountiful and may send me a
hundred dollars, but it is twenty only that I ask. Remember that
charity is the true road to Paradise.” These mendicant pilgrims are
either Hindoos, Syrians, Egyptians, or they come from some other
foreign country professing Islamism.
The Meccawies do not fully appreciate the advantages of education;
their schools are all of a secondary order, and to acquire proﬁciency in
the knowledge of Eastern learning they resort to the great universities
of Damascus and Cairo, the two chief seats of Mohamedan literature
and science. In the schools of the great mosque children are taught
to read and write, and learned ulemas deliver a course of free lectures
expounding the Koran in its religious as well as legal application to
They practise their trade of~
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 405
practical life. Their audience is generally of a mixed character, and
is principally composed of the young men of Hindostan, the Malay
Peninsula, Darfour, Bambarra, Hadramaut, and Yemen.
The learned men of Mecca are still unacquainted with the simplest
elements of astronomy, and noting the meridian passage of the sun
is their highest scientiﬁc attainment, while they are wasting their
‘time in the fruitless task of predicting the future by casting the
horoscope and giving credence to the deceptive illusions of astrology.
Their medical practice is no less ineﬁicient and absurd. Their remedies
.are all panaceas and nostrums of miraculous potency and infallible in
their curative effects. In music they have made no advances beyond
that of the rudest barbarians. A kind of guitar (rababa), a species of
clarionet (naz'b), and the tambourine are the only musical instruments
they possess. Their songs are harsh and monotonous, and make a
more favourable impression by the simplicity of their words than the
sweetness of their melodies. The song of the water-carriers (salrz'as),
who are paid by rich pilgrims to distribute the contents of their water-
sacks among the poor, is most pathetic. While pouring out the water
into the wooden bowls with which every beggar is provided, they
exclaim, “ Hasten, O thirsty, to the ways of God” (Scbg/Z Allah g/a
azfsha'm sebg/Z), and then close their address with the following strain
of three notes :——“ Paradise and forgiveness be the lot of him who gave
you this water” (Ed djere 2066 el may fezata, Zg/ Scdzeb es Sabz'l).
The language spoken by the Meccawies approaches more in purity
of pronunciation and elegance of phraseology the ancient Arabic of
\the Korannic age when it entered upon the era of its decline, than
that of the inhabitants of any other town where the Arabic is the
common vernacular tongue. The people of Mecca use, in common
conversation, many terms only found in good authors, and many
expressions only met with in the Koran which, elsewhere, are no
longer used or are considered as obsolete.1
The Hedjaz, including Mecca, forms a part of the Turkish empire,
.and is governed by oﬁicers appointed or conﬁrmed at Constantinople.
Formerly the shereq's, who claim their descent from the Prophet,
exercised supreme authority, and they are still invested with the
highest dignity, and their influence is still paramount in the control
of public affairs. The reigning family was raised to power by personal
inﬂuence or the preponderating number of warriors of the tribe to
which they belonged. At the death of a ruling shereef the contest
between rival aspirants often became acrimonious and bitter, and the
:aid of physical force was sometimes invoked by the most powerful
party to decide the claim to the succession in favour of their own
‘candidate.
The revenues collected by the government are principally derived
from custom duties paid at Djidda and Yembo, two seaport towns of
some commercial importance. No taxes of any kind are imposed upon
the inhabitants of Mecca, who are exempt from all contributions
usually assessed upon houses or other property.

1 See supra, p. 381.
406 . THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
The administration of justice is conﬁded to a fade‘, who is appointed
to this office by the sultan, and who depends exclusively on his fees-
for an adequate remuneration for the services rendered. The cost of
litigation is excessive, and a favourable decision 1s often secured by
largesses to the judge and his subordinate officials. Formerly the-
oﬁice of kadz' was publicly sold to the highest bidder, and the measure
of justice meted out was always in proportion to the perquisites of'
his administration. Every precept, every injunction of the written
law was wholly disregarded; every principle of right and justice was.
entirely ignored, and the infamous judge, corrupted by bribes, which.
were received openly without concealment or disguise, frequently gave
legal sanction to the grossest acts of injustice. ‘
But Mecca owes its modern celebrity to the great mosque Beitullah
or E1 Haram, which encloses the Kaaba—a religious shrine of great-
antiquity—and which is approached by all good Mussulmans with
holy awe and religious veneration. The Kaaba stands in an oblong‘
square surrounded on all sides by colonnades composed of triple or
quadruple rows of columns, every four of which are united by pointed
arches which support small domes, illuminated during the night by
lighted lamps suspended from the ceiling. Although the whole-
number of columns exceeds four hundred, yet not two of them have
the same capitals and bases; they are about twenty feet high, sculp-i
tured of marble, granite, porphyry, or the common grey limestone of
the Mecca mountains. The ﬂoors of the colonnades are paved with
large ﬂagstones, and the walls, as well as the arches and minarets, are
gaudily painted with stripes of yellow, red, and blue. The space occupied.
by the mosque is immense, it affords ample room for no less than
thirty-ﬁve thousand persons engaged in the act of prayer. It is
entered by nineteen different gates, and seven round or square minarets-
loom high, like lofty steeples, above its vaulted domes.
The Kaaba is an oblong square with a ﬂat roof. It is about forty
feet high, and is constructed of massive blocks of grey limestone.
roughly joined and badly cemented. It has only one door on the
north side, which is the only opening through which light can pene-
trate. It is coated with silver and adorned with several gilt ornaments.
Lighted wax tapers and censers ‘ﬁlled with burning aloe-wood and
musk are placed every night on the threshold of the sacred ediﬁce,
which pilgrims are only permitted to enter two or three. times a year.
At the north-east corner the famous black stone called “celestial
stone” (haclsizar eZ assaad 1), attracts the attention of worshippers. In
form it is an irregular oval about seven feet in diameter, of a dark
brown colour, with a slightly undulating surface, but perfectly smooth.
It is composed of several smaller stones nicely cemented together,
surrounded on all sides by a raised border and encircled with a silver
band. Near the summit, on the west side, is the famous mg/za‘b or
waterspout, said to be of gold, through which the rain water, collected
on the roof, is discharged on the handsome mosaic pavement below 3

1 Hadshar el assuad. It bears the title of AZ Imz'nu Allah'i ﬁ aZ Ardz', “The
right hand of God upon earth ”), Maltzan’s Wallfahrt nach .Mecca, vol. ii. p. 36..
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 407
this is a sacred spot where it is meritorious to recite prayers, for
here is the reputed tomb of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The
exterior sidawalls of the Kaaba are completely shrouded with a
material of black silk (lccsona) interwoven with several prayers, and
with an inscription running all round it embroidered in gold thread.
The door covering is richly embroidered in silver. The black stone
and the other stone in the south-east corner1 are the only objects
which remain exposed. Every year, on the twenty-ﬁfth of the month
of Zul Kade, the Kaaba is stripped of the old lcesona, the fragments
of which‘are sold as' relics, and the ediﬁce is left uncovered for ﬁfteen
days, when it is said that the Kaaba has assumed the pilgrim’s garb called
the c'hram. The interior of the Kaaba, with its lofty ceiling, is sup-
ported by two columns. The whole interior surface, to within a few
feet of the ﬂoor, is covered with a thick stuff of red silk richly inter-
woven with ﬂowers and inscriptions in embossed characters worked
with silver thread. The lower part of the two columns is encased in
aloe-wood artistically carved, and the walls below the silk hangings
are lined with ﬁne white marble, ornamented with inscriptions cut in
relief and arabesques of the most exquisite workmanship. The ﬂoor
is of marble of various colours, and numerous lamps are suspended
from the ceiling which are said to be of solid gold. The guardianship
of the sacred ediﬁce is intrusted to seven thousand angels, whose duty
it is to transport it to Paradise whenever Gabriel shall sound the
trumpet to call the dead to judgment.
Within the precincts of the mosque there is a room beautifully
ornamented with marble of various colours, which is connected with a
smaller room that contains the well of Zemzen. A large stone basin
ﬁlled with Zemzen water furnishes a supply to the pilgrims who visit
the marble room, by passing a cup through an iron-grated opening
within reach of the reservoir. This water is regarded as infallible for
the cure of all diseases, and devout Moslems believe that to partake
of it freely contributes much to the preservation of health, and renders
their prayers more acceptable to the Deity.2
It is afﬁrmed by the legendary lore of Islamism that the Kaaba was
constructed in heaven two thousand years before the creation of the
world, and that it was a consecrated spot where angels worshipped
and adored. Adam, the ﬁrst of human kind, erected it on earth in a
place precisely under the zenith point of that in heaven, and used for
this purpose the stones collected in the four holy mountains. Ten
thousand angels were appointed to protect it from injury; but it
became, nevertheless, necessary for the sons of Adam to repair it, and
Abraham, after having abandoned the idolatry of his forefathers, was
ordered by the Almighty to effect its entire reconstruction. To ﬁx
the new ediﬁce upon a solid foundation the corner-stone was wanting,
and Ishmael, having been sent out in search for a stone suitable for
this purpose, he met the angel Gabriel holding in his hand the

1 Hadshar el abiad. Maltzan’s Wallfahrt nach Mecca, vol. ii. p. 36.
2 It is a miraculous water; he who drinks it is sure of Paradise, and already
enjoys upon earth numerous blessings. It prolongs the period of youth of women,
and imparts greater permanence to their beauty, and it renders the barren fruit-
ful. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 28. -
408 3. THE ARAMZEAN sTocK.
famous black stone, which was then of refulgent brilliancy, but had
subsequently turned black from the effects of ﬁre to which it became
exposed before and after the introduction of Islamism, or, as some
suppose, in consequence of the sins of those who touched it. It is
asserted that on the day of judgment it will be endowed with the
sense of sight and the faculty of speech, and it will bear witness in
favour of the faithful who touched it with a sincere heart.
According to Mohamedan tradition, Hadjer (Hagar), the mother of
Ishmael, as she wandered about in the desert during her search for
water between Szafa and Meroua, and after she had passed from one
place to the other seven times, the angel Gabriel» appeared in the
height of her aﬁ'iiction, struck the ground with his foot, and the well
of Zemzen immediately burst forth its bubbling waters.
, It is asserted in Arabian history that idolatry was introduced among
the Arabs by Ammer Ibn Lahay, one of their countrymen, and that
Hobal, the Arabian Jupiter, traced his genealogy from the mytho-
logical divinities of Mesopotamia (Assyria). Having been once set up
in the Kaaba, idol-worship became the predominant practice of all the
tribes, each one adopting some tutelary divinity of its own 3 while
they all regarded the Kaaba, which was adorned with three hundred
and sixty patron deities, representing the cycle of the year,1 as the
common pantheon to which they made frequent pilgrimages. One
tribe worshipped the date-tree called Ozza; another adored the rock
known by the name of El Lat 3 and the Koreish, Mohamed’s own
tribe, paid divine honours to a large tree called Zat Arowat 3 and this
fanaticism for the superstitious practices of idolatry grew to such an
excess that each family and tent in Arabia had its own household god.
In the other holy places, Szafa and Meroua, not only saints and demi-
gods received the homage of credulous devotees, but the gods Motam
and Nebyk were worshipped as patron deities.
The Kaaba having been destroyed by ﬁre, it was rebuilt by the
Koreish tribe while Mohamed was still a youth. The statue of Hobal,
the chief divinity, was placed over a well which then existed in the
interior of the Kaaba, and among the other idols, which had all their
position assigned in the newly- constructed ediﬁce, the historian
assures us, upon the evidence of credible witnesses, that the Virgin
Mary, holding the infant Aysa (Jesus) in her lap, was sculptured on
one of the pillars near the gate, and was recognised as one of the gods.
The Kaaba was, during the prevalence of idolatry, an object of the
most profound veneration and worship, and the ceremonies observed
during the haclj (pilgrimage) were nearly the same as those practised
by modern Mohamedans. After their return from Mecca the tribes
assembled at Szafa, “there to extol in loud and impassioned strains '
the glory of their ancestors, their battles, and the fame of their nation.”
From each tribe, in turn, a poet addressed his countrymen, boasting
of the superior glory and pre-eminence of his own people, and, calling
the names of the great warriors and distinguished men of his tribe,
he sang their praises in poetic numbers and lauded their heroic deeds
with fervid eloquence. Then, challenging the other tribes, he added,

- 1,_Historians are not agreed as regards the number of images, which is supposed
by some not to have exceeded two hundred. See supra, p. 347.
SEDENTARY ARABS ‘OF THE HEDJ AZ. 409
“ Let him who denies the truth of what I have said, or lays claim to
as much glory, honour, and virtue as we do, prove it here.” When
Mohamed entered Mecca, a victorious hero and a prophet of God, he
not only demolished the idols of the sacred shrine of his ancestors,
but he abolished the custom of exciting bitter animosities and fierce
jealousies between different tribes by the rival contests of the poets,
in a few words of wise admonition : “ When you have completed the
rites of the pilgrimage, remember God as you formerly were wont to
commemorate your forefathers, and with still greater fervency.”
_ It is the duty of every Mohamedan to perform the pilgrimage to
Mecca once in his life. Before the pilgrim enters the holy city he
assumes the z'hmm or pilgrim’s garb, which consists of two seamless
pieces of linen, woollen, or cotton cloth, generally of a white colour,
‘one of which is wrapped round the loins, and the other is thrown
over the shoulders, leaving a part of the right arm exposed. Every
other kind of garment must be laid aside, the head is no longer
permitted to be shaved, and it must remain uncovered. If shoes
.are worn, they must be so fashioned as to leave the instep entirely
unprotected. A full cloak is worn by the women which completely
envelops their form, while their face is concealed by a veil which
masks their features so closely that even their eyes cannot be seen.
'That part of the law which requires their hands and ankles to be
covered is generally disregarded. This simple habiliment of the
pilgrim is designed to teach him humility, to dispose him to repent-
.ance, and to impress his mind with the vanity of all earthly things.
He is now called 61 mohrem, and he is expected to prepare himself for
the acceptable performance of the solemn religious services upon which
he is about to enter by a perfectly proper and decent behaviour. He
is enjoined not to curse or quarrel, no matter what the provocation
might be. He is prohibited from killing any animal, not even a ﬂea 5
and he is to abstain from all sexual intercourse during the time he is
engaged in the holy exercises in Mecca.
It is the imperative duty of the stranger, as soon as he arrives in
Mecca, and before he attends to any worldly concerns, to visit the
great mosque and comply with the requirements of his religious
obligations. At the entrance, under the colonnades and in sight of
the Kaaba, the pilgrim recites the prescribed prayers and addresses
two prostrations (Whats) to the ‘Deity, giving expression to his sense
of gratitude for having been permitted to visit the holy spot, adding
a few words of salutation to the mosque itself. The pilgrim then
approaches the Kaaba by one of the paved ways, and as he passes the
arch in front of it he again engages in prayerful devotions.1 \Vhile
repeating his prayers in a low tone of voice, he presents himself oppo-
site the black stone, and after having performed two prostrations he
.touches it with his hand, if he is prevented by the pressure of the

1 The prayer is in these words: “0 God! this tabernacle is thy tabernacle,
this sanctuary is thy sanctuary, the place of refuge of the just ; here is the place
to which all must come who wish to escape eternal damnation.” Maltzan’s
WVallfahrt nach Mecca, vol. ii. p. 48.
410 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
multitude to kiss the sacred relic. Having completed these prelimi~
nary exercises, the pilgrim takes the seven ties repeated walk (towaf)
round the Kaaba, of which the three ﬁrst rounds must be performed
in a quickened pace1 in imitation of Mohamed who, to contradict the-
report of his enemies that he was dangerously ill, ran three times
round the sacred ediﬁce in full speed. At the termination of each
circuit he touches or kisses the black stone, and during its progress
he recites a prescribed formula of prayers. When this ceremony is
completed, he approaches the Kaaba between the black stone and the-
door of the building, and with outstretched arms, and his breast closely
pressed against the walls, he oﬂ'ers up an earnest invocation to the
Deity for the pardon of his sins. He next proceeds to a consecrated
spot which bears the name of Mekam Ibrahim, and there he prays
two rilcats. From this place he repairs to the adjoining well of
Zemzen, and after a short and pious prayer in honour of the well, he
partakes of its blessed waters in large and plentiful draughts, and
this completes the ceremonies to be performed in the interior of the-
mosque.
At the entrance of the Kaaba is seated the shereef of Mecca, who
holds the silver key in his hand of which he is the guardian, and
which he presents to the pilgrims who kiss it and pay him the-
customary fee. After the visitor has been admitted he prays two
rz'irats in every corner, and then leaning with extended arms against.
any part of the wall, and pressing his face against it, he exclaims in
the most solemn tone, amidst the sobbings and meanings of the multi-
tude, whose faces are often bedewed with tears: “O God of the
House ! O God I forgive me, and forgive my parents and my children.
O God I admit me into Paradise. O God ! deliver our neck from hell-
ﬁre. O thou God of the Old House.”
At a short distance from the great mosque is a small eminence
called the hill of Szafa, which is ascended by three broad ‘stone steps,
over which are constructed three open arches connected above by an
architrave. Here the pilgrim, standing on the uppermost step, and
turning his face towards the mosque, which is hidden from view,
addresses, with up-lifted hands, a short prayer to God, invoking'his
aid in the holy walk (say) which he is about to undertake; He then
descends and walks in a quick step a, long and level street about six
hundred paces in length 3 during this exercise he continually says his-
prayers in a loud voice until he arrives at Meroua, before a platform
considerably elevated above the level of the street, with which it is-
connected by a number of broad steps which he ascends, and with his
hands raised towards heaven he repeats the prayer recited at Szafa.
This walk is repeated four times from Szafa to Meroua, and three-
times from Meroua to Szafa, which completes the say.
The pilgrim next enters one of the barber shops in the vicinity of
Meroua, where an officiating functionary shaves his head while reciting
a particular prayer which he repeats after him. He is then at liberty

1 According to Ali Bey, the last round only is made in a quickened step...
Voyages, vol. iii. p. 305.
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 411
to lay aside the z'hmm and put on his ordinary dress; but on the
following or some succeeding day he again assumes the pilgrim’s garb
and proceeds to Omra, a place at a distance of an hour and a half’s
travel from Mecca. Here he repeats two m'kats in a small chapel, and
then returns to the mosque chanting all the way the pious ejaculations
called tcll’y; and having again performed the towaf and the say, he has
his head once more shaved, and then divests himself permanently of the
c'hmm, which constitutes the closing act of the ceremonial observances
of the pilgrimage if he intends to make his immediate departure from
Mecca.
On Friday, which is the Mohamedan Sabbath, a sermon is preached
in the great mosque by the khatyb, who occupies the pulpit (mamZ/ar)
dressed in a white cloak which is wrapped round his body and covers
his head, holding a stick in his hand to commemorate the ﬁrst age
of Islam when its teachers found it necessary to carry arms in order
to protect themselves in their holy calling. Two green ﬂags, the
emblematic colour of Mohamedanism, form a part of the ornamental
appendages of the pulpit.
The duty of carrying into eﬁ’ect established police regulations in the
temple is intrusted to negro eunuehs, presided over by a negro chief
who exercises considerable authority. Their official position requires
them not only to preserve order in the mosque, but to wash and sweep
daily the pavement round the Kaaba. They carry a long stick as a
badge of oﬁice, and are paid a regular salary out of the revenues of the
mosque, which is a richly-endowed establishment.
Numerous flocks of wild pigeons, called the pigeons of Beitullah, are
the regular inmates of the temple. . Their privileges are considered
inviolable, and they are so much cherished and revered that pilgrims
regard it as a meritorious act to feed them with corn and dhoum which
they buy from‘the women who offer these articles for sale within the
precincts of the mosque.
Another place of distinction in the Hedjaz, second only in historical
and religious importance to Mecca, is the town of Medina,1 where
Mohamed found protection and a refuge when driven from his home
by the animosity of his enemies, where he enlisted his ﬁrst followers
and disciples under the conquering banner of the crescent, and where
his ashes are enshrined in eternal repose under the shade of the mosque
founded by the Prophet himself.

1 Medina was called Yathrib before the ﬂight of the Prophet, and is said to
have been settled originally by a tribe of Amalekites whose chief bore that name.
The Amalekites prospered, but were assailed by the Jews. Yathrib became in
course of time the residence of the wealthiest and noblest families among the
Jews. Castles and fortiﬁed houses, quadrangular in shape, studded the houses
and suburbs. Arab tribes from Yemen settled in the country in the neighbour-
hood of Yathrib in 360 A.D., and concluded a treaty of alliance with the Jews.
They lived amicably together until, in the course of the next two centuries, the
Arabs became equal to the Jews. Hostilities broke out and the struggle termi-
nated in favour of the Arabs, who succeeded in massacring the chiefs of the Jews
in a banquet to which the latter were invited under the pretext of arranging a
treaty of peace. The Arabs became the undisputed sovereigns of Yathrib, the
Jews being reduced to the condition of their clients or viza'wlas. Islam under the
Arabs, by Robert I). Osborn, p. 39.
412 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
The town is situated at the edge of the Arabian Desert, close to-a
range of mountains, and is enclosed on three sides by pleasure gardens
and date groves, here and there interspersed with wheat and barley
ﬁelds. It is fortiﬁed by a high stone wall ﬂanked by thirty towers
and surrounded by a ditch. The streets are narrow, the houses have a
sombre and uniform appearance 3 they are built of stone, are generally
two stories high, with a ﬂat and terraced roof. The suburbs are made
up of village groups (hash), separated from each other by gardens and
plantations, consisting of a number of low huts with all the apartments
on the ground-ﬂoor, and ranged in a circle around a large area with
a capacious courtyard in the centre. Here the cattle are kept, being
provided with a well and an entrance gate which is shut every night.
These village communities are made up of about thirty or forty
families, composed of the lower class of townspeople, of sedentary
Bedouins, and those engaged in agriculture. The population of Medina
is of a mixed character. Not more than ten Arab families remain
who are descended from the original stock that ﬂourished here during
the rise of Islamism. The rest of the inhabitants are the naturalised
descendants of foreigners who settled here from pious motives or for
purposes of gain, and who are to all intents and purposes Arabs, not
only by birth and language, but by assimilation in feature and character.
The complexion of the people of Medina is not as brown as that of the
Meccawies; their features are broader, their beards are thicker, and
they are of a stouter and more robust form.
The Medinans are fond of making a ﬁne display of dress and
external adornment. They imitate the Turks in gaiety of colours and
richness of materials. Very few wear the national Arab cloak without
sleeves, for even the poorer classes are dressed in long robes, over
which a cloth coat (djabha) is thrown 3 or, instead of this, a white and
brown striped abba is sometimes worn. Red fez caps and Turkish
slippers are much in fashion among all classes, if able to procure them.
Barley bread constitutes an important article of food with the lower
classes, but an ample supply of dates is still more essential, and the
failure of the date crop causes great distress among the population.
There are numerous ways in which dates are prepared as food for the
table 3 and the Arabs have a saying that a good housewife will daily
furnish her lord for a month a dish of dates diﬂerently dressed. They
are boiled in milk, broiled in butter 3 or boiling them in water they
are reduced to a thick puff, over which honey is poured.
The Medinans are rather austere in manner and grave in deport-
ment. They are very strict in the performance of their religious
duties, and rigidly comply with all the ceremonial observances. But
their practice in real life does not correspond with their religious
profession 3 while they maintain an outward decency and public
decorum, they never hesitate to cheat the pilgrim whenever an oppor-
tunity presents itself. Their sense of moral propriety is not sufficiently
strong to prevent their liberal indulgence in date-wine and other
intoxicating drinks prepared by the negroes. While they are wanting
in that natural affability and lively and cheerful temper by which the
Meccawies are distinguished, they practise all their vices, simply
SEDENTARY ARABS OF THE HEDJAZ. 413
covered by a ﬂimsy veil of hypocrisy. Female virtue is, however,
more highly appreciated and respected.
The slave population in Medina is not very numerous; but the
richer portion of the town’s people engage the services of the farmers’
women and of the inhabitants of the suburbs to grind their corn in
the handmills and perform the other domestic drudgeries.
Some of the rich families spend their whole time at their gardens
in the vicinity of the town, where they smoke the narghz'lé or Persian
pipe, indulge in the immoderate use of coffee, and feast on delicious
fruits which are the products of their own orchards. The more
industrious class are engaged in trade, which is principally conﬁned
to goods for home consumption, including provisions and articles of
dress furnished to the Bedouins of the desert. The mechanic arts
and manufactures do not ﬂourish here, and almost every article of
utility is imported from Cairo by way of Yembo. Many of the
inhabitants are tillers of the soil or proprietors of landed estates ; but
the chief support of the Medinans is derived from the ﬁxed revenues
of the mosque, where they are employed as oﬂicials or servants, and
from the hacly'z's (pilgrims) who visit the tomb of Mohamed.
Medina can boast of possessing the ﬁnest public schools (medresse)
in Arabia, conducted by the ulemas, who are far more learned than
those of Mecca.
The mosque, or the El Haram, is the only temple where religious
worship takes place. It forms an open square, surrounded on all
sides by colonnades which give support to the small domes, with its
centre occupied by a small building. The colonnades are composed
of three or four rows of pillars, except on the south side, where the
Prophet’s tomb is situated; for, being considered the most sacred spot,
ten rows of large columns impart beauty to this portion of the ediﬁce and
mark out its importance. These pillars have no pediments, nor is
there any uniformity in their capitals ; they are of grey stone plastered
white, and painted to the height of six feet from the ground with
ﬂowers and arabesques in a coarse and gaudy style. The wall on the
south side is lined with marble nearly reaching to the top, ornamented
with several rows of inscriptions in large gilt letters which produce
the most brilliant effect. The ﬂoor is here paved with marble slabs,
and nearest the ,tomb of Mohamed the pavement is tastefully laid out
in mosaic patterns. ‘
The tomb in the south-east corner forms an irregular square, and is
enclosed with a railing of ﬁligree work, painted green and interwoven
with inscriptions in raised characters of yellow bronze. The two
principal windows in the railing, where visitors stand to say their
prayers, are enwreathed in embossed silver letters with the oft-repeated
profession of faith: “ There is no god but God, the evident Truth”
(La; lllaha z'l Allah al has al lllob'yn). Four gates lead to this
enclosure, but only one of them is opened every morning and evening
by the eunuch whose duty it is to clean the ﬂoor and light the lamps.
The interior is concealed from view by a curtain of rich silk brocade
of various colours, interwoven with silver ﬂowers and arabesques, and
embellished with a band of inscriptions traced all around it in golden
414 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
characters. This mysterious .veil no one is ever permitted to lift
except the chief eunuch, who removes the old curtain whenever it
gets too much worn and substitutes a new one in its place.
The whole of the enclosure or hecZ-y'ra is covered with a lofty and
magniﬁcent dome, and the globe and the crescent by which it is
surmounted are seen at a great distance shining in glittering gold.
According to Mohamedan tradition, when the last trumpet shall
sound, Aysa (Jesus) will descend from heaven to earth to announce to
its inhabitants the near approach of the day of judgment. After
which he will die and be buried in the hedjra by the side of Mohamed,1
and on the day of the resurrection both will rise and ascend to heaven,
when Aysa will be ordered by the Almighty to separate the faithful
from the inﬁdel, that they may be judged according to the deeds done
in the body.
While it is neither obligatory upon Mohamedans nor a part of the
pilgrimage (hadj) to visit the tomb of Mohamed, yet' it is a highly
meritorious act, from the beneﬁt of which women are, however, en-
tirely excluded.
Mount Arafat is another place of pilgrimage much visited by pious
Mussulmans. Some of the Mohamedan doctors contend that if the
Kaaba ceased to exist, the pilgrimage to Arafat would be equally as
meritorious as the sevenfold walk round the “House of God.” The
mountain is composed of granitic rock, about a hundred and ﬁfty feet
high, situated at the foot of a higher mountain, and enclosed by a
wall. It is ascended by steps partly cut in the rock and partly made
of mason work. At the summit is a chapel, and at the foot of the
mount is a platform called djamaa arahma, or “ mosque of compas-
sion,” where, according to tradition, the Prophet performed the usual
prayer. In the vicinity of the mount are fourteen large basins which
furnish an abundance of potable water, and here the pilgrims perform
their ablutions. Another platform where prayers are made is called
djamaa Ibrahim, or the “ mosque of Abraham.” Mount Arafat2 is
reputed to be a sacred place, for it is said that Adam here again recog-
nised Eve after a long separation, and it is believed that Adam him-
self erected the chapel at the summit of the mount.
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Arabia. By John Lewis Burckhardt. 1829.
Voyage en Arabic, séjour dans le Hedjaz. Par Maurice Tamisier. 1840.
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca. By R. F.
Burton. 18 5 5.
Meine Wallfahrt nach Mecca. Von H. von Maltzan. 1876.
Arabien und die Araber seit ein hundred J ahren. Von Albrecht Zehme.
18 6.
Voyages d’Ali Bey el Abassi en Afrique et en Asie. 1874.

1 The fable of Mohamed’s tomb being suspended between earth and heaven is
an idle invention, and is entirely unknown in any part of the Mohamedan world.
Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, p. 146.
2 Arafat means “recognition.”
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. ‘ 415
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA.
THE southern coast country of Arabia comprises that part of the
Arabian peninsula which lies between the twelfth and the seventeenth
degrees of north latitude, and includes the Fodli country, Laheg,
Yafﬁa, Gauff, Yemen, and the southern portion of Hadramaut, a tract
of territory which is partly inhabited by settled agricultural and trad-
ing Arabs and partly by nomadic tribes of Bedouins. South Arabia
is bounded on the north by Hedjaz and the desert, on the east by the
Sea of Arabia, on the south by the Gulf of Aden, and on the west by
the Red Sea. This is the original home of the most ancient Arab
nation, the Himyarites or Southern Sabaeans, who have left behind
‘them, in the shattered ruins scattered over the surface of the land,
unmistakable evidences of their advanced civilisation and of their
national wealth and prosperity.
The country contains ﬁve mountain ranges of considerable extent,
of which the Yafﬁ mountains are the most important. Of the nume-
rous wadys (rivers) none is perennial, although the ‘Vady Tobban
and the Wady Bonna form considerable streams during the rainy
season, and empty the tide of their accumulated waters into the sea.
' The geological formations of the coast mountains are composed of
granite, greenstone, J ura-dolomite, grauwacke, and grauwacke slate, in
addition to tertiary deposits and volcanic rocks. Near Wady Dshilwe
the land, which gradually rises to a considerable elevation, is made up
of limestone and marly loam which, on the highest ridge, are covered
by numulitic limestone. The component part of the interior of the
hill is white chalk, intersected by veins of black ﬂint, with here and
there a surface crust of a beautiful light-green selenite. The elevated
ridges of Gebel N oab are of volcanic origin, for there black lava pre-
dominates, containing in its air-holes olivine, glassy feldspath, and
crystallised chalk, interstriated by veins of black obsidian. The prin-
cipal mountains of the “Tady Hadhena are formed of a conglomerate
whose constituent elements are granite, syenite, diorite, grauwacke,
and oolitic limestone. Iron ore of good quality is found here, and has
sandstone sometimes takes the place of the grauwacke.
The climate of South Arabia is generally mild and agreeable, except
in the lowlands, which constitute but a small portion of the whole
area of the country, where during summer the heat is intense and
extremely oppressive. In the sandy and waterless plain of Tehama
the rays of the summer sun are scorching and almost unendurable to
men and beast.
In the middle mountain regions, where trees are abounding and
416 . =THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
vegetation is luxuriant, the climate is temperate, and the nights are
always cool and refreshing even in the hottest season. On some parts
of the coast, as in Laheg, the summer rains prevail, which renders the
soil sufficiently fertile to stimulate the husbandman to undertake its
cultivation 3 but the greatest extent of the coast line is not favoured
with this beneﬁcent gift of nature’s bounties, and for this reason the
country is barren and desolate, producing nothing but steppe plants,
which serve, however, as food for camels, the breeding of which is-
one of the chief industrial resources of those districts. The soil of a
great part of the Fodli country, the lowlands of Laheg as well as the
other coast lands where the summer rains are of regular occurrence,
are distinguished by their exuberant fertility. Cotton of the best
quality is here produced. Of the cereals, wheat, dhom'a, and doocha
are grown in great abundance. Sesame, indigo, and tobacco form
staple products, the ﬁrst on account of the oil which it yields, the
second as colouring material, and the last to supply the home demand
for the almost universal luxury of smoking the pipe. Tropical fruits,
such as bananas, oranges, citrons, ﬁgs, dates, and grapes, ﬂourish here
in the greatest profusion. Fruit-trees and vegetables of India as well
as of Europe ﬁnd here a genial climate and a soil well adapted to their
growth. The plateaux may be considered as the granaries of South
Arabia, and even the highlands are successfully cultivated in oats and
barley, and produce the celebrated kaat plant, whose leaves are sold
as a valuable article of commerce in the Arabian markets.1 In the
neighbourhood of Choraybe, on the Wady Doan, the soil is productive
and vegetation is exuberant. Tamarisks, mimosas, platane-trees, and
sycamores are of most vigorous growth on the canals 3 and the gardens
are planted with bananas, apricots, citrons, grapes, and leguminous
plants of every variety. On the coast, near Makallah, cocoa-nuts and
cashu-trees are grown, and the dragon-blood2 is abundant in the
mountain regions. Aloes are everywhere found on the coast, and the
incense—tree ﬂourishes on the sandy beach and in the valley of Hadra-
maut which extends to the desert of Akhaf.
The southern Arabs, especially those of Hadramaut, are slender but
muscular in form and graceful in their movements. Their face is
small, their nose aquiline, their eyes are animated and piercing, their
mouth is well proportioned, with thin lips and teeth well preserved.
Their hands and feet are elegantly formed, and their complexion is a
dark shade of olive. The women of the mountain districts of Yemen
are of a much lighter colour, are almost everywhere pretty, and are
distinguished for their rosy checks.

1 The kaat plant, Celastrus ecI/al'is ; Caata edulis (Farsi-cal), Whose fresh, stimulant,
and slightly intoxicating leaﬂets are chewed, in conformity with an old custom,
are carried in large quantities to Mocha and Loheia. The kaat culture gives to
the whole mountain a friendly and verdant appearance. Zehme’s Arabia und die
Araber, p. 40.
2 The dragon-blood (Dracazna draco) is two feet high and ﬁve feet in circum-
ference, and has the appearance of a cone resting on a short cylinder. A red
resin runs out of its lead-coloured rind. Maltzan’s Reise nach Siid-Arabien,
p. 46.
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 417
The South Arabs are remarkable for their vivacity and their forcible
and energetic action. A disposition to indolence is a prominent trait
of their character; they are grave in their deportment, but they are
not wanting in that spirit of duplicity which is the natural consequence
of the despotic rule and extortionate practices to which they have
been subjected from time immemorial. They are sober and frugal in
the indulgence of their appetites 3 they are not strict in their religious
Observances, and are therefore tolerant towards nonconformists, espe-
cially towards the numerous Jews that live among them. They are
hospitable towards strangers, and polite in their general intercourse.
They have a good opinion of themselves, and imagine that they are a
superior people. They are pronounced to be inveterate cowards, cruel
and revengeful, which may be true when applied to individuals, but
cannot be affirmed of a numerous population.
The dwellings of the poor in the mountains are merely insigniﬁcant
huts, made of simple posts covered with reeds, so low that a grown
person cannot stand upright in the middle, and scarcely large enough
to permit two or more members of the same family to lie down con-
veniently. The chief article of furniture is a large straw mat, which
is indifferently used as a seat, a table, or a bed. The hearth, where
the kitchen ﬁre is kindled, is nothing more than a hole dug in the
dirt ﬂoor in any part of the apartment, and lined with stones, upon
which, when heated, an iron plate is placed to bake the bread. In
the chief towns, and among the wealthier classes, the houses are sub-
stantial, square, stone or brick buildings, constructed for defensive
purposes to protect them against the inroads of marauding feudal
chiefs. They have two or more stories, of which the upper ones are
the family dwelling, and the lower serves as stable for the cattle and
as magazine to store away merchants’ goods or the agricultural pro-
ducts of the season. The doors are low, and the staircase is extremely
narrow, to prevent an armed force to penetrate into the interior, and
to enable the inmates to resist the attack of an invading enemy. The
roof is ﬂat, and being covered with earth, it forms a terrace for the
convenience of repose, fanned by the cool breezes of the evening hours.
The costume of the South Arabs is extremely simple. Their ordi-
nary dress is a short cotton shirt, with a blue or white cotton apron
or wrapper tied round the loins, girded with a leather belt which
holds the pistols and the crooked dagger (gembz'é). They shave their
heads and cut their moustaches short, but let their beards grow long.
The women wear blue cotton skirts with the border frequently
coloured green and ornamented with silver or cotton embroidery.
The waist is enclasped with an embroidered belt of dark stuff fastened
by a silver or brass clasp. Their trousers are of red and white striped
cotton cloth. Their arms and legs are encircled by silver or brass
bracelets and anklets, and the rim of the ear is loaded with numerous
rings. Some of the younger girls imagine that their personal charms
are much enhanced by hooking their nose with a huge ring. Their
hair is gathered on each side and arranged in clusters of conelike
elevations, which are rendered stiff and glistening by being wetted
with a solution of gum. In Yaﬂia the women wear a red upper skirt,
2 D
418 THE ARAB’IIEAN STOCK.
and hang over the head a blue net of silk or cotton. They divide
their hair into four tresses, of which two are hanging down in front
and two behind. They disguise their natural complexion by painting
their faces yellow. In the Fodli country the men dispense with the
shirt, and the apron or loin wrapper constitutes the only article of
clothing. The turban is the common head-dress in Fodli as well as
Laheg. In addition to the skirt, the women wear a mantle composed
of a single piece of cloth3 and in towns their face is concealed by
a kind of veil without leaving even openings for the eyes. In
the highlands of Yemen the men throw a sheep’s skin round their
shoulders, which serves them likewise as covering when retiring to
sleep. To protect themselves from the bite of insects while asleep,
they mummify their bodies by stowing them away in a close sack.
The women in Yemen stain their nails, hands, and feet with henna,
and dye their eyebrows and lashes black with hob-Z.
The food partaken by the South Arabs differs according to their
wealth, position, and occupation. The common people are contented
with coarse dhom'a bread made up with milk, and eaten with oil,
butter, or grease3 but the middle classes and the town’s people are
served with the popular dish called here's, which is a compound
preparation of meat cooked with dhoara ﬂour, to which oil or butter
is added. Roasted meat is also eaten on special occasions. ‘The rich
consider the bacz'ssa a delicacy, which is a mixture of honey, butter,
and ﬂour, and is often rendered still more palatable by the addition
of a quantity of meat. The ca'wa, made from the husk of the coffee
berry, is drunk by most people several times a day. '
The usual articles of food of the Bedouins of South Arabia are rice,
pulse, milk, butter, and kez'math or whipped cream. When meat is
eaten, mutton is preferred. Wheat or dhow'a cakes are the bread in
common use. They are very fond of dried locusts,1 which are taken,
not at regular meals, but as a lunch.
A cooling and nourishing beverage is prepared by these pastoral
tribes by infusing the fruit of the nebek, ground into ﬁne powder, in a
quantity of water.
Smoking is a universal practice among the South Arabians. They
use for this purpose the 'narghz'léor Persian pipe, the vapour passing
through a cistern of water composed of a cocoa-nut hull resting upon
an elevated pediment. Among the higher classes the men are provided
with a box of odoriferous wood, of which they put a piece in the pipe
of the guest to whom they wish to pay particular attention, or if it is
in conformity with their interest to give expression to their respectful
consideration. Kaat leaves are used by the richer classes as an agreeable
stimulant. Although they do not possess decided intoxicating properties,
they excite the social affections, and render those who freely indulge
in this luxury amiable and talkative. For intoxicating purposes

1 The locusts (Grillus gv'egarias, Fee's/c), after the head, wings, and legs are torn
off, are thrown into hot water to which a certain quantity of salt has been added,
where they are left about a minute. They are then spread on a mat sprinkled
with salt, and dried in the sun, when they are ready for use. Reise in Hadramaut,
bei Ad. v. Wrede, p. 202. -
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 419
thashz'sh or Indian hemp is smoked, but this. practice is but of rare
occurrence.
Hospitality is one of the cardinal virtues in South Arabia. The
stranger is received by the sheikh, or chief of the community, with
extraordinary politeness. On entering the apartment all those present
rise, except the sheikh, and return the usual salutation, Es saldm
aZeg/lsoom by Alcykoom es saldm. The guest then approaches the
sheikh, and kisses his hand, and says, Halch cs sherdf (“The right
‘of the shereefs ”). Upon this they all stretch forth their hands, which
the visitor'touches with his nose, as if smelling them. He is then
invited to be seated, and inquiries are made about the state of his
health and the particulars of his voyage. wWater is next brought to
wash his feet, and after being thoroughly dried they are gently
rubbed with butter. The room in which he lodges is perfumed by
repeatedly burning incense during the day, and shortly after his
arrival one of the young maidens of the house presents coffee and dates,
which are shared by the host who, after having partaken, politely
leaves his guest to repose himself from the fatigue of the journey.
Before being admitted to the presence of an Arab in his own house,
the visitor must take off his shoes 3 he is then received in the men’s
apartment, which is always the front part. If there is but one room
in the ~ house the women are asked to retire, and they instantly
disappear, so as not to be exposed to the impertinent curiosity of
strangers. -
In-the mountain districts the duty of hospitality is carried to such
a degree of reﬁnement that a supply of water is provided on the high-
roads, for the vaccommodation of travellers, in reservoirs of mason
work, with a vase standing beside it to meet the wants of the thirsty
‘wanderer ; and small vaulted houses are constructed by the roadside
to serve as shelter on the occurrence of drenching rains and violent
storms, which are quite frequent in the mountain regions.
The tillage of the soil, and the rearing of camels, horses, and sheep
are the principal occupations of the South Arabians. The plough is
of a primitive pattern, and is drawn by oxen, which are not made to
trace regular furrows, but pass over the ﬁelds in every direction until
the ground is thoroughly broken up. - In Yemen many of the ﬁelds
are cultivated like gardens, which contributes much to render the
country most productive. In the districts where the rainfall is scanty
or irregular, irrigation becomes one of the most indispensable means
to render the land suﬁiciently fertile and susceptible of cultivation.
In the lowlands, canals and other artiﬁcial constructions are contrived
to provide an abundant supply of water throughout the whole year.
In thqhighlands, water is collected in dams, which, by means of locks,
can be made to discharge their waters to be distributed through aque—
ducts wherever they are needed in case of necessity, when the rains
:are irregular or insuﬁ‘icient.
In the mountain regions of Yemen many of the lands are terraced,
the stones being furnished by the piece of ground which is to be made
arable, and cisterns (sedd) are constructed which serve as reservoirs to
collect the waters of the rivulets that are everywhere purling down
a...
420 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
the ravines. On Mount Saber they cultivate wheat, barley, maize,
and various fruit-trees, especially kaat (CcZast-ras adults), which forms
the most important article of cultivation. The young leaves and buds,
after the third year’s growth, are cut and are eaten, having the delicate
taste of fresh hazelnuts. In that part of Yemen it is the most valuable
article of commerce, exceeding even that of coffee in importance.1
Arts and manufactures are not in a ﬂourishing condition among the
South Arabs. They make their own ﬁrearms, but they are of inferior
quality; they weave a very coarse cotton cloth for domestic use, and
much ornamental gold and silver ware is made by the Jews and
Banians, who are the chief artisans, and who travel from town to town
and visit the different markets, where they ply the tools of their trade.
The South Arabs, like all other Aramaean races, are great lovers of
music and poetry. Their principal musical instruments are a kind
of guitar, called rababa, and a reed ﬂute, hasciba, which are played
only as accompaniments to the more enlivening strains of the human
voice. Their songs are either erotic (hodjemy) or panegyric (asamcr) 3
they either celebrate the virtues of their lovers or the valour and good
conduct of their heroes in extemporaneous verses, which are generally
repeated in chorus. Their songs, although extremely rude in musical
composition, are nevertheless harmonious and pleasing to the ear.
Education is not generally diffused in South Arabia, but in the
larger towns many even of the lower classes are taught to read and
write. People of high rank, and families of distinction, engage the
services of some man of learning to instruct their children and slaves
in the elementary branches of education. A school of a higher order
(med-ressc) is ordinarily attached to the principal mosques, which is.
generally supported by a pious foundation where poor scholars receive
gratuitous instruction. In the colleges, which are established in the-
cities, astronomy is taught, which chieﬂy serves the purpose of prac‘
tising astrology 3 and philosophy and medicine, based upon unscientiﬁc.
and incongruous theories and principles, receive considerable attention.
But the interpretation of the Koran and the ancient history of Moha-
medanism constitute their principal studies. -
Many of the more educated classes even are suﬂiciently superstitious
to cultivate the occult sciences. The mysticism of “ Ism Allah,” or
of the “ Name of God,” is a kind of habalah which, in the opinion of
its votaries, is sublime in its object and lofty in its wonderful results.
The devotee, who is initiated in the mystery, taking “Allah as the
lock and the Prophet as the key,” is enabled to ascertain what is
passing in the most distant countries, to become the familiar and com-
panion of the genii, and command their services at pleasure. They
order the winds to do their bidding, and give direction to the spirit of
the seasons. They render the bite of venomous serpents innocuous,
and many inﬁrmities and diseases must yield to their charms and
incantations. Those that have attained a high degree of proﬁciency
can transport themselves in spirit, at a distance of hundreds of miles,
to the Kaaba to perform there their prayers. They possess the wisdom

1 For other products cultivated, see supra, pp. 398 and 416.
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 421
which renders them so clear-sighted as to discover hidden treasures,
and by long fasting and prayers they are favoured, in their fainting
ﬁts, with pretended visions so sublime as to defy the ordinary
powers of human reason. The art of composing amulets, which are
enclosed in skin pouches, is also practised. They are supposed to pro-
tect the wearer against the power of enchantment and against all
hurtful accidents. These charms are also suspended from the neck of
horses and asses to improve their appetite and to render them docile
and easily manageable. Fortune-telling and sorcery still ﬁnd here
their dupes, and there are men still credulous enough to believe that
.a wife may be seduced from the arms of her husband by ﬁxing some
‘written formula to the door of her apartment. -
The language generally spoken in South Arabia is the Arabic of the
Desert and of the Hedjaz, which approaches nearest in purity that of
the Korannic age; but the Mahre tribes speak the Mehri or Hakili
language, which is probably an offshoot of the Ghez or ancient Ethiopic.
The Himyaritic language is an old sister tongue of the Arabic, which
was anciently spoken by the people who inhabited South Arabia, and
has much affinity with the language of Central Arabia, both taking
their origin from the primitive Aramaean. The Arabic historians
assert that the original Arabic, called Ariba, was spoken by the Adites
and the Thamudees—ancient tribes that are now extinct; and that
from the Ariba the Mota-Ariba branched oﬂ”, which was spoken by
the Kathanites, from which the Himyaritic and the South Arabic
were developed. The Himyaritic was already a language written in
alphabetic characters which differ considerably from those of modern
Arabic, and numerous Himyaritic inscriptions have been discovered
which indicate that the ancient people by whom this language was
spoken had, to some degree, cultivated a primitive literature.
Marriage in South Arabia is not a matter of choice on the part of
the woman, but she is rather disposed of at the pleasure of her father
'to one who sues for her hand and supports his pretensions by the
offer of an adequate price, which does not, however, accrue absolutely
to the beneﬁt of her parents 5 but two-thirds must be returned if the
woman is repudiated through her own fault.
The young man who proposes to pay attention to a young maiden
he loves may see her at her father’s house, or he may seek an oppor-
tunity to meet her at the well to which she daily resorts to fetch
‘water. To give full assurance of his love he frequently serenades her
in the evening near her father’s dwelling, and sings a love-song
(hocljemy) praising her beauty and her other good qualities. As
:soon as he has made up his mind to wed her, he sends his father or
some other near relative to ask for her hand, and from the moment
his proposal is accepted the girl can no longer go abroad unveiled, and
:she and her betrothed are no longer permitted to visit or to have any
(other personal relations with one another.
On the day of the marriage, the bride and the articles set apart as her
‘dowry are conducted in procession to the bridegroom’s house. Dressed
in a red caftan, and his head entwined with a huge turban, which
is ornamented in front with a bouquet of garlic as a protection against
422 .THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
the evil eye, the bridegroom, surrounded by the relatives of the bride,
sits motionless on a platform which is covered with a light-coloured
cotton cloth. All the visitors are expected to offer some suitable-
present as a gratuity to the young married couple, which is deposited
in a copper dish standing in front of the platform over which a silk
handkerchief is spread to conceal from view the gifts of the respective
donors. Near it one boy holds a burning incense pot, and another a
bottle of rose-water, to diffuse sweet odours throughout the room and
to perfume the invited guests with the precious liquid essence. The
visitors, seated on a black carpet, receive each from the bridegroom
and the bride a small green branch placed at their disposal for this.
purpose, and they pass their time in singing the asame'r or the
eulogistic love-song. The bride, in the company of her female relatives
and friends, is sitting in an adjoining apartment which is separated
from the front room by a curtain of ﬂowered calico, and in front of her
is placed an aloe plant, a bunch of garlic, and a small bag ﬁlled with
alum. WVhile the bridegroom and bride are thus compelled to remain
immovable in the same position from noon till midnight without
tasting of the good things provided for the occasion, the guests are
regaled with an abundance of sweetmeats and coffee, which are followed
by the more substantial dishes of rice and a plentiful supply of boiled
and roasted mutton. At midnight the marriage-feast terminates, the-
guests disperse, and the bridegroom and the bride retire each to their
respective quarters without enjoying the privilege of seeing each
other. On the night of the fourth day after the marriage celebration
the bridegroom is allowed to visit the bride 3 but it is only after he
has suitably regaled his young wife and her relations and friends that
he can avail himself of his changed situation and claim his marital
rights. The proof of the virginity of the bride is placed in the
keeping of her relations, to serve as a record of the fact' if it should
be necessary to establish it by clear and unmistakable evidence.
Among some of the Bedouin tribes who dwell in limestone caverns,
marriage is a kind of Sabine rape of a less violent character, but with
equally satisfactory results. Before the dwellings of the bridegroom
and the bride sheep are killed, great ﬁres are kindled, and feasting
and singing are kept up until two hours after sunset. The young »
men then form an escort to the bridegroom to accompany him to the
cavern of the bride’s father, where the betrothed husband demands
the surrender of his young wife. He is gravely informed that she has
ﬂed to unknown parts. His companions then raise a loud howl, and,
preparing their arms to be ready for action, they proceed on their
tour of discovery. After some search they‘ perceive a cavern guarded
by a troop of young girls which they approach, but are met with a
shower of stones. They advance, nevertheless, with the object of
gaining possession of the place by main force, when the young women
who guard the entrance take to ﬂight, leaving the bride to the
assailants to be treated as a captive of war. The bridegroom enters
the cavern and takes possession of his promised troth, and after a
short time they come out together, the bride having her face veiled
in the manner of married women. They are received in the midst of
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 423
their young male and female friends, who await their arrival at some
distance, the former discharging their ﬁrearms, and the latter thrilling
forth the joyful sound of the zygarcct. The husband, before entering
his own cavern, sacriﬁces two sheep, which are immediately roasted
and eaten.
Among the town Arabs of South Arabia funerals are conducted with
some solemnity. The body of the deceased is placed upon a bier in
coffinlike form, and a copper censer perfumes the atmosphere around
it with odorous vapours. The hands are joined over the body and
the two great toes are tied together. Cotton wool is introduced into
the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, between the thumb and the ‘index,
and the great toe and the second toe. A cotton pellet is also placed
over the eyes. A shroud-like piece of cloth (kcfen) is folded over the
corpse and tied above the head and below the feet. Two imams
recite passages from the Koran suitable to funeral occasions, and the
relations and friends assembled repeat the fatz'ha or ﬁrst ‘chapter of
the Koran, while the women are uttering, in a moderate tone of voice,
words of regret and expressions of sorrow. As soon as the procession
commences to form, with the object of proceeding to the mosque, the
female relatives, joined by the women of the neighbourhood, break
forth in a shrill and heartrending lamentation. At the entrance of the
mosque a platform is raised on which the bier is deposited, and the
imams again read several chapters of the Koran. The body is then
borne to its ﬁnal resting~place, where the fat'z'hct is once more recited,
and after the bands of the shroud are loosened it is deposited in a
niche of an excavation eight feet deep, and is covered with a straw
mat. The friends who compose the funeral escort throw each three
(handfuls of earth into the grave, reciting at the same time the fatz'ha.
To mark the spot where the last remains of the dear departed are
buried, green branches are stuck into the ground in front of the
tomb. '
When a Bedouin dies he is stripped of all his clothes except his
wrapper; his knees are bent so as to touch his chin, where they are
tied 3 the corpse is laid on the side with the head turned towards the
east ; and while reciting the fatiha it is buried in this position and
covered over with a pile of stones.
The. religion of the South Arabs is Mohamedanism of the most
orthodox sect.1 - The rite of circumcision is universally considered
obligatory by all true believers, and boys undergo this operation on
the seventh day after birth. As a rule, girls are likewise subjected to
this initiatory rite, but it is not at all imperative as a religious obli—
gation. The solemn fast of Rhamadan is strictly observed. The
ceremonial requirements in the performance of daily prayers, and the
injunction of abstaining from wine, are generally complied with.
Like all other Aramaean races, the South Arabs are highly superstitious.
They never sit down to a meal or transact the least important business
without ﬁrst pronouncing the sacramental words, B-is’nzilZalze-r mil-man

1 The sect to which the inhabitants of Yemen belong is Zeidism, and though
they pretend to be Sunnites and orthodox, yet they are much suspected of ap-
proaching the Shiites in their religious practices. Betta, Voyages, p. 49.
424 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
crrahyn (“In the name of the compassionate God”). They never
throw an object to the ground, or draw water from a well, without
saying, Tcsdar (“ With permission”). They are ﬁrmly persuaded that
they are constantly exposed to the pernicious inﬂuence of the “evil
eye,” and have much conﬁdence in the counteracting effects of charms
and amulets. The Bedouins believe that a person stepping over
another that lies prostrate on the ground transfers to him all the
maladies to which he is subject or from which he may be suﬂ’ering at
the time.
The South Arabs recognise in their social economy the most odious
class distinction that can possibly be conceived, which is so exclusive
and tyrannical that those who are made its victims are irretrievably
consigned to the lowest degree of abject debasement without possi-
bility of redemption. The pariahs of South Arabia are of two kinds.
The achdam (singular, chadcm) are considered, according to the literal
interpretation of the word, as servants—the subordinate Imenials of
the dominant class. They are principally engaged in the mechanic
arts, and among these tanners, washers, potters, and butchers occupy
the lowest rank, for they are looked upon as being not only degraded
but also impure. They live in the outskirts of the towns, and although
they are not admitted as visitors in Arab houses, they are at liberty to
enter the mosques to practise the religious exercises of the Mohamedan
creed. A class still inferior to these, which are only found in the
towns of Yemen, are called shamr (singular, shimr), and are likewise
compelled to live in separate quarters, altogether apart from the rest
of the inhabitants. They are strict Mohamedans, but they are not per-
mitted to visit the mosques 3 for as they are supposed to eat putrescent
carcases, the performance of no religious duties could wash away this
bodily and mental deﬁlement. They cannot marry outside of their
own caste, and their lowly social condition is a heritage acquired by
birth, which no occupation and no meritorious conduct could change.
They are not restricted in the choice of honest means by which they
can gain a livelihood, but they are generally extremely poor, and con-.
sequently it cannot be expected that their morals should be of an
elevated standard. They are, for the most part, street singers and
public musicians, and they are apt performers on the drum and ﬁfe.
Their women, who exhibit themselves in public to display their vocal
powers in singing love ditties, are distinguished for great animation,
with ﬁery and penetrating eyes, which clearly indicate that they are
not wanting in intelligence. For the amusement which they aﬁord
in the exercise of their musical talents, the more respectable classes
remunerate them by voluntary contributions, which enables them to
support themselves in a precarious way, especially as they are exempt
from all taxation.
Among the Bedouins there exists another class distinction which is
not so degrading in its sweeping exclusions. The nomadic tribes
which have never been conquered, but still preserve their independence,
are called lcohag/el or freemen. They are virtually the governing class,
and as they concentrate within themselves the military element of the
political division which they consider as their paternal domain, the
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 425
power of the government is virtually in their hands. The inferior or
subject class of the population are called myahs. These are composed
of traders and tillers of the soil. They pay the taxes and support the
government, but they are often robbed and pillaged by their superiors
whose duty it is to protect them. There are also numerous Jewish
communities in South Arabia, who are the higher artisans, such as
gunmakers and goldsmiths, and their social position is inferior to that
of the m'yahs but superior to the pariahs. They are tolerated on
account of their great industry and skill in the mechanic arts. When
the feudal governors ravage and pillage the country to rob the culti-
vators of the soil of the produce of their harvest ﬁelds, the Jews, like
the women, as well as the uncircumcised, not being permitted to bear
arms, remain unmolested.
The standing armies in South Arabia are insigniﬁcant. Some of
the reigning chiefs have no more than thirty cavalry at their command,
partly mounted on horses and partly on camels, who in time of peace
.act not only as a body-guard but also as couriers. In case of war all
the available force of the country is enrolled, and those who have not
.sufﬁcient means to procure for themselves horses are required to serve
on foot as a kind of infantry.
The ordinary weapon used is the matchlock. Each gunner is
provided with a snail-shaped horn, which contains his powder for
loading, and another made in crescent form which holds the priming
‘powder. The ball pouch is suspended ‘from his shoulder by a band
ornamented with silver. Those who are too poor to purchase a gun
wear the straight sword (nemeslza), which is from one to one and a
.half feet long. The Bedouins are, in addition, armed with a lance,
and are always mounted on a ﬂeet horse.
Somerof the Bedouins of South Arabia, after they have determined
in council to wage war against their enemy, kindle a large ﬁre in the
centre of the circle around which they are assembled, and manifest
their alacrity to ﬁght by greeting the rising ﬂames with a loud shout.
The oldest sheikh present ties the feet of a sheep, takes a green branch
of the nebek tree, which, after having pronounced a prayer over it,
he throws into the ﬂames, and says, “As this branch dries up, so may
[our enemy dry up.” He then seizes his dagger, recites another prayer,
‘cuts the throat of the animal, and extinguishes the ﬂame of the burning
nebek branch with the blood. When the branch is thus reddened,
he says, “ He who stays behind in the hour of danger and abandons
his standard, may dry up, he and his, as this is dried up.” The gory,
smoking branch is then withdrawn from the ﬁre, and small branchlets
being torn off they are handed over to a number of the warriors, while
the main branch is planted in the ground, around which the Bedouins,
with their hair hanging loosely down, sing their war-song and dance
the war-dance. The messengers to whom the branchlets have been
distributed hie forth from valley to valley to call the sons of the tribe
'to arms, ‘and whenever the signiﬁcant branchlet is planted before the
tent, no one who values his honour dares lag behind if he does not
desire to be branded as a coward and a wretch. Where this standard
is borne forward, the battle wages the‘wildest and the ﬁghting is most
426 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
ﬁerce, and the bearer of it‘ would sooner die than survive the disgrace-
of having surrendered it to an enemy. After the conclusion of peace
the branches are collected and burned to ashes, and the sheikhs of the
reconciled tribes take each other’s hands and say, “Our enmity is
annihilated as these branches are destroyed 3 peace be henceforth between
me and my children and thee and thy children” As blood-revenge
is still practised as a rightful exercise of power conceded to private
parties, the tribe that has the advantage as regards the less number of
dead, says to the other, “Choose between blood and milk 3” or, in
other words, “Revenge the fallen or accept the blood-money 3 ” and in
those amicable arrangements which have a lasting peace for their
object the last alternative is always preferred.
South Arabia is divided into numerous small political communities,
nominally governed by local chiefs whose authority is for the most
part restricted by some supervisory control. Almost every important
town or village has a provincial governor (dolas) at its head, who, like
the feudal barons of old, wage war against each other or against the-
tottering central authority, with the object of increasing their wealth
by plunder, or of rendering themselves independent of their feudal
superiors. Even some of the more powerful sultans are the tributary
vassals of Bedouin tribes, who in return - defend . them against the
encroachments of their enemies, or they are subsidised political agents
of a foreign power.
Yemen was formerly governed by imams, ecclesiastical dignitaries
in name who are, in fact, the chiefs of politicalv communities. Among
these little despots the Imam of Sana, whose authority was in a
modiﬁed sense hereditary, was the most important, and his eldest son
was generally selected to succeed him, which required, however, the-
approval of his obedient subjects. He exercised absolute power as
the spiritual head and temporal sovereign within vthe limits of the
contracted territory over which he ruled. The judicial authority was
vested in a certain number of kadis—a tribunal in which the imam
in person acted as presiding judge, and thus exercised the power of
life and death. . The provincial governors (dolas) were subordinate to;
the imam, they commanded the military forces within the limits of
their jurisdiction, regulated the police and collected the taxes. They
were responsible for their administration to the supreme authority,
and were required to render, at stated times, a true account of the
condition of their affairs. The imams have for the most part been '
destituted, and Turkey nominally claims supremacy in Yemen, and
has a garrison in Sana, the capital of the country, which is now
governed by a city council that selects a sheikh who is the recognised
head of the government. ‘ .
The other territorial divisions of South Arabia are mostly governed
by sultans, a lofty title but a petty office. The dignity of these chiefs
is hereditary, and they exercise despotic power over the rayahs and the-
people of the conquered dependencies 3 but they are generally restricted
in their freedom of action by the kobayel or Bedouin freemen, who'-
supply them with their disposable military force and determine in
council questions of peace and war. The sultansof the Fodli country
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 427
and of Laheg receive each an annual subsidy from England, and in
shaping their external policy they are entirely dependent on that
power.
The sultans are not only the executive chiefs of the government,
but they also preside over the judicial tribunals for the trial of rag/ails.
Justice is dispensed in a summary manner, and is not altogether free
from the bias-of hatred or favour. The criminal laws are somewhat
arbitrary if not cruel. The murderer is stabbed by the soldiers on the
spot where his victim is buried. Theft for the ﬁrst offence is punished
by the bastinado at the pleasure of the sultan, and a restoration of the
articles stolen; and in Laheg the loss of the right hand follows even
the ﬁrst infringement on the rights of property, no matter how
insigniﬁcant. For the second offence the right hand is cut off in the
Fodli country, while in Laheg the thief is deprived of his remaining
hand. If he persists in his misdoings, he is sown up in a sack to
which weights are attached, and in this plight he is thrown into the
sea. Assault and battery, insult, an offence against the Mohamedan
religion, are all punished with imprisonment and the chaining of the
legs. A simple violation of chastity is revenged by chaining the
offender around the middle of the body and also by loading his legs
with fetters.1 Adultery is considered a crime of the most heinous
character, and is placed in the same category with murder. Criminals
who are committed to prison are chained by having a ring fastened
to each leg, so arranged as to enable them to take exercise in the court-
yard. Prisoners are dependent for their support on their relatives or
on the charity of strangers.
In the Fodli country the expedient of the ﬁre ordeal is still brought
into requisition when the crime of murder cannot be proved by the
evidence of witnesses. The ﬁre judge, who is specially appointed for
this purpose, after a short prayer, applies a hot knife to the tongue of
the accused in the presence of the sultan and the tribal chiefs. If he
manifests the least sign of having been affected by a painful sensation,
or if a wound shows itself produced by a change of tissue, he is declared
guilty 3 and if a rag/ah he is immediately executed, but if he is a kobag/el
he is allowed to proceed to his home, where the relatives of the victim
have the privilege of availing themselves of the right of blood-revenge.
Sana, the principal city of Yemen, contains about forty thousand
inhabitants, of which about three thousand are Jews. It is one of the
oldest cities in the East, for an antiquity of several thousand years is
claimed for it. Its houses are lofty and of solid construction. They
are for the most part built of black lava, except some particular
buildings which are of marble obtained from the neighbouring quarries.
The place is distinguished for the great number of its mosques, some
of which are of great beauty 3 and its baths and caravansaries furnish
all the conveniences to encourage cleanliness and promote trade.
The fountains are numerous and yield an abundance of excellent water,
which is brought hither from the N okom mountain, that looms up at

1 In Laheg the same offence is punished by having a ball Suspended from the
offender’s neck.
428 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
no great distance and protects the town against the frosts and cold ‘
winds of the winter months. The markets and bazaars are well
supplied with every article of luxury and necessity. The southern
fruits can be procured here of the best quality 3 but coffee is the
principal and most valuable staple of commerce.
Makallah is situated in fourteen degrees thirty-one minutes north
latitude, on the Gulf of Aden. It has a safe and commodious harbour 3
and being the depository of goods coming from India ad Africa, it is
of considerable commercial importance. The houses are mostly of stone
and are quite substantial buildings. The inhabitants are partly trading
Somalis from Africa, Banians from India, and Wasooaheli from Zanzibar.
The latter are principally smiths and work at their trade. The foreigners
live in the suburbs and are mostly devoted to commercial pursuits.
The principal articles of export are gum, hides, senna, indigo, frank-
incense, and shark ﬁns, which are considered a great delicacy in India.
Choraybe is situated on Wady Dean, and contains about six thou-
sand inhabitants. The streets are narrow, and, although paved with
pebbles, they are not kept in a cleanly condition, as the rubbish and
water is allowed to accumulate for some time before they are removed.
The houses are built of sun-dried brick 3 they are four or ﬁve stories
high, with small windows closed by wooden shutters, ‘and a low
entrance-door adorned with carved woodwork and frequently inscribed
with a passage from the Koran. The roof is ﬂat, and is surrounded
by a terrace wall four feet high. The rooms are arranged along a
passage, which is reached by ascending a stairway. A shelf, orna-
mented with arabesques and glittering nail-heads of brass, is ﬁtted to
the wall of the rooms. Black carpets are not only spread on the ﬂoor,
but they cover the side-walls; and from these are suspended match-
locks, sabres, lances, and shields. That part of the room which looks
towards the Kaaba is provided with a prayer-mat. The exterior walls,
as well as those of the terrace, have port-holes, to enable the inmates
to resist more effectually the attack of an approaching enemy. The
palace of the sultan and the dwelling of the sheikh are marked by the
antlers of the stonebuck which crown the terrace walls. The houses
are built so closely together as to form an uninterrupted line of enclo-
sure, with no other openings than the entrance to the streets, which
are guarded against unwelcome intruders by strongly-made wooden
palings. Wells, supplying excellent water, are found inside and out-
side of the town. The bazaar is but indifferently supplied with goods,
which the rich merchants keep in secure places in their own houses,
for fear of being surprised by a party of plundering Arabs who make
frequent pillaging excursions in this part of the ‘country. The town
has three mosques, but they present nothing that is remarkable. The
fortiﬁed towers in the suburbs are garrisoned by a small number of
Bedouins, who exercise a commanding inﬂuence both with the sultan
and the inhabitants of the town.
The most commercial town of Yemen is Mocha, which has given
its name to the ﬁrst quality of coffee extensively grown in the moun-
tain regions. It is situated on the Red Sea, and is a commercial port
of some importance. It has lost, however, much of its former splen-
ARABS OF SOUTH ARABIA. 429-
dour, and its present population does not exceed seven thousand souls,
including, besides the native Arabs, Hindoos, Somalis, and Jews.
The climate of Mocha is most sultry, on account of the south-east wind
that sweeps continually over the arid plain. This monsoon continues
for at least eight months in the year with such force as frequently to
render all communication between the vessels in the road and the
shore impossible. During the prevalence of the north-west monsoon
the heat is most oppressive, but the air is clear and light. The
country in the vicinity of the city is most dreary and desolate; the
surface soil, to the foot of the mountains, presents nothing but arid
sand covered by a saline efﬂorescence, where nothing but mimosas and
salicornias grow. Date-trees ﬂourish here in great profusion, but they
are rather of stunted growth. The town is surrounded by a wall
which, on the sea side, is not more than sixteen feet high, though in
some places on the land side it rises to the height of thirty feet 3 but
as it is wanting in suiﬁcient thickness, it could not resist the slightest
bombardment. The harbour is protected by two forts, erected on two
points of land which are projecting into the sea. Mocha presents a
fair appearance from the sea, but the interior is rather ﬁlthy, and the
houses are frequently in a state of decay. The most important build-
ings are the residence of the dola or the provincial governor, and one
of the mosques which has some celebrity, for it is said that it had
been consecrated by Mohamed in person. The houses, which are ﬂat—
roofed, are all built of sun-dried bricks, having small latticed windows,
and they are sometimes provided with balconies. The ﬂoors, as well
as the roofs, are constructed of horizontal beams, overlaidwith planks-
or sticks of wood, and covered with chunaml The internal arrange-
ments of the family dwellings‘ are far from being judicious ; the
passages are long and narrow, and the staircases are so steep that
their ascent is very difﬁcult. The commerce of the city is principally
conﬁned to the export of coffee, which is shipped to Hindostan, to
England, and other parts of Europe and America. The other articles
of export are gum arabie, myrrh, and frankincense, which are chieﬂy
brought from Berbera. Mocha is now in possession of Turkey, and
the city is the residence of a Turkish governor who exercises supreme
authority over Yemen and all the adjoining countries.
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Arabia and Hindostan from 1776—1780. By C. Niebuhr.
Report of a Voyage in Yemen. By Milligen.
Reise in Hadramaut. Von A. V011 Wrede. 1870.
Relation d’un Voyage clans l’Yemen. Par M. P. E. Botta. 184i.
Arabien und die Araber seit ein hundred J ahren. Von Albrecht Zehme.
I 8 6.
Beise nach Siid Arabien. Von H. von Maltzan. 187 3.
Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, and the Red‘ Sea. By George Vis-

count Valentia. 1809.
1 Chunam is a name employed for quicklime made into a kind of cement.
.430 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
OMANITES.
OMAN, which forms the south-eastern corner of Arabia, is bounded on
the east by the Gulf of Oman, on the south by the Arabian Sea and
Hadramaut, on the west by the Sandy Desert, and on the north by
the Persian Gulf. The Gebel Ahkdar is the most elevated range of
the mountain chains that traverse the whole country and almost touch
the sea-shore. Primitive limestone, of which the principal mountain
chain is almost exclusively composed, gives the predominant character
to the geological formation of Oman, and it enters also largely into the
composition of the inferior ranges. In the northern provinces and on
the sea-shore, hills rising from ﬁfteen hundred to two thousand feet in
height are wholly made up of mica slate, twisted into a variety of
tortuous forms. In other localities basaltic rocks crop out, which form
steep acclivities or assume a dome—like appearance. , Copper, as well as
silver associated with lead, is found in the mountain regions. The surface
soil presents a desert plain thickly interspersed with oases or tracts
of land of considerable fertility, while numerous rich valleys are inter-
secting the mountain chain. The greatest proportion of the land is,
however, irremediably barren, for the arid plain in which the oases
are situated, which extends westward to the desert, is either of a sandy
or clayey composition. Here and there a few succulent plants spring
up, fed by the heavy dews, but the large tracts are the beds of moun-
tain torrents, and are covered by a layer of water-washed masses of
limestone swept down from the neighbouring heights. This part of
the country is entirely destitute of vegetation, with the exception of
some small bushes that afford scanty food to camels. The oases extend
from Beni Abu 7Ali in a continuous line to west-north-west. They
are usually of an oblong form, lying at right angles to the streams by
which they are supplied with water. Their circumference varies from
seven or eight miles to one mile and even less.
The wild animals of Oman do not differ from the rest of Arabia.
On the plains jackals, foxes, antelopes, jerboas, hares, and the JVIas
jaculas are very numerous. Hyenas are found near the mountains;
wild hogs, goats, and a kind of small panther are met with on Gebel
Ahkdar. The most useful birds are wild ducks, doves, plovers, pigeons,
the desert partridge, and a species of pheasant that abounds in the
plains. Eagles are plentiful in the mountains, and three varieties of
vultures are found in the plains. The sea-fowls that visit the coast
are the laughing sea-gull, the noddy (Stolz'da), the red-throated diver
(Septentrz'o'nalis), the white spoonbill (Leucorclz'a), and the Indian
crane (Antigone). Fish are so abundant along the coast that they are
OMANITES. 43 I
fed to cows and asses, and are used for manuring the ﬁelds. The
vegetable productions indigenous to the country are lofty acacias
(A. Arabica and A. mm), which produce the commercial gum, the
tamarisk bush, and the nebek (Rhamnus lotus). Tamarind trees grow
most luxuriantly on some of the plains. Aloes (Aloe spicata) are plen-
tiful on the borders of streams. Cassia senna and Cassia lanceolata
grow here in great abundance. The Cucumis colocynthus is met with
on_ the sea-coast and other places, and several species of spurge grow in
the mountains. The Ruta graveolens, absynth, wild lavendar, and
many aromatic shrubs and plants, are quite common.
The climate of Oman is not uniform. At a distance from the sea-
coast and to the westward of the mountains the air is very dry in the
cold, and excessively hot in the warm, season. At Batna the atmo~
sphere is comparatively cool and moist even in summer 3 but in the
cases the climate is rather insalubrious, and is highly obnoxious to the
health of strangers. On the other hand, the coast regions occupied by
the Bedouins are remarkably healthy. At Mascat, which is surrounded
by naked rocks, the sun’s rays become concentrated, and at certain
seasons the heat is almost intolerable. Even in April the thermo~
meter sometimes marks 106° F. at ﬁve o’clock in the evening. But
generally cool and refreshing sea-breezes prevail during the day.
Rain falls from. October to March, but rarely continues for more than
three or four days in each month, accompanied by heavy though
partial storms. On the summit of Gebel Ahkdar snow and ice are
not uncommon during the winter season, and in March hailstorms
frequently pass over the plains below. The night dews are very
copious, producing the] same effect as a moderate rain. In the desert
the atmosphere is usually clear and the sky is cloudless 3 it is in the
day of the clearest azure, and at night the stars are sparkling with
extraordinary brilliancy.
The population of Oman comprises two distinct classes, of which
the settled Arabs of the towns and the cases form the majority, while
the Bedouins who lead a wandering life occupy the surrounding plains.
It is asserted upon a pretended authority of the Bible, whose genea_
logical enumeration of the ﬁrst races of mankind does not rest upon
an historical foundation, that the Omanites descended, like the rest
of the Arabs, from two different stocks: that of J ocktan and that of
Ishmael But be this as it may, the distinction, if it ever existed at
all, is now entirely effaced, and the Omanites only differ among them-
selves, not in race peculiarities, but only in habits of life and character.
The sedentary and nomadic Omanites, who are both divided into
tribes, regard each other with mutual jealousy, if not hatred and con-
tempt. The Bedouin tribes are entirely independent of each other.
The most ancient and best known are the Beni Hassan, the Beni-Abu-
’Ali, the Beni Genebze, the Beni Gafari, the Meyun, the Beni-Katub,
the Yemani, and the El Arabi. Some of these live in towns, while
others have their wives and slaves occasionally employed in the tillage
of the soil. The Beni Riyam occupy the Ahkdar mountains, and are
the most independent of all the tribes.
Mascat, the capital of Oman, and its largest seaport, is situated in
432 ' THE ARAMZEAN sTocx.
twenty-three degrees thirty-two minutes north latitude, at the southern
extremity of the gulf, which is about nine hundred geographical miles
long and four hundred miles wide. The city lies at the bottom of a
cove, and is bordered on the east and on the west by steep and lofty
rocks that afford a safe shelter to the largest ships. Its beautiful har-
bour, which is defended by several batteries and some small forts, is
of veryslimited dimensions. It is circular, and is formed by an island
facing the city, which renders the landing very safe; but is never-
theless open to the north, and during winter, when the northerly and
westerly gales prevail, a very heavy sea is frequently thrown in. The
overhanging rocks and cove-hills which, to the height of from three to»
ﬁve hundred feet, rise almost perpendicularly from the sea, are, with
the exception of some stunted bushes seen here and there, entirely
destitute of vegetation. The city, which is built on a slope, rising
with a gradual ascent from the sea, is protected by a wall where the-
natural defences are considered insuﬂicient to ward off an attack.
Many of the houses within the walls are built of stone with ﬂat
terraced roofs, and the palace of the imam is an ediﬁce of considerable
architectural pretensions. The streets are narrow and crowded, and
most of the houses are wretched huts, intermingled with low, mean
constructions, the front of which is protected by a canvas awning.
The population is rather of a mixed character, and even the natives
of the city are generally descendants of Arabs, Persians, Hindoos,
Syrians, and even Belooches, Afghans, and Koords. Its number has
been variously estimated from twelve thousand to sixty thousand
souls, including Banians, Persians, Scindians, Abyssinians, a few Jews,
and negro slaves.
The Omanites proper, outside of the capital, are pure unmixed
Arabs, and have all the ‘characteristic features of their race. They
are of medium stature, are sparely made, have a yellowish-brown
complexion, and rather small heads. The women are of good height,
are well formed, and are distinguished for round full ﬁgures without
being corpulent. Their skin being comparatively of a light colour,
they somewhat resemble ordinary brunettes. The Bedouin women,
on the other hand, are of a swarthy complexion, have large vivacious
eyes, a nose inclined to be aquiline, a regular mouth, and pearly white
teeth. Their expression of countenance is very pleasing, and their
personal attractions are quite conspicuous. They are of a gay and
sprightly disposition, and their smile of love and pleasure is almost
irresistible.
The most prominent trait of the moral character of the Omanites is
their hospitality, and even strangers are treated with the greatest
respect and consideration. They are plain and simple in their man-
ners, are amiable and well disposed, and are distinguished for valour
and tenacity of purpose and energy in the usual pursuits of life.
They are taciturn and reserved in their intercourse, and though they
are inﬂexible in the performance of their religious duties, yet they are
quite tolerant to every dissenting opinion. In the sea-coast towns
profligacy of manners marks many of the lower classes, and even some
of the higher orders are equally sensual and degraded. Many who
OMAN ITES. 43 3
are devoted to commercial pursuits are not very trustworthy, and when
a favourable opportunity presents itself they will overreach those that
have dealings with them 3 but in this respect they are, perhaps, not
worse than the ordinary merchant class of other countries. The
inhabitants of the oases are a proud and high-minded race; they are
hospitable, brave, and generous, but at the same time they are vindic-
tive, are of an irascible temper, and excessively sensitive to insult.
The Omanites live in populous cities and villages scattered along
the coast and in the interior. The houses of the richer classes, which
are quite capacious, are constructed of stone or sun-dried bricks, and
are stuccoed over with a cement composed of mud, straw, and pebbles.
The larger houses are of square form, and are built round an open
court. The several apartments, which are usually spacious and lofty,
and are provided with wooden ceilings often painted in rude devices,
open into a gallery which runs round each ﬂoor. The whitewashed
walls are formed of cane, and the clay ﬂoor is smoothed and hardened
by rollers, and is generally covered with a mat. There is but one
entrance door, and a substantial wall surrounds the dwelling. The
houses of the lower orders are frail, insigniﬁcant huts composed of a
frame of posts, the intervals being ﬁlled up with a kind of trelliswork
of reed or split bamboos lashed together crosswise, or they are simply
intertwined with the branches of the date-palm. The walls are
frequently coated with clay, or they are covered with mats, and palm
leaves or reeds are used to thatch the roof-frame. The Bedouins, who
follow pastoral pursuits, have no stable habitations, but live in tents 3
and the tribes of the western desert have no other shelter to protect
themselves from rain and sun but the leafy canopy of trees.
The Omanites are unacquainted with the luxury of an elegantly
furnished apartment. The poor have no other bed but the bare ﬂoor
of their huts, on which they take their nightly repose without undress-
ing. The middle classes have straw couches resting on four legs which
are covered with mats, and the rich sleep on cotton couches decked
with carpets. Camel and horse trappings are hanging on pegs around
the interior walls.
The better class of Omanites are decently dressed. The body-dress
is a wrapper of pink or fancy-coloured silk or of white cotton stuff,
with wide turned-up sleeves, which is gathered round the waist with
a girdle of silver cloth, into which a highly ornamented dagger is stuck.
Over this is worn the dy'umma or upper tunic, which is of light cloth,
perfectly plain, with wide straight sleeves ,' it falls down a little below
the knee, and is fastened over the breast by means of loops of silk. The
outer dress is a striped white or dark coloured kamal-z'ne, or ,mantle of
ﬁne or coarse texture, the ﬁrst being brought from Nejed, while the
last is of home manufacture. This constitutes the national part of
their costume, and its quality denotes the rank and condition of the
wearer. Their legs, from half-way below the knee, are bare 3 but
their feet are protected by sandals of thick undyed leather, secured
over the instep by a broad ornamented strap, to which a narrow thong
is attached that passes inside of the great toe, and is ﬁxed to the sole.
Their head is covered with a turban of cashmere, or of ﬁne blue check,
‘ 2 E
4 34 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
bordered and fringed, with the ends hanging loosely down behind the
shoulders. The lower orders are much more simply dressed. The
Image’ which, in the form of a long piece of drapery, is wrapped round
the waist, constitutes their only body garment. Over this is thrown
the Iramalz'ne or mantle of some coarse stuff. Their head is entwined
with a turban of checkered linen. The dress of the Bedouins is
equally scanty. The loin-cloth and the iramalz'ne are their only
articlesof dress. Their hair, which is very thick and is entirely loose,
reaches down as far as the waist, and is kept glossy by being profusely
anointed with grease. The women are dressed in loose trousers and
gowns of dark-blue cotton stuff. In the country they leave their
face unveiled, but at Mascat, when they go abroad, they cover their
faces with masks made of black cloth or silk and bordered with gold
lace, having oblong eyeholes to enable them to see their way 3 and the
rich add a large wrapper to their ordinary costume. They stain their
feet up to the ankles as well as their hands and nails with henna, and
tinge their eyelids black with irohl or antimony. The lower classes
tattoo their arms and faces in various devices of a blue colour. Their
ornamental ﬁnery consists of bracelets and anklets of silver or amber,
and a variety of rings and other pendants are suspended from their
earlobes. Their head is often decorated with gold ornaments.
The Omanites are well supplied with substantial and nourishing
food. The ﬁrst meal or breakfast is called mesa, and is made up,
among the rich, of biscuit, fried ﬁsh, pastries, tea and “coffee. The
poor content themselves with dates and a little boiled rice, or toasted
or baked wheat cakes. At noon, the higher classes take a lunch
(caddé), which is composed of meat dishes variously prepared. The
principal meal of all classes is the ascha or supper, which is served up
about sunset. The most ordinary dishes of the evening repast are
boiled rice or pz'Zaw and stewed beef, camel’s ﬂesh, mutton or "kid, to
which a fowl is sometimes added. Ghee, or clariﬁed butter, is largely
consumed. The poor are restricted to rice or wheat cake and ﬁsh 3
and, in exceptional cases, they may be able to procure some goat’s
meat, which is generally broiled on wooden skewers, and is cut into
small pieces 3 but they are well supplied with egg-plants, potatoes,
onions, okra, and parsley. Besides dates, they have at their disposal
various kinds of fruits. Grapes are served up at every meal, pome-
granates are of superior quality, oranges are rather indifferent, limes
are plentiful, and almonds and seedless raisins are much esteemed.
Sugar-cane is a favourite article with the poor. The supper is closed
with sweetmeats, of which they are particularly fond} A favourite
preparation called holwah is made of almonds, to which a due propor-
tion of butter, honey, and sugar is added, the whole being boiled to
the consistence of a dense paste. In addition to the marabah or pine-
apple preserves, they make preserves of ginger and orange peel. Of
fresh ﬁsh, shark and dolphin are most esteemed. Their manner of
eating does not diﬁer from that of the other Mohamedan Arabs. All
are seated cross-legged round the dishes placed on a mat which is
spread on the ﬂoor, and each one helps himself with his ﬁngers. After
‘therepast is ended, every one repeats as he rises, Allam dool z'Zla
OMANITES. 435
(“Thanks be to God”). The great majority of the Omanites drink
nothing stronger than water, and in the city of Mascat those that get
their supplies from the public wells, for each of which the imam
furnishes an ox and a slave, are bound to pay a tax in grain to the
sovereign. On Gebel Ahkdar, where much wine is made, the
inhabitants partake at their meals most freely and openly of the
forbidden beverage, and in the towns where sugar is manufactured
rum is distilled from the sedimentary materials which ﬁnds a ready
sale in the country. The staple articles of food among the Bedouins
are dates and milk, and the ﬂesh of their herds and ﬂocks.
The chief occupations of the Omanites are agriculture, ﬁshing, and
commercial pursuits. The cultivation of the ground is not only the
principal pursuit along the sea-shore, on the banks of streams, and in
the vicinity of towns, but the tillage of the soil in the numerous oases
is the most remarkable feature of the agricultural operations in Oman.
Here the surface-soil has been removed to the depth of six or seven
feet; and the subsoil thus uncovered is far more productive, and can
be ﬂooded wholly or in part at pleasure with the water supplied from
the neighbouring streams. Here the soil is always saturated with
moisture, and the vegetable matter which it contains soon decays and
thus answers the purpose of manure. Wheat is sewn in the latter
part of October, and is reaped at the commencement or middle of
March. Where the system of irrigation is well regulated, a crop of
wheat and two crops of dho-um are annually produced. One month
after the wheat, barley is sown. In Batna, which is a narrow fertile
belt along the sea-shore, large quantities of grain and vegetables are
grown, and a continuous line of date-trees, often four or ﬁve miles in
breadth, extends to a distance of nearly two hundred miles. Many of
the valleys formed by the upper mountain-ranges have the ground
usually terraced, and here a variety of trees and fruits are produced
which do not thrive well in any other part of the country. The crops
in the plains depend, in some measure, on the rains, though in many
parts deep wells exist which supply suﬁicient water for irrigation.
The water is drawn from the wells with the aid of bullocks by means
of a rope running upon a roller, to the end of which a hide bucket is
attached, which empties its contents into a reservoir, and from there
it is conducted by rills over the ﬁelds. Their implements of husbandry
are rude and simple. The plough is similar to that used in Yemen.
After the ground is broken up, it is divided with the spade into small
squares with ledges on either side along which the water is conducted.
When one of the channels is ﬁlled, it is stopped up with the foot to
divert the stream in another direction. Into these square beds the
seed is thrown by hand into narrow furrows, which are covered over
so as to render the surface even and smooth. The corn is reaped with
a crescent-shaped and serrated sickle. The reaper, who is cutting the
stalks, hands the loose tops to an assistant who binds them into
sheaves which are arranged in parallel lines. The threshing operation
is performed by means of a large-sized stone, which is drawn’over the
grain-ﬁlled heads by two men 3 or it is literally trodden out by a _
bullock, who is hitched to a central stake by a peculiar kind of yoke,
436 THE ARAMrEAN sTocK.
and who is driven round over the corn disposed in a circle. The
grain is winnowed by means of palm branches. Sugar-cane of a
superior quality is cultivated in many parts, but rice is only grown in-
small quantities. Indigo, cotton, the caster-oil plant, and hemp are
cultivated in various localities. Dates of a superior quality are the
most valuable fruit produced, and their yield is generally so abundant
that during the date harvest all hands are employed in gathering
them. They are preserved by drying them and stringing them on lines,
but they are most usually packed away in baskets. The other fruits
cultivated are several kinds of oranges and limes, and several varieties
of lemons. There are various kinds of tamarinds and mangoes which
differ in size, ﬂavour, and appearance. Quinces and white and purple
grapes grow on the mountains, and apples thrive well in the plains.
Plantains, custard-apples, almonds, ﬁgs, and walnuts are also produced.
Of vegetables, the most common are onions, lentils, radishes, carrots,
egg-plants, parsley, beans, peas, cucumbers, water-melons, pumpkins,
sweet potatoes, lettuce, and sesamum. Among the domestic animals,
the Omanite camel enjoys deserved celebrity for its strength and
ﬂeetness. The camel’s neck is adorned with a band of cloth or
leather embroidered with cowry shells in crescent form, and to this
silver ornaments are sometimes added. There are but few horses
reared, and in some places the sight of such an animal would be
considered a great curiosity. The cattle are of the humpbacked kind,
but they are not numerous. They are the only draught animals, and
are very useful in the various agricultural operations. Goats are very
abundant, but sheep are scarce, and are usually of small size and of a
black colour. Their ﬂesh, which is sweet, is well ﬂavoured and is
very highly esteemed. Fowls are very abundant, and they are the
only domestic poultry reared. The Bedouins, who lead a nomadic life,
are exclusively occupied with the herding of their camels and attending
to their ﬂocks of sheep and goats. They also rear some cattle and
a few horses. Some of them are at times induced to abandon their-
migratory habits, and settle down on a piece of land to devote them~
selves to agriculture 3 and sons may reside in town while their fathers-
remain in the desert following the free and easy occupation of the
shepherd. Many of the poorer Omanites follow ﬁshing as a means of
support, but it is only to the more enterprising that the pearl ﬁshery
offers a proﬁtable employment.
All the industrial pursuits are conﬁned to the city of Mascat and
some other large towns on the sea-coast. The weavers manufacture
checked muslins with red and yellow silk borders, which are used for
turbans, in addition to cotton canvas and cotton cloth of a coarse
texture. The lungs‘ is the most common and most valuable article
produced. It is about ten feet long and from two and a half to three
feet wide, and is striped with red and blue horizontal bands. Their
silk—stuffs are of coarse workmanship, and, although the colours are
good, the devices are rather rude. The hamalinc, or woollen mantle of‘
3 an inferior quality, is manufactured in the northern provinces. Excel-
_ lent mats and pretty baskets are made by the women from the rushes

that grow on the borders of streams. They also spin the cotton into
OMANITES. 437
yarn with the aid of the spindle. Weaving is exclusively the
work of men; their workshop, which is quite primitive, is simply a
shelter of palm leaves, under which the weaver is screened from the
sun, and while he is seated on the ground with his feet in a hole dug
for this purpose, he performs his labour on a loom of a very inartiﬁcial
construction. The blacksmith’s shop is also an open shed, and the
tools used are conﬁned to an anvil of stone, a few iron hammers, and
a pair of skin bellows, which, alternately compressed and inﬂated,
supply a current of air to the furnace, which is nothing more than a
shallow excavation dug in the ground. At the principal towns they
forge iron into spearheads, crooked daggers (jamlicr), and rude knives.
Some of the more artistic workmen fashion copper into pots and
dishes; and the gold and silver smiths, who are the most numerous
artisans, produce earrings, bracelets, anklets, and other ornamental
jewellery, without displaying, however, much artistic skill. The other
mechanics and artisans of importance are ropemakers, carpenters,
sandalmakers, and pearl-piercers. The barbers are mostly Hindoos,
‘they shave the head and a part of the face of their customers in the
open street , they trim the eyebrows and moustaches, extract the hair
from the nose and ears, perfume the beard with scented oil, and com-
plete their multifarious operations by paring the ﬁnger and toe nails.
The making of sugar, obtained from the native sugar-cane, is an
important industrial pursuit which is followed in most of the principal
towns, but they have not yet succeeded to granulate perfectly the raw
material. They grind their corn by means of a handmill of very
simple construction. A convex stone, provided with a handle and an
aperture to throw in the grist, is turned upon the nether concave burr
by one of the women, who briskly turns it round in continuous
motion.
The internal as well as external commerce of Oman is quite impor-
tant, and is principally conducted through the agency of the Mascat
merchants. The market of Mascat is well supplied with every kind
of merchandise. At the stalls are offered for sale baskets ﬁlled with
grain, parched corn, pepper, senna leaves, cloves, dried rosebuds, coarse
cotton cloth, and other stuffs, glass beads, bracelets, bangles, pencils of
antimony, sweetmeats, and all kinds of eatables and provisions. The
principal articles of export are dates, sugar, holwah, dried ﬁsh, raisins,
gum, and a great variety of drugs, all of which are exchanged, among
other merchandise, for grain, Indian cloths, and ﬁrewood. The
circulating medium of exchange is the shaker or copper coin, of which
seventy or eighty are the equivalent of a silver dollar. A silver coin
called mohamedee is valued at eleven for one dollar, and twenty copper
gazee make a moha-meclcc. Spanish dollars and Persian money are
everywhere received as legal currency.
The Omanites are much engaged in navigation, and their boats
(bagallis) are of sufﬁcient tonnage to be serviceable in the coasting
trade and for general transportation. Some of the larger class of vessels
are of four hundred tons burden, but they are not of graceful shape,
nor is there much skill displayed in their construction. They have a
long projecting prow, and an elevated, elaborately carved, ornamented

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438 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
stern. They are only one-masted, and have a single sail spread on a
yard one hundred and ﬁfty feet in length. The crew is made up of a.
medley of nationalities 3 the majority of them are African negroes,
with a tattered waistcloth as their only garment 3 the others are
Persians, Arabs, Beloochees, and Armenians, each one dressed in his
national costume. On the coast from Mascat to Schinas, where there
are no safe harbours, the boats used for transportation are of small
size, not having more than two feet draught, and on the appearance of
a north-wester they are most commonly hauled up on the beach.
The language spoken by the Omanites is the Arabic, but the Persian
is much used at court 3 and on this account all the educated men of
the country speak that language with considerable ﬂuency. Little
attention is paid to higher education, but elementary schools are
common, and boys are not only instructed in reading and writing but
they learn by heart many passages of the Koran. The wealthy
Omanites send their sons to Bombay, Calcutta, and occasionally to
Persia, to be educated in the higher branches of learning. Physicians
study their profession in Persia, but their scientiﬁc acquirements are
not of a high order.
The Omanites observe the rules of etiquette common among the
Arabs. On meeting or on paying a visit to a friend the usual
salutations are, “ Peace be with you ” (Salam alejz/coom), to which the
person addressed replies, “With you be peace” (Alezyeoom salam).
Frequently they merely greet each other by saying, “Good day”
(Sabal hair), “Good evening” (Missa al hair), or “under God’s
protection” (Fe amah Allah), or “may God protect you” (Allah'
cyafazah). When the visitor or guest enters the dwelling, the host
and all who are present rise and return the salutation, and continue
standing until the stranger is seated. A sheikh or governor is saluted
by adding his surname to any of the salutatory expressions, and if he
is of a superior rank he offers his hand to he kissed. The clasping
of each other’s hand on meeting abroad is the common practice.
The Omanites, although they have considerable taste for music,
have their musical talents altogether uncultivated. Their only musical
instruments are a small drum, a two or six stringed guitar, a long
horn, and a kind of bagpipe. They are very fond of singing, and
they even say their prayers in a recitative strain.
The Omanites, notwithstanding the gravity of their character, love
to be amused. In the towns and the cases they invite each other to
private entertainments, which continue sometimes for three or four
days. The guests are received in light summer-houses detached from
the family dwelling, which are often picturesquely situated beneath
the shade of mango or tamarind trees. The days are passed in feasting,
and it is reported that during the night they are indulging in excessive
revelling and debauchery. Professional storytellers are frequently
present on these festive occasions, who amuse the audience with their
songs; or they entertain the guests, in ﬂuent and elegant language
and with energetic and graceful delivery, with some original tale or
story, which never fails to elicit the interest and ﬁx the attention of
the listeners. Chess and particular, games of cards are also favourite
OMANITES. 439
pastimes. Both sexes are very fond of taking exercise by the use of
the swing. During their public festivals of a religious order they
frequently engage in horse and camel races, and even dancing is some-
times practised. Their dances are excessively stately and simple in
their movements and ﬁgures. They form two lines at a distance of
ten or ﬁfteen yards, and while the drum is heating to indicate the
time, they successively and repeatedly approach each other at a slow
and measured step, simultaneously bowing as soon as they arrive
within two yards of each other 3 after which they retreat to their
‘former starting-point, to advance and retreat again in the same manner.
Their domestic amusements are of a very innocent character. A ring
is placed under one of twelve reversed cups, which one of the party is
bound to ﬁnd at the ﬁrst trial 3 or one of the company who is blind-
folded guesses who has hit the blow, and if he names the right person
the striker takes his .turn to be struck. They have many other
diversions of a similar kind, which ‘afford them much pleasure and are
a means of recreation.
The Omanite women enjoy much consideration in the family circle,
and are highly respected by their husbands. They attend to the
necessary household work, prepare the meals, keep the apartments in
a cleanly condition, and pass the rest of their time in enhancing
their charms by the application of cosmetics in order to please their
husbands. In the towns near the sea-coast they live in strict seclusion,
but they conform to this custom at their own option, for they are at
liberty to dispense with it or disregard it at pleasure. The town
ladies perform no industrial labours, and they are ignorant of the use
of the spindle. In the country they are, however, frequently employed
in spinning cotton and in other light industrial occupations. Among
the Bedouins, when intestine feuds array tribe against tribe, they
often take part in public affairs, and show the utmost boldness and
heroism in the defence of the cause embraced by their husbands. In
the mountains among the Beni Riyam the women tend to the vines
and perform other agricultural labours 3 they bring the water from the
fountain and manage the domestic establishment, but they are never-
theless happy and contented in the inferior station which is assigned
to them.
Polygamy is sanctioned by the laws of the country, but it is very
rarely that a man marries more than one or mostly two wives. It is
only the ﬁrst wife, however, that is admitted to the title and honours
of a legitimate spouse 3 all the others are regarded in the light of
concubines. After validity is given to the marriage contract, according
to Mohamedan custom, the marriage festival is celebrated by feasting
enlivened by the music of the drum or the bagpipe.
The funeral ceremonies of the Omanites are simple and unostenta-
tious. The body of the deceased, after it is washed and enveloped in
a white shroud, is carried to the common cemetery, situated at some
distance from the town, followed by the nearest relations and friends,
where it is buried in due form. Among the less civilised tribes, those
who attend the funeral escort are invited by the nearest relations of
the deceased to partake of a plentiful repast prepared for the occasion,
440 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
while in a contiguous apartment the women give expression to their
grief at the loss of their departed friend by loud cries and lamentations
which continue for eight days from sunrise to sunset.
Slavery exists in Oman, but the slaves are all of the N igritian race,
and were principally introduced from Zanzibar, which was formerly a
dependency of the Imam of Mascat. These slaves are known as
Sooahelis, and as a mark of distinction they have their teeth ﬁled
either to a point or into notches, and they have, in addition, a
perpendicular incision in the check. The N abi are those that came
from the interior of Africa, and the Gallas, who are most highly
valued, were brought from Abyssinia. Eunuchs were also occasionally
imported from Darfour.
The slaves, although considered as merchandise subject to be sold
at the pleasure of their masters, are treated with great humanity;
they are looked upon as members of the household, and are frequently
emancipated on the death of their master. When they enter the
family while young, they are brought up in the Mohamedan faith, are
taught to read and write, and when they arrive at mature age they are
often placed in command of ships or boats loaded with valuable car-
goes. The foreign slave-trade has long since been abolished through
the inﬂuence of the British Government.
The government of the Omanites is monarchical in form, but patri-
archal and quite liberal in practice. The ruling prince bears the title
of imam or sultan, and his authority, though exercised with much
prudence and moderation, is only limited by the prescriptions of the
Koran. The succession is hereditary in the male line, and, contrary
to the ordinary Oriental practice, the eldest son succeeds his father.
Oman is divided into districts which are governed by sheikhs who
are responsible to the imam, whose supremacy they acknowledge, for
their acts of authority and their public administration. The power of
these chieftains is very considerable. They exercise legal control over
the persons and property of the people belonging to their tribe 3 but
generally they are not possessed of the power of life and death. Per-
sonal security and the rights of private property are almost always
respected by them. They have a number of military retainers in their
service who are employed in the duty of carrying the necessary
measures into execution. Diﬂiculties are generally adjusted and broils
are settled by the old men of the tribe, whose opinion has great weight,
and the direct interference of the sheikh is but rarely required. In
civil and criminal affairs of importance the sheikhs act rather as
arbitrators than as judges, while matters of general interest are dis-
cussed by the whole tribe. These local chieftains enjoy the universal
respect of the people which they govern.
The principles of jurisprudence of the Omanites are founded upon
the Koran, which is the code of civil as well as religious law.1 The
imam presides in person over the highest tribunal in the trial of cases

1 Their laws of inheritance are different, however, from those laid down in the
Koran, for daughters share equally with sons in the division of their father’s
property.
OMANITES. 441
of great gravity. All litigated questions involving the rights of pro-
perty are decided by four judges or kadz's of inferior jurisdiction.
The plaintiff and defendant manage their own cause without the
assistance of lawyers, but they generally advise with their friends in
the course of the proceedings. Crimes are very rare, theft is not
common, but personal quarrels are of frequent occurrence and are
often decided on the spot by an appeal to the dagger. Murder is
capitally punished by public authority. In the interior, however, and
among the Bedouins, blood-revenge is still practised; and retaliatory
punishment is always resorted to unless the relations of the victim
agree, in commutation of the penalty of death, to accept the customary
blood-money, which amounts to about a thousand dollars. The adul-
terer may be slain by the injured party if caught in the act, or if found
within the precincts of the dwelling 3 and a thief who is surprised
while engaged in his nefarious trade may also be killed. Petty theft
is punished by mutilation if the offence has been repeated the second
or third time.
The war marine of the Omanites is, comparatively speaking, very
powerful. It comprises a ﬂeet of no less than seventy-ﬁve vessels,
carrying from four to ﬁfty-six guns each. The superior naval officers
are educated in Bombay and Calcutta, and the discipline on board the
ships is very effective.
The imam has but a small armed force at his disposal. His stand-
ing army does not exceed three thousand men, who are principally
made up of foreigners, in addition to a few hundred Arabs and slaves ;
but in time of war he can raise an army of ﬁfteen or twenty thousand
foot—soldiers and a thousand horsemen. The ordinary arms universally
carried by the Omanites are a dagger, which is stuck in the girdle,
and a two-edged sword suspended from the left shoulder. The regular
troops carry, as defensive armour, a round shield of rhinoceros hide; and
in more recent times most of the soldiers have been armed with guns.
The revenues of the imam are more than suﬂicient to defray all his
expenditures, both of a private and public character. He is engaged
in commercial enterprises and is the owner of several merchant ships.
The import duties on foreign merchandise are farmed out to a rich
Banian.1 A small contribution is imposed on wheat and dates; and
in and around Mascat a tax is laid on land and houses. N 0 property-
tax is exacted from the people of the interior, and no contribution of
any kind is paid by the Bedouins. A small duty is collected for the
permission of exporting salt, which is obtained from the salt-mines of
Ormus and other places. '
Many of the Omanites, especially those of Mascat, are strict Moha-
medans; but every other religious denomination—Christians as well
as J ews—is not only tolerated but protected, and every one has full
liberty to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.
Most of the Arabs of Oman, however, belong to a sect called Biadee-
yah, which is a modiﬁcation of the Mohamedan creed, and has more

1 In 1837 the amount paid for the annual proceeds of the custom-house duties
‘in Mascat was 165,000 dollars, and an additional sum was received from the prin-
oipal ports of the Persian coast.
442 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
affinity with the Shiites than the Soonites. Their mezars are plain
buildings set apart for religious worship, but they do not assemble at
stated periods of time to perform their devotions. Their prayers are
uttered in a low, inaudible voice, accompanied by peculiar inﬂexions
and prostrations, turning frequently towards the north, or in any other
direction, without the least regard to the hiblah or Kaaba of Mecca.
Their annual fast, like that of Rhamadan, lasts a month, and is
observed with greater strictness than that of the Mohamedans, for
abstinence is enjoined till the appearance of the stars, and only one
meal is taken in twenty-four hours. They do not resemble the Waha-
bees in their practices, for they are inveterate smokers, are fond of dress
and ornament, and freely indulge in drinking wine. They do not
recognise the preeminence of the shereefs or descendants of Mohamed,
but consider every Omanite eligible to any employment in church and
state. Although they are not orthodox Mohamedans yet they prac-
tise circumcision. But notwithstanding the predominance of this sect.
throughout the country, Soonites, Shiites, and Wahabees are nume-
rous in the seaport cities.1
The Omanites are no less credulous and superstitious than the-
majority of those who profess the Mohamedan creed. They give full
credit to the powers of enchanters and sorcerers, by whose demoniac
agency, it is supposed, men may be transformed into goats 3 and they
are also consulted for the purpose of detecting thieves. Amulets and
charms hung about the body are believed to exercise a protecting
inﬂuence against every imaginable evil. Divination and augury are
practised in various ways. The blade-bone of a sheep is partially
calcinated, and the mystical characters traced by the action of the ﬁre-
and the smoke are thought to furnish the key to the most important
information the anxious inquirer may desire to obtain. Certain days
in the month are regarded as unlucky, and nothing of great conse-
quence is undertaken during that time. 1
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Arabia. By Lieutenant J. R. Wellsted, F.R.S. 18 38.
A Voyage Round the World. By W. Ruschenberger. 1838-.
Embassy to the Eastern Courts. By Edmund Roberts. 18 37.
Histoire de Seyd-Sa'i'd Sultan de Mascat. Par Cheik-Mansour (dans les-
Annales des Voyages, 1’r Serie, 8m vol.) 1821.
Narrative of a Year’s Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia. By
William Gifford Palgrave. 186 5.
Travels in Arabia and Hindostan. By C. Niebuhr. 1776-1780.

1 The old religion of Oman was Sabaean. They worshipped the seven planets.
and pre-eminently the sun ; they observed a fast of thirty days, set apart in the
early spring before the vernal equinox; their chief annual feast coincided with
the entrance of the sun in the sign of Aries; they had a special veneration for-
the two great pyramids of Egypt, for they believed them to be the sepulchres of
Seth and Idrees 3 their stated prayers recurred seven times a day, and during
their devotions they turned their faces toward-s the north. They possessed a book
or code of laws ascribed to Seth himself, and believed to contain the dogmas and
institutions of the primeval patriarch. They had neither idols nor priests 3 pre-_
cedence in Worship seems to have been the privilege of greater age or family head~
ship. See Palgrave’s Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. ii. p. 258.
SYRIAN ARABS. 443
SYRIAN ARABS.
SYRIA, the mother-country of the Aramaean stock, is a narrow strip
of territory which extends from Alexandretta to the banks of the
Euphrates at its northern extremity, and from Gaza to the Arabian
Desert at its southern borders. The whole eastern coast-line of the
Mediterranean constitutes its western boundary. It is intersected
throughout its whole length by lofty chains of mountains, and its
sandy plains stretch far into Arabia. Its rivers are either mountain
streams sweeping along with impetuous currents in their rocky beds,
or they wind their slow and sluggish mazes through the alluvial
marshes of the lowlands. A salt sea, with its waters stagnant, heavy
and immovable, furnishes incontestable proof that the fertile valleys
in the western portion were won during the cretaceous period from
the surging waters of a wide-spread ocean. The Sunnin, the highest
summit of Mount Lebanon, is covered with a white shroud of perpetual
snow. Here the view is only bounded by the distant horizon. Hoary
crags are bristling up on every side, and precipitous ravines are
gaping in every direction. Isolated peaks stand out in bold relief,
and meandering rivers are now seen winding through luxuriant-
meadows decked with the freshest verdure, and now they are hid from
view by the sharp outlines of projecting cliffs. Terraces, planted
with vines, rise in endless succession on the more gentle slopes 3 and
villages nestle in the valleys fanned by the wide-spreading cedars,1
interspersed with oaks, ﬁrs, yews, and laurels, and surrounded ‘by
plantations of ﬁgs, olives, and mulberry trees. The scene is grand
and magniﬁcent in the extreme. Here is the treeless desert with its
rolling and shifting sands 3 there, in the distance, is the Persian Gulf
with its wide expanse of waters, and in an opposite direction is the
Mediterranean, which washes the coast of Europe.
Syria was inhabited in early historic times by the Phoenicians, the
Canaanites, and other tribes of Syro-Aramaeans. In Palestine they
were dispossessed by the Israelites, who made themselves masters of
the narrow tract of country between Phoenicia and Arabia. The
Assyrians, a kindred race, whose seat of empire was on the Euphrates
at Nineveh, gradually became the predominant power, until they
were themselves displaced by the Chaldeans of Babylon, their tributary
vassals. The Iranian stock had in the meantime risen from obscurity
as a worthy rival of the Aramaean, and had already attained high

1 The cedar is called are ,' it is a- widely spreading tree from ﬁfty to eighty feet
high, and when standing singly covering with its branches a larger diameter than
its height. The branches, as they approach the top, form a pyramidal head.
Wortabet’s Syria, vol. i. p. 117.
444 THE ARAMZEAN sTocK.
historic preeminence. ’ Syria became a dependency of Persia under
Cyrus. It subsequently fell a prey to the overwhelming forces of the
Macedonian Greeks under Alexander, and was ﬁnally organised as an
independent kingdom under the reign of the Seleucidae. The Syrians
having suffered severely for more than two hundred years under the
oppressive tyranny of the despotic race of Seleucus, they sent an
embassy to Tigranes, king of Armenia, to accept the sovereignty, who,
complying with their request, swayed the Syrian sceptre in perfect
peace, until in a war with‘the Romans he was defeated by Lucullus,
and four years later Antiochus Asiaticus was stripped of his kingly
power by Pompey, and Syria was thus reduced to a Roman province.
On the division of the Roman empire under Theodosius, it became a
dependency of the Greek emperor of Constantinople. It was conquered
and laid waste by the Mohamedan kalifs, became the battle-ground in
the civil strife between the Fatimists and the Ommiades, was ravaged
by Tamerlane and his Tatars, and fell at last into the hands of the
Ottoman Turks, who have been its absolute rulers for more than
three hundred years without the least- advantage to the country, and
without any visible progress or advancement among its people.
Of all the numerous invasions and conquests which assign to the
people of Syria a heterogeneous origin and a mixed character, render-
ing them a confused conglomeration of remnants of old decayed
nationalities, none has left any permanent traces of the presence of a
foreign power, or made a lasting impression upon the institutions and
customs of the country, except the Saracen Arabs, whose posterity
forms the great majority of the masses of the population, whose
language is the vernacular tongue, which has become the universal
medium of communication, and whose religion and laws furnish the
guiding principles to the ruling classes.
The Jews are simply pilgrims and sojourners in their own country.
The Maronites are a remnant of fugitive Syrians who, in their moun-
tain retreats, escaped the contaminating inﬂuence of the Mohamedan
conquerors. The wandering Turcomans, though long since naturalised,
are still strangers to the Syrian nationality in language as well as in
manners. The Turks have either become assimilated to the Arab race by
long intercourse and intermarriage, and are the mechanics and artisans
of the towns, or they are oﬂicial personages whose residence in Syria is
not a matter of choice but of necessity. All the rest of the inhabitants
are of Arabic descent, perhaps slightly intermixed with the posterity
of the aboriginal. population. The tribes of Bedouins are of the
purest Arab blood, without spot or blemish. The Motualis, the
Anseyreeiah, and the Druses are Arabic dissenters from orthodox
Mohamedanism. The feZZahs who inhabit the villages are, with the
exception of a few Greek Christians of Syrian origin, the descendants
of Arab tribes who have adopted a sedentary mode of life.
The climate of Syria varies according to the topographical features
of the country. On the coast the summers are hot, the winters are
temperate and mild, but the rains are generally copious and frequent.
In the mountains the climate is salubrious, the atmosphere is balmy,
and the winter snows render the air cold and bracing. During this
SYRIAN ARABS. 44;,
season the temperature in the plains is so moderate that the orange,
the banana, and the date ﬂourish in the open air.
The productions of Syria are as remarkable for their great variety
as for their intrinsic value as merchantable commodities. Wheat,
barley, rye, beans, and cotton yield everywhere abundant returns to
the industrious husbandman. The most luscious grapes are produced
in the terraced vineyards of Lebanon, which are prepared and dried
into raisins, and partly also converted into wine. Sesamum, which
furnishes a well-known oil used for domestic purposes, as well as
clhoam,1 are extensively cultivated in Palestine. Indigo grows without
cultivation on the banks of the Jordan. Maize thrives in the light
congenial soil around the ruins of Balbec. Tobacco, of a peculiar
aromatic ﬂavour, is successfully grown in the mountain regions.
Sugar and rice make a part of the agricultural industry on the borders
of the marshy lowlands. The olive ﬂourishes in the vicinity of
Beyroot, Antioch, and Ramala. Mulberry trees constitute large
plantations for the production of silk among the Druses and the
Maronites. J affa is still famous for the excellency of its citrons,
lemons, and water-melons. The oranges of Tripoli are sweet and
delicious, and the pistachio nuts of Aleppo are known in all the
markets of the world. Gaza is as much distinguished for its dates
and pomegranates as Beyroot is for its ﬁgs and bananas 3 while
Damascus cannot only boast of the most delicious apricots and sweet
almonds, but it is the very paradise where numerous varieties of fruits
ﬂourish to perfection.
The camel and the buffalo are extensively reared, in addition to the
ordinary domestic animals. Herds of gazelles are fearlessly browsing
in the plains, and wild boars are numerous in the mountains. Droves
of jackals infest the interior of the forests 3 the dismal howl of the
hyena is heard from the thicket, and the leopard is the terror of the
more peaceful tribes of quadrupeds. The timid hare and the piping
partridge, as well as the francolin, are common near the settlements
and cultivated ﬁelds.
The physical characteristics of the Syrian Arabs present no remarkable
features to distinguish them from the original Arab stock and other
Oriental races. Their complexion is more or less swarthy, and in the
mountains, in Damascus and Tripoli, where the Greek element is most
prevalent, they graduate into much lighter shades, and many of them,
especially the women, have features perfectly regular, and their skin
is altogether fair and clear. They are of medium stature, with thin
visage, scanty beard, and brilliant black eyes. The fella-ks present
rather a sturdy frame, their heard is thick, and their eye has lost much
of its ﬁre.
The Syrian Arabs have acquired, by long official intercourse, much
of the gravity, the imperturbable seriousness, the passionless taciturn
immobility, and the gloomy austerity of the Turks. Their words as
well as their actions are cautiously weighed and deliberately considered.
Their hospitality is as free and generous as that of the Arabs of the

1 Holcus arundinaceus, L.
446 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
desert. They are humane in all the common affairs of life, simple in
their manners, and polite in their intercourse with strangers. Their
fortitude in misfortune is as exemplary as that of all other Mohame-
dans. On the other hand, their bigotry and fanaticism know no
bounds if their consciousness of power is left unrestrained by superior
authority or extraneous inﬂuences, when they give vent to their bitter
spirit of intolerance, which often assumes a haughty and insolent air
of self~exultation, and leads sometimes to acts of violence and oppression.
The mental capacity of the Syrians is of a far higher order than
that of the Turks. They are remarkable for their clear conception of
matters and things relating to the affairs of everyday life. Their
mind is quick in seizing the strong points of a proposition, and they
express their thoughts in an easy and unsophisticated manner, and
with the utmost propriety of language, in an earnest, nervous, and
often poetic style. Their conversation is spiced with moral sentences
and apt proverbs, and their power of observation and the depth of
their perceptive faculties are equally conspicuous with their ingenuity
of invention and originality of expression.
In the larger towns, especially among the higher classes, the houses
are perfectly square, with an apartment in each corner, entirely
separated from each other by an interior court (lewan) occupying the
intervening space. This spacious area, which has generally a tank
and a waterspout in the centre, is open in front, protected by a wall
behind, and sheltered from sun and rain by a roof. This portion of
the building serves as a delightful lounging-place and sitting-room
during the hot summer months. The walls of the rooms are simply
whitewashed, provided with a number of windows without glass
frames, and are closed with wooden shutters from the outside. The
ceilings are ordinarily high, and they are frequently ornamented with
artistic skill and a display of good taste.
In the villages, which are principally occupied by the fellahs, the
houses are much more simple and less expensive in their construction.
They are generally built of mud with a ﬂat-terraced roof, which is
supported by upright posts, over which beams of pine-wood are laid
crossing each other at right angles, and being covered with oak
branches, a layer of earth is spread over them so as to give it a solid
and smooth appearance. The house commonly contains but a single
room, which is occupied by the whole family, and is besides crowded
with household furniture, cooking utensils and provision chests.
The wheat and barley of the year’s harvest are here laid up for home
consumption in granaries (hawai'a) formed of clay. To the ordinary
furniture of the room belongs a handmill, which is used when the
water in the wad/ye is dried up and the watermills are no longer in
operation 3 there are also some copper kettles, a few mats, and a large
jar which is ﬁlled every morning by the women from the spring
(birlsct) in the neighbourhood. The richer families have coarse
woollen stuffs (labeat) which subserve the purpose of carpets, for if
their means allow them to have real carpets they are only displayed on
the arrival of some stranger of rank.
The fellahs, who follow agricultural pursuits, and those who are
SYRIAN ARABS. 447
engaged in mechanic trades, dress like the Bedouin Arabs. A tunic
(khombaz) of coarse white cotton stuff, a Ircjié1 for a head-covering,
and an abbaz slung over their shoulders, form the chief articles of
their everyday attire 3 and the Turks and the Christians of Syria have
not only adopted the language and manners but the dress of the Arabs.
In the large towns men of wealth dress in rich style in the fashion
of the Turks 3 and the ladies of the higher classes exhibit much
elegance and taste in the arrangement of their toilet. The costume of
the men consists of ample trousers, either made of broad-cloth, when
they are known by the name of sham/‘all, or of linen, when they are
called shintcam. They reach down to the centre of the calf, and are
fastened round the waist by a silk sash (dick/£6). Drawers (elbass)
are worn underneath, and the bare legs are covered with socks, while
the feet are effectively protected by red or yellow boots (jesmcc).
One of their outer coats is a shirt-like garment (amz'sse) of ﬁne linen,
silk, or coarse cotton. An outer dress of the same style, called mintrean,
of silk or cotton, is worn over this, the upper half of which is concealed
by a waistcoat buttoned up in front. The costume is completed by a
jacket (lrebrcm or damcer), and frequently a long dressing-gown (ferfer-
lrca), with long open sleeves, is added. A large shawl or broad silk
scarf serves as girdle (zcnaar).
The dress of the women presents much variety. They usually
wear ample loose trousers (Zebass), gathered in round the ankles. A
ﬂap of cloth (embass), in the form of an apron, falls down from their
waist before and behind 3 but in place of these a petticoat (sitterc) is
' frequently worn. Their body-dress is a ﬁne skirt having its sleeves
ornamented with embroidered fringes. Their outer robe (gz'mbaz)
reaches below the feet, has ample, open, wide sleeves, and is girded
round the waist with a rich cashmere shawl. The body of the gown
is covered by a black jacket (fusion), richly embroidered with gold,
with sleeves not extending below the elbow, so as to permit the open
sleeves of the gimbaz to fall back and expose to view the beautifully
formed arm. They wear yellow slippers (elshecn) without soles, and
shoes without guard or sides but simply provided with an instep.
Married and unmarried ladies are dressed in the same style. Their
dress materials are various in kind and in quality. Silks, furs, cloth
of gold are the usual stuffs of which the dresses of the rich are made.
On going abroad the women of large cities wrap themselves up from
head to foot in a white calico sheet (fear), so that no part of their
body is visible, and even their elegant costume is concealed from
view. In the villages and country towns they are less prudish, and
simply cover their face with a veil. A selvage runs across the middle
of the fear, which is tucked in all round inside of the girdle or zenaar.
A part of this drapery trails on the ground, while the upper part
extends over the head, and is either ﬁxed to a handkerchief of
coloured silk, or to a piece of black stiffened crape or gauze called
mandala, by which the head is covered.

1 A square handkerchief tied round the head with a camel’s hair cord.
2' The square mantle of the Bedouin Arabs.
448 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
Their hair falls in loose tresses over the shoulders, to the ends of
which pieces of gold are attached. A small turban, studded with
gold and diamonds, forms the head-dress. The brow is wreathed with
a band of gold coin intertwined with the hair, and the forehead above
this is crowned with a tiara of diamonds in the form of the born or
tantoor of the Druses. Their wrists are enclasped with bracelets,
and a chainlike necklace falls down to their bosom which is concealed
by ample folds of muslin. Their ears are adorned with golden
pendants, and a veil of ﬁne white muslin, gracefully disposed, half
conceals the face from view. Over white stockings yellow slippers
are worn, glittering in gold tinsel, which, on going abroad, are entirely
concealed by clumsy wooden clogs that standas high as eight inches
from the ground, and are often inlaid with silver and mother-of-pearl.
The mode of living of the Syrian Arabs is similar to that of other
Orientals. They take but two regular repasts during the day, and the
dinner or supper, which is served up after sunset, is the principal meal.
They sit cross-legged on carpets or mats while eating, and help them-
selves with their ﬁngers. The ordinary bz'smz'llah (“in the name of the
most merciful God”) is repeated by the chief of the house before any one
of the dishes is touched. The women eat in their own apartment and
must be contented with what the men have left. Perfect silence is
observed, and each one rises without the least ceremony whenever he
has ﬁnished, saying, El ham l’ullah (“Thanks are to God”).
In the towns the articles of diet of which the dinner and supper
are composed are far more diversiﬁed and more carefully prepared than
they are in the villages and among the poorer classes. In the
houses of the rich a cloth is spread on the ﬂoor over the carpet, and a
small stool (scamla), about a foot high, gives support to a large copper
tray which holds the various dishes. In the morning the Syrians
regale themselves with a cup of coffee, and indulge in smoking the
narghz'lé; and this simple breakfast enables them to wait till mid-day,
when a substantial lunch is served up, composed of cheese, fruits, and
vegetables, and whatever may have been left from the supper'of the
previous evening. At supper, besides the usual bread, the favourite
dish is a kind of sausage (muhshc'), made of mutton mixed with rice,
and seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices. Rice is extensively used,
and honey, olives, strong oil, and sour milk are frequently taken in
preference to animal food. After all have retired from the supper
table, drinking coﬁee and smoking the pipe ﬁll up the vacant time of
the evening hours.
The poorest classes in the country subsist on barley cakes or alhoara
bread, with onions or lentils, to which sometimes sour milk is added
as a luxury. In the mountains of Lebanon, at N ablous and other
localities, the poor are sometimes reduced to the necessity of gathering
acorns, which are used as food after boiling or roasting them in hot
ashes. The fcllahs of the Syrian villages not only have as standing
dish the well-known Zmrgoohl but they use also the hcshh-hammcr,

1 Burgool is wheat boiled with leaven and dried in the sun 3 it is cooked with
meat or seasoned with oil.
SYRIAN ARABS. 449
which-is prepared by soaking dry burgool with a little leaven in a
quantity of water until it nearly approaches the putrid state, when it
is dried and pounded, and is then ready for use, to be served up mixed
with oil or butter. Instead of leaven sour milk is sometimes employed,
which forms the keshlv-lcbcn. Bread and keshls constitute the common
breakfast, and at sunset burgool is the most substantial article of diet,
while honey, curds, milk, butter, or vegetables may now and'then
give variety to the bill of fare. On extraordinary occasions, or when
a stranger of rank is entertained, fried eggs, melted butter, fowl, kid,
or lamb make up the complement to the ordinary dishes.
The Syrian Arabs have sacredly preserved one of the cardinal
virtues of their ancestors—that of hospitality. As the esteem and
consideration men enjoy in the community in which they live depends,
in a great measure, on the generous hospitality they dispense on all
proper occasions, travellers are frequently urged by those who have
abundant means and accommodation for the entertainment of strangers
to alight at their houses, in order to partake with them of the good
things of their table, and enjoy with them the pleasures of family life.
This attention is not merely conﬁned to the person of the guest, but
it is extended to the horses and camels, which are gratuitously fed and
provided for 3 and an attempt to pay for corn furnished for this purpose
would be considered a gross insult. In many villages there is either
a strangers’ home, called manzool, or a kind of public hall (medhafe),
kept by the sheikh for the entertainment of all travellers of a decent
appearance, the expenses of which are defrayed by the whole com-
munity.1
In the cities the trading spirit which prevails there has led to the
establishment of khans and caravansaries (taverns) under the patronage
of private enterprise. They are generally square buildings three or
four stories high, with an interior court, a stable on the ground ﬂoor,
and tiers of rooms in the upper stories. Here travellers and their
animals. are housed and sheltered in return for a stipulated com-
pensation.
Agriculture in Syria is in a languishing state. No stimulus exists
for steady industry or extraordinary exertion. The extortionate
exactions of the government oiﬁcials, and the plundering excursions
of some predatory tribes of Bedouins and Turcomans, render property
1 At Kerck, whenever a stranger takes up his lodging—place at one of the
medhafes, one of the people present declares he intends to furnish the day’s enter-
tainment, and it is then his duty to provide a dinner or supper, which he sends to
the medhafe, which is always sufﬁcient for a number of guests. A goat or a lamb
is generally killed on the occasion, and barley is also provided for the horses.
When a stranger comes to town, people almost come to blows in their eagerness
to have him for their guest, and there are Turks who every other day kill a goat
for‘this laudable purpose. Indeed, it is a custom here, even with respect to their
own neighbours, that whenever a visitor enters the house dinner or supper is
immediately to be set before him. It is considered here an unpardonable mean-
ness to sell butter or exchange it for any necessary or convenience of life. If a
man is known tov have sold or exchanged the article, his daughters or sisters
remain unmarried, for no one would dare to connect himself with a family of a
“seller of butter ” (bag/a el sam'm), the most insulting epithet that can be applied
to a man at Kerck. Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 384.
2 F
450 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
MMQQQ
insecure, and the tillers of the soil, constantly labouring under the
fearful apprehension of being ruined by excessive taxation, or robbed
of the fruit of their labour by open violence, hardly ever cultivate
more ground than is absolutely necessary for their own subsistence
and that of their families. In some parts of Palestine, where the
Bedouins are less restrained by the supervision of the government
forces, men sow their ﬁelds and reap their harvest with muskcts in
their hands. The husbandman is unprovided with improved instru-
ments of tillage 3 the poor fellahs are sometimes driven to the necessity
of using an extremely primitive plough, which is nothing more than
a forked branch of a tree cut off below the bifurcation, the lower
end being sharpened into a ploughshare. In the mountain-slopes of
Lebanon, where agriculture is carried on by warlike tribes distinguished
for their bravery and their spirit of independence, the tillage of the
soil is in a more prosperous condition. Here extensive vineyards are
planted, the mulberry plantations yield a superior article of silk, and
tobacco of a peculiar quality is cultivated with success. In many
parts of Syria the productiveness of the soil must be stimulated by
judicious irrigation. In places where water facilities for irrigation
exist, the peasants sow summer and winter seeds, and gather a double
harvest 3 but where the farmer solely depends on the autumnal rains
to fertilise his crop, his labour, during the summer, would be barren
of results, and the ﬁelds would have to remain entirely uncultivated
during this season. The ﬁrst and most abundant harvest of the
season is that of horsebeans, which are gathered at the end of April.
They constitute one of the most valuable agricultural productions, for
they are not only used for feeding cows and sheep, but being ground
into ﬂour mixed with barley meal and made into a paste, they form
the choicest food for camels. Barley, another great article of consump-
tion, matures .a little later, and wheat is ready for the sickle by the
end of May. In the Haouren the wealth of the peasants is estimated
by the number of yokes of cows or oxen which they employ in the
cultivation of their ﬁelds, and it is upon this estimate that the assess-
ment of the land-tax is based. The lowest class of fellahs are agricul- '
tural labourers, whose services are engaged for stipulated wages by their
richer neighbours.
But the inhabitants of the villages are not exclusively dependent
on agricultural operations for their support. They carry on a traffic
in sheep 3 the women are busy behind the loom to weave cotton cloth,
which is used for ordinary shirts worn by the peasants as well as the
Bedouins; others are engaged in dyeing this cotton fabric blue by
means of indigo to be converted into gowns (hhomhaz). Striped or
brown woollen mantles (abba) are also manufactured, and sold to the
wandering Arabs of the desert. Some of the country people are
engaged in the mechanic arts and in mercantile pursuits on a small
scale, as retailers of cotton or woollen stuffs, as sellers of little loaves,
hardware, green dates, and sweetmeats.
The commerce of Syria is not much more ﬂourishing than its
agriculture. The interior commerce is hampered by the want of good
roads, substantial bridges, and canals. Neither waggons nor carts are
SYRIAN ARABS. 451
seen here, and all the transport of produce and merchandise is effected
on the back of‘asses, mules, and camels. Most of the luxuries, many
of the manufactured articles in use, and even some necessaries of life,
have to be obtained from the larger towns, and the coasting trade
offers the only commercial enterprise of importance for the safe invest-
ment of capital. As there are no good harbours on the Syrian coast,
and no internal improvements of any kind are ever undertaken by
the government, the external commerce is exceedingly limited, and
the import and export trade is principally carried on by Franks,
Greeks, and Armenians, who are protected by special treaties, and are
only amenable to the jurisdiction of their respective consuls, so that
they cannot be plundered by the constituted authorities with impunity. 1
The women of the Syrian Arabs are regarded, as they are in all
Mohamedan countries where polygamy prevails, as socially and intel-
lectually inferior to the men. They have no education, and their
experience of the affairs of the world is exceedingly limited. Their
intercourse is entirely restricted to the circle of their family and the
female acquaintances they are in the habit of visiting. They do not
live, but they vegetate 3 and they are perfectly reconciled to this pas-
sive existence if they only have a husband whom they can call lord,
and who, in return, humours them like children and fondles them like
dolls. They are modest in their deportment, humble and submissive
in their disposition, and their earnest devotion and ready obedience
assume almost the character of servility, and would be utterly degrad-
ing were it not that they are a voluntary sacriﬁce of self, and spring
from a sense of duty and from a feeling of natural affection. They
do not consider it an act of condescension or of abject submission to
serve their husband with a cup of coffee and stand up in his presence
until he has ﬁnished his repast. They submit as a matter of course,
without the least desire of change, to the established custom of the
country, of having their meals served up in their own apartment 3 and
as no conversation is ever carried on while the men are engaged in
eating, the women are not at all ambitious to enjoy the company of
the male inmates of the house while they satisfy their appetite with
the gross food or the dainties that may have been reserved for their
beneﬁt. After they have reached the blissful state of married life and
become the mistress of a harem, they have nothing so much at heart
as to enjoy the felicity of being a mother, that they might thus per-
petuate their husband’s family name by a numerous progeny of male
children. They are waited on by slaves and servants, who attend to
all the business of the household. Their whole care is concentrated
in adorning their persons, so as to render themselves attractive and
pleasing to their husbands. They pass their time in caressing their
children, smoking the na-rghz'lé, eating sweetmeats, indulging in the
luxuries of the bath, and paying the customary visits to their friends.
This is, however, the most favourable picture of domestic life as it

1 Since the reform movement has been inaugurated in the Turkish empire, it
is very probable that the condition of the Syrian fellahs has been somewhat
improved, at least in a political and ﬁnancial point of view.
¢»m<~<>_ m-'v\..-m-,_,.>MWM .n... _ ‘N r
4 52 THE ARAMPEAN STOCK.
is frequently met with among the wealthy and the most respectable
of the middle classes. Among the lower orders of society woman is
not quite so favourably situated. Although she is less subject to a
life of seclusion, and has other duties imposed upon her besides sub-
serving the sensual pleasures of her lord and master, yet, like all poor
women even of the most civilised nations, she is compelled by the
necessities of the circumstances to undergo many hardships, and assist
by her toil and labour in the management of the household 3 and she
is bound to contribute her share, by her industry, for the support of
the family. She performs with commendable resignation all that is
required of her by the circumstances 3 and when, without murmuring,
she readily attends to the usual drudgeries of cooking, bringing water,
washing, gathering fuel, weaving, and in addition to this watches over
her children, she does no more than thousands of poor women do in
the most civilised communities of Europe and America. It is true
that in Syria and other countries of the East an irascible husband
may attempt to correct the devious ways of his wife by ﬂogging her,
but such cases are extremely rare and are entirely exceptional, and
instances of this kind have occurred and do even now occur in much
more favoured countries in other parts of the world.
Marriage being a civil contract in Syria, after the preliminary con-
ditions are arranged between the suitor and the bride’s father, it
receives the conﬁrmatory sanction of the parties in the presence of the-
harlc', by whom it is duly registered according to law. Every marriage-
able woman is looked upon as having a certain “ cash value,” which
the bridegroom pays over to the father of the girl, and which is
reserved as her dowry to be used as her maintenance in case she-
should be divorced. The Syrian Arabs rarely avail themselves of the
rivileae of marr in more than one wife at a time for the luxur of
D 7
maintaining more than one mistress of the house is rather expensive,
especially as all inconveniences growing out of this restriction are
easily obviated by the no less proﬂigate custom of changing partners
at pleasure, for a wife may be divorced upon the most frivolous pre-
texts without shocking the moral sense of the community, or being
exposed to the denunciatory censure of public opinion. As soon as‘
the husband pronounces the fatal words, “ Thou art divorced” (En
taleh), she ceases to be his wife, and she must instantly veil her face
and return to her father’s home, and if pregnant at the time she is
required to return the child to the father as soon as it is weaned.
The sick are objects of the most assiduous attentions 3 they are
overwhelmed with kindness by their friends and relatives, who mani-
fest their sympathy and affection by constantdevotion and persever-
ing efforts to hasten their ﬁnal recovery. But when all their hopes
have proved fallacious, and the last spark of life is extinguished, they
all crowd around the corpse of the clear departed, and rend the air
with the most doleful cries of lamentation, which agonise the heart
and cast a funereal gloom over all that is grand and beautiful in
human nature. After the ﬁrst outbursts of grief have subsided and
the emotions have been measurably calmed by reﬂection, the eyes of
the deceased are closed by the nearest relatives, the toes are tied so as
SYRIAN ARABS. 453
‘to keep the feet close to each other, and the hands are placed upon
the breast. The body is then washed with warm water, wrapped in
burial robes, and exposed to view for the beneﬁt of visitors, who call
in great numbers, and testify their esteem and attachment for the
deceased by joining the loud utterances of grief of the distressed
family, and the shrill-sounding screams of hired professional mourners.
The body is then placed upon a rudely constructed bier, covered with
a shroud, and borne on the shoulders of four men to the nearest ceme-
tery, followed by the male relatives and friends, where it is consigned
to the grave either in perfect silence or with the usual ceremonial of
the Mohamedan burial service. The graves are generally marked with
memorial tablets of stone or marble 3 they are bordered with ﬂowers, and
the melancholy cypress waves mournfully over the whited sepulchres.
The tombs of departed friends are greatly cherished and venerated by
the surviving relatives, who visit them on stated days to weep and
pray over the ashes of a dear father, a loved husband, or a darling
child.
‘ Syria is not simply a provincial dependency, but it forms‘ an
integral part of the Turkish empire, and is directly governed by ﬁve
pashas who receive their appointment from the sultan. It comprises
not only Syria proper, but ancient Phoenicia and Palestine. It is
divided into the pashaliks of Aleppo, Damascus, Beyroot, Acre, and
Jerusalem. Each pasha, within the limits of his territorial jurisdic-
tion, represents the sultan, and exercises absolute authority over the
people within the limits of his government without direct responsi-
bility, without supervision, and without control. He is the Viceroy
of the province, and regulates its movements 3 he levies and enforces
the collection of taxes, and has generally far greater capacity to enrich
himself by extortion and oppressive exactions than to govern his
people with a spirit of equity, improve their physical and moral
‘condition, or to give such application to the laws as to render them
productive of salutary ends and beneﬁcial results.1
The court of justice (mejlz's) is presided over by the lraclz's, who try
all civil and criminal cases brought within their cognisance 3 and they
are guided in their decisions by the Turkish laws as compiled from
the Koran, the traditions, and the commentaries. This is what is
called the people’s court, from which an appeal‘ lies to the High Court
at Constantinople, which is in itself a hazardous if not a ruinous step
both for plaintiff and defendant. The judgment hall (mahlrama) is
either at the house of the leads’, or in some apartment designated for
this purpose. Here the kaclz' is seated on a mat or carpet surrounded
by clerks and assistants, and the litigants plead their own cause
without the aid of attorneys, each one making a statement of facts,
discussing their merits, pointing out the equitable features of their
own side, and replying to the arguments of their adversary, while the
judge enforces order, listens, interrogates, draws his conclusions, and

1 Under the improved system of government the pashas are no longer the
irresponsible tyrants of former times, for their actions are not only watched by the
appointing power but by the consuls of the European nations.
4 5 4 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
ﬁnally pronounces sentence, or gives his decision, which is generally
acquiesced in, as it is supposed to be based upon the infallible
dictates of the Koran. Here, as elsewhere in Turkey, the courts
are most corrupt 3 the administration of justice is disgraced by the .
most unblushing bribery and the subornation of false witnesses, so
that the successful suitor is always he who is most profuse in his
liberalities. Justice is a purchasable commodity, and is sold here to
the highest bidder.1
There exists in Beyroot a board of trade, under the superintendence
of the mercantile community, which is authorised to adjudicate all
cases relating to commerce, and its decisions are considered valid.
3 It is but a few years ago that the testimony of a Christian was not
admitted in evidence against a Mohamedan, and if an inﬁdel struck a
Mussulman he did it at the risk of his life 3 while the murder of a
Christian by a Mohamedan gproduced no other serious consequences
than the payment of a sum of money agreed upon by the parties.
Neither Christians nor Jews were permitted to ride on horseback,
wear yellow slippers or white shawls 3 and sacred green was a privi-
ledged colour which no inﬁdel was allowed to profane.
The military force placed at the disposal of the pasha, to enforce
the measures of his despotic administration and to suppress any
attempt at revolt, is considerable. Ordinarily, the duties of the
soldiers are very light 3 as police officers they merely act as sentinels at
the gates of the walled cities, which are closed at sunset and opened at
sunrise. They are supported by the government except when they are
on a march, and they and their officers are then quartered on the country
population of the district in which their route lies, who are compelled
to supply them gratuitously with the best provisions at their disposal.
The sultan claims the absolute Proprietorship of the land in Syria
by right of conquest, and every peasant has but a temporary possessory
title to the ﬁelds he cultivates, and may be considered as a tenant for
life if he is able to pay the enormous exactions which are annually
extorted from the poor tillers of the soil. When a father dies, the
land reverts to the lord paramount, and the children can only keep
possession of the parental inheritance by paying a heavy sum to the
sultan or to his representative. The fellahs of Syria belong to that-
unfortunate class of the population who, having devoted themselves-
to the arts of peace, having been trampled under foot by long-con-
tinued, bloody, and remorseless oppression, and their spirit of resistance
having been crushed, have become degraded and cowardly, and
readily yield to force where opposition would be fraught with ruin
and destruction. The land-rent (miri) as originally instituted by the
government was sufficiently moderate to enable .the peasants to
prosper under its operation. But the mode of its-apportionment is
defective and contrary to sound reason and political economy. A
certain amount of land tax was imposed upon every district to be paid
by the actual cultivators of the soil according to the number of yoke

1 It is possible, though not probable, that under the new regime the judges are
less amenable to the charges preferred against them in the text.
SYRIAN ARABS. 455
of oxen they employed in their agricultural labours. The population
of the districts being changeable, the whole amount assessed is
collected from the remaining peasants, no matter to what insigniﬁcant
proportions their number might have been reduced. If drought, or
famine, or pestilence causes whole villages to be abandoned, spreading
ruin and devastation all around, the tax is levied upon the neigh-
bouring land, and the additional burden must be borne by the land-
holders who have escaped the general calamity.
But great as this hardship is, it might be borne if other far more
aggravating circumstances did not reduce the feZZahs to the deplorable
condition of serfs without hope of relief and without much prospect
of improvement. The pashas, naturally avaricious and grasping, have
contrived, by the exercise of plenary powers, to make themselves the
possessory proprietors of the greatest portion of the land, for which
they give an annual leasehold to the peasants, and exact in return
one-half and sometimes even two-thirds of all that is produced from
the cultivation of the soil. In addition to this they monopolise the
seed and the cattle, and they sell these indispensable articles, necessary
for farming operations, at exorbitant prices to their tenants. If the
share allotted to them, after the maturity of the harvest, falls short of
their expectation, under the pretence of losses and robberies, they
strip the peasant of his legitimate earnings, and leave him hardly
enough to supply bread for himself and his family 3 and it has
frequently happened that, in unfavourable seasons, in order to realise
the full amount of their annual exactions, they have exposed for sale
all the goods and chattels of their tenant, and left him in a state of
starvation, a helpless victim of unscrupulous rapacity and greed In
former times it was not an uncommon practice—and some infamous
pashas may even now resort to such an arbitrary measure—of laying
whole villages under contribution for some real or imaginary offence
with which they stood charged.
Each new pasha, as soon as he takes possession of his province,
inaugurates his beneﬁcent administration by the exaction of presents,
and wherever he passes in his march he requires the local authorities
of the place to collect from the inhabitants a supply of provisions and
forage, the best the countryaffords, for the gratuitous entertainment
of himself, his retinue, his soldiers, and his horses.
Before the recent reform had been introduced in the military
system of Turkey, the soldiers who were sent through the country to
carry orders acted more after the manner of highwaymen and robbers,
than as government ofﬁcials intrusted with the performance of official
duties. They were the terror of the country through which they
passed. They entered the villages as conquerors, and required that
all should be subject to their will. They commanded as masters, and
demanded from the defenceless inhabitants the obedience of slaves.
They addressed their hosts in the opprobrious terms of “dogs and
rabble,” and made requisition of them of bread, meat, and coffee,
tobacco and barley. Frequently they did not altogether rely on the
reluctant and tardy action of the villagers, and no poultry that met
their eye ever escaped their murderous propensities; and adding insult
456 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
to injury, at their departure they insolently demanded the kcra cl dar,
I“ the hireof the grinders,” and the vain remonstrances of the peasants
were silenced by the thrust'of the sabre. The only escape from these
ﬂagrant iniquities was to leave the country and take refuge in one of
the cities, where lawless despotism was somewhat restrained from
acting with such unblushing effrontery; but this did not in any
manner diminish the revenues ‘of the government, for the usual sum
of the min, as well as the capitation tax, for which the district was
charged, was assessed upon the inhabitants that remained.
Besides the mirz' or land—rent the government collects custom duties
on all importations of foreign merchandise shipped to the ports of
Syria. A capitation tax is also imposed which all subjects without
distinction are required to pay. Christians and Jews are compelled
to pay a humiliation tax (harazfj) in the form of tribute money, but
they are exempt from military service, for none but Mohamedans
are permitted to enter the army, as it is assumed that they alone
can be intrusted with the defence of the national religion and the
dynastic interests of the ruling sovereign so closely connected with
it.
The civilisation of the Syrian cities, like that of all other cities of
the East, is of an extremely mixed character, not only with regard to
race, language, and religion, but there exists the greatest diversity in
customs, manners, social conditions, and industrial pursuits. Damascus
is the most ancient as well as one of the most celebrated cities of
Asiatic Turkey. It is maintained upon the authority of the Bible
that Damascus was already a town of some note as early as the time
of Abraham, or two thousand years before the Christian era. It has
recognised many masters. As the queen of cities it was courted by
many a lover, and has yielded to the embraces of ﬁerce conquerors.
It made a part of the Assyrian empire, was conquered by the
Babylonians, submitted to the government of the Persians, was held
in subjection by the Macedonians, became a dependency of the empire
of the Romans, was cherished as “the pearl surrounded by emeralds”
by the Saracens, and is highly honoured as the stronghold of ancient
Mohamedanism by the Turks. It is situated in a fertile plain washed
by the limpid waters of a meandering river, and is surrounded on all
sides by the most enchanting beauties of nature. Gardens, bearing
the most delicious fruits, redolent with perfumes exhaled from fragrant
ﬂowers, and painted in the most delightful green by the waving grass 3
the fertile ﬁelds, and the luxuriance of shade-diffusing foliage, encircle
it and keep it decked, as it were, with festal robes. In the distance
the horizon is bounded by the blueshadowy outlines of Lebanon
and Anti-Libanus, with their wild magniﬁcent forest and mountain
scenery. When viewed from an elevated point, the azure blue of its
swelling domes, the resplendent lustre of its marble minarets, and the
dazzling glitter of its gilted crescents, may well inspire an Eastern
imagination with the fanciful illusions of the fairy vision of enchant-
ment. But the interior of the city, while it excites great interest
from the variety and picturesqueness of the costumes and the micro-
cosmic picture it presents of the life and manners of the Eastern
SYRIAN ARABS. 4 57
world, is far from being beautiful. The streets are irregular and
narrow. "With the exception of a few_ mosques, it contains no-
architectural monuments that offer any attractions to the lover of art.
The dwellings, the bazaars, the baths, and the coffee-houses, all are
stamped with the same monotonous uniformity, one of the distin-
guishing features of Eastern conservatism, and universal sameness and
repetition. . _ -
Damascus is considered by good Mussulmans as a holy city, and its
inhabitants are distinguished for religious fanaticism. It is not quite
half a century ago that a Christian could only enter the city on foot
clad in Oriental costume, with a black turban wrapped round the
head as a mark of inferiority. The front of the houses even bear
pious inscriptions in Arabic. “ There is no God but God ” (La lllah
z'lla Allah); “Wonderful is the Creator” (Sabban cl kallach). Old
sheikhs holding a staff in their hand, with which they strike the
ground as they pass the streets, mutter to themselves the pious ejacu-
lations, “Oh God!” (Ya Allah) “Oh, blessings of parents!” (Ya
raclcla el walclcn). Exclamatory sentences are frequently heard in the
most public thoroughfares, which evince the deep religious feeling of
the masses. “God most great!” (Allah ahbar) “God most high!”
(Allah taala). With many the carrying about of chaplets has a
signiﬁcant meaning. In dropping their beads they pronounce, with a
sigh, one of the ninety-nine epithets of God: “Sources of riches l”
(Y a ram) “ O most to be praised I ” ( Ya sabha-n) “ O impenetrable l ”
(Y a mastoa-r). God is the foremost idea of their thoughts, it is pre-
sent with them everywhere and on all occasions. If a man offers
bread for sale in the streets he exclaims, “God is liberal!” (Allah
.hcm'm) ; if he sells water he cries, “God is generous ! ” (Allah (ljawacl).
The city contains over three hundred mosques, of which the great
mosque of Omeiyades is the most celebrated. Its triumphal arch and
.its magniﬁcent doorway are typical of Grecian and Roman art. The
outlines of the Byzantine architecture of what was once the church of
St. John is still preserved in the semicircular arched windows and
the Greek inscriptions of the exterior walls. But the crowning glory
of the noble ediﬁce only dates back to the Saracen era, which gave to
it its lofty minarets, its swelling dome, its gilded crescent, its tesselated
pavement, and its marble fountains. Large and commodious buildings
are found here, erected by muniﬁcent patrons to serve the purpose of
high schools, which formerly held a high rank for Arabic learning,
but are now only of secondary order since they have been eclipsed by
the schools of Cairo. The libraries attached to the mosques contain
some rare manuscripts, but the number of volumes is extremely
limited. Although the routine of education is principally conﬁned to
reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, yet learned men of distinc-
tion are not entirely wanting, who are well versed in Arabic literature
and possess considerable knowledge of European science. A military
school has recently been organised by the Turkish government,
designed for the education of those who wish to adopt the military
profession with the object of entering the Turkish army.
The khans or caravansaries, although they present no architectural
458 THE ARAll'IrEAN STOCK.
beauty, except the symmetric arch and the tasteful mouldings‘ of their
gateways, yet they are capacious and substantial structures. Square
massive columns support the overhanging domes. In the interior of
the area the clear waters of a purling fountain impart coolness to the
heated summer air, and by their monotonous ripple lull the weary
traveller to sleep. A great number of small windowless chambers open
into the central court, where strangers ﬁnd a lodging and the merchants-
of the city deposit their goods. The coffee-maker with his coffeepot
and tiny cups takes the round of the establishment, and offers to its
inmates the favourite beverage prepared from the choicest mocha. The
pipe-bearer furnishes excellent tobacco to ﬁll the bowls and supply
the nai'ghilés. N ow and then the sherbet vendor visits the occupied
rooms and ‘treats his customers with the refreshing liquid, poured into
a brass cup from a huge bottle strung around his neck.
But the most conspicuous display of Eastern life is presented inthe
Damascus bazaars. Here are congregated, each arrayed in peculiar-
national costume, the grave Turk, the swarthy Bedouin, the ﬁerce
Koord, the stalwart Albanian, the robust mountaineer from Lebanon,
the stately Persian, the wary Armenian, the ever-watchful Jew, and
the deceitful Greek. Each street is, so to say, a warehouse of a select-
assortment of merchandise. Here silks, embroidered scarfs, and cloth
of gold—articles of city manufacture—-occupy a conspicuous place; and
Persian carpets, gorgeous robes, caskets, and ornaments elegantly and
artistically inlaid, as well as shawls from Hind and Kashmere, offer-
numerous attractions to purchasers. Antique armour, the once-famous
Damascus swords and daggers, and weapons of every description,
enchased with gold and silver and ornamented with sets of precious
stones, are evidences .of oriental taste and magniﬁcence. Here the
plain and embroidered yellow-slippers and the boat~shaped red over-
shoes are manufactured, and many busy ﬁngers are constantly at work
to give the ﬁnishing touch to the indispensable articles of a fashion-2
able toilet. Gold and silver smiths give form and shape to the
precious metals, and devise the most elegant designs in which they
fashion jewels and ornaments, sparkling with diamonds, rubies, and
emeralds. Wood carvers are engaged in cutting the shapeless block
into a clog of ornamental pattern, neatly embossed with carved ﬁgures.
Here the air is perfumed with spices and aromatic drugs; and pre
served fruits, sweetmeats, and confections are tastefully arranged and
carefully selected to suit the most fastidious taste.
Although a great number of houses are, in external appearance, low
and mean, and sometimes even dilapidated, yet there are some palace-
like ediﬁces occupied by wealthy grandees, the interior of which is
gorgeous with oriental ‘magniﬁcence. But even in these splendid
establishments the exterior view is unpromising and oﬂ’ers :no attractions.
A narrow tortuous passage leads from the street to an outer court,
frequently paved with black and white ﬂagstones tastefully inter-
checkered with marble patterns. In the centre the bubbling waters of‘
a marble fountain describe their graceful curves under the shady
‘canopy of evergreens and ﬂowering shrubs. A highly ornamented
arch leads to an alcove (leewan) elegantly ﬁtted up with a ﬂoor of
SYRIAN ARABS. 459
various coloured marble and a silk-cushioned dais which extends
round the sides. In this hall all the visitors are received, and the
chambers which are connected with it are exclusively occupied by the
master of the house and his body servants. Another winding passage,
which is guarded by eunuchs, opens into an inner court which is called
the harem. This court is of a quadrangular form, with a large marble
fountain in the centre, and several smaller fountains, often of great
beauty, ranged around it, thus giving freshness to the orange, citron,
and lemon trees which diffuse cooling shade and delicious fragrance
through this enchanted spot, where roses, oleanders, mimosas, and
exotics of luxuriant growth are embowered beneath the sombre green
of trailing vines, interlaced above with the overarching trelliswork.
All the chambers are on the second story, opening into a corridor in
front closed in with glass.
The grand reception-hall is on the ﬁrst ﬂoor. It is capacious and
lofty, and its costly decorations display much splendour and taste. A
beautiful arch, ornamented with gilt fretwork, divides the room into
two compartments. The ﬂoor of the front partition is composed of
the most costly marbles of various colours, artistically selected and
arranged with the utmost precision in regular geometrical designs.
The fountain, with its crystal waters, is itself a gem in its kind 3 it is
inlaid with mother-of-pearl and rare stones. This Eastern luxurious-
ness is still enhanced by the panelled walls adorned with rich mosaics
arranged around a central tablet of ﬁnely polished granite, porphyry;
or ‘variegated marble, while the uppermost panels are inscribed with
sentences of the Koran traced in letters of gold. Here and there the
uniformity of the walls is interrupted by an elaborate niche with a
sculptured arch and slender columns of white marble. The delicately
painted ceiling, the carved and gilt cornices, the variously disposed
mirrors, and the gold~fringed divan, covered with purple satin richly
embroidered in ﬂowers and scrolls of gold, add dazzling magniﬁcence
to this splendid array of oriental extravagance and profusion of
ornamentation.
The population of Damascus exceeds one hundred and ﬁfty thousand.
souls, of which more than one-half are Syrian Arabs. There are
about fourteen thousand Christians and ﬁve thousand Jews, who are
permanent residents of this ancient city, both of these classes being
principally engaged in commercial and other industrial pursuits. Ten
churches, nine convents, and numerous schools bear sufficient evidence
of the tolerant spirit of the government, notwithstanding the excessive
religious fanaticism of the Moslem inhabitants.
The prosperity of- Damascus is principally due to its situation as a
commercial centre. Its internal trade with the wandering tribes of
the Bedouins is extensive. Caravans from Bagdad bring here the
most costly merchandise from Persia and India to be distributed
over the various market towns of Syria. It is the general rendezvous.
of one of the most important pilgrim caravans, and on this account it
has received the distinguished name of “ Gate of Mecca.” Many of
the rich pilgrims, while they are engaged in the performance of a
solemn religious duty, avail themselves of the opportunity offered to
460 THE fYARAMJEAN sTocx.
enter into commercial speculation, and derive considerable proﬁt from
the traffic they are enabled to carry on with the towns they pass on
the route. Its export trade consists chieﬂy in silks and dried fruits,
which are transported from here to Egypt, Constantinople, and other
parts of Turkey.
Although Jerusalem is only second in point of antiquity to
Damascus, it occupies the ﬁrst rank as an historical monument, and is
the only city in the world whose religious sanctity is recognised by
three creeds that have been the forerunners of modern civilisation and
the messengers of glad tidings which, by their regenerating tendencies,
ushered in a new era of intellectual and moral progress. Jerusalem
is no less remarkable for its numerous vicissitudes and changes of
fortune than for its heroic and often obstinate resistance to the over-
whelming armies of hostile invaders. It had frequently been doomed
toldestruction, it had been razed level with the ground, and salt was
sown where the holy city stood 3 but the hallowed spot, though lonely
and desolate, was animated with an immortal spirit that could not
be crushed 3 its very ruins were transformed into germs of new life;
the very stones and the bare soil became replete with sacred reminis-
cences, and gave birth to new structures around which cluster the
cherished memories of past ages, and which are, as it were, the natural
offspring of the venerated old mother who had enshrined and conse-
crated tabernacles and temples—the earliest religious inspirations of
an invisible divinity.
Jerusalem was originally a stronghold of the J ebusites, of which
they held possession even after Joshua had conquered the greatest
portion of Palestine; and it was ﬁnally taken by David, king of
Israel, who built a palace there and made it the capital of the Jewish
nation. But it became only the seat of wealth, power, and learning,
as well as the object of religious veneration, after Solomon had
constructed the magniﬁcent temple dedicated to Jehovah, the God of
his fathers, and had adorned the city with many sumptuous ediﬁces.
During four hundred and ﬁve years it was the centre of religious
worship, where priests offered up sacriﬁces to the Most High, and
Levites chanted to the sound of the timbrel and the harp the
devotional psalms of prophets and poets, and no unhallowed foot had
as yet profaned the innermost shrines of the sanctuary, though the city
had been previously stormed and plundered by the king of Egypt.
But in 606 no. N ebuchadnezzar II., king of Assyria, made himself
master of Jerusalem, razed the fortiﬁcations, destroyed the city and the
temple, plundered it of its vessels of gold and silver, and carried away
its most valuable treasures, while many of its people were led into
captivity to Babylon. But its prosperity again revived under Cyrus,
who permitted the captive Jews to return to their native land, that
they might again enjoy the privilege of worshipping God with
ceremonial pomp, and be enabled to comply with the prescribed ritual
forms by the building of the second temple. Jerusalem opened its
gates and voluntarily submitted to Alexander the Great, who granted
to its inhabitants the freedom of their country, their laws, and their
religion. The favour and protection of the mighty conqueror was,
sYmAxARABs. 461
however, of short duration; it terminated with his death when
Ptolemy Soter obtained possession of Jerusalem by treachery and
carried a great multitude captive into Egypt. In the year 170 no.
its holy places were again desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanus, king
of Syria 3 he issued a decree for the extermination of the Jews,
profaned the temple by placing a statue of Jupiter within its
consecrated walls, despoiled it of its treasures, and commanded the
people to observe the rites of paganism and partake of sacriﬁces
offered to idols; A century after the Maccabees had restored the
independence of their country, Pompey, under the pretext of deciding
the contest between two rival factions, made Jerusalem tributary
to Rome, and conferred the government of Palestine on Antipater.
J udea revolting to shake off the yoke of Roman tyrants, it was besieged
by Titus during the reign of Agrippa Minor, and succumbed after a
vigorous resistance; and a million of the Jewish people are said to
have perished either by the sword or by famine. It had again partially
recovered, and forty-seven years were insuﬂficient to eﬂ'ace the memory
of its recent misfortunes; but the glowing embers of its rebellious
spirit were again fanned into a ﬂame which Adrian extinguished by
having recourse to the cruel expedient of razing the old city to the
ground; and to destroy every vestige of its existence even to its very
name, he founded a new city at some distance from its ancient land-
marks and called it Elia Capitolz'na. After it had been converted into
a Christian city by the Byzantine emperors, and after it had once more
resumed its ancient name, it fell into the hands of the Saracens under
Omar, and received its triple baptism as the pilgrim’s shrine of the
Mohamedan, as the Wellspring of life and immortality reserved to the
Christian, and as the last refuge from persecution of the weary, down-
trodden, homeless, and friendless Jew. The city in the sight of
Calvary, which stands forth as the symbol of hope and peace, and
good-will among men, was inundated with the blood of Jews and
Mohamedans by the. fanatic crusaders who entered as conquerors,
afterv a siege of six weeks, and transformed the martyr’s wreath of
thorns into an earthly crown of worldly ambition and worldly power.
This short-lived monarchy closed its career of impotent despotism by
the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin the Great, and Mohamedan
supremacy was again restored. The Mohamedan sovereign of the
Turkish empire still remains the ruling power that controls the
destiny of the holy city.
Jerusalem is situated on the sloping ridge of a rocky eminence,
and forms an oblong @pentagon. Mount Moriah, which rises in the
east like an isolated peak, presents a narrow platform, where a few
lofty cypresses raise their summits in gloomy grandeur, and a few
palm-trees stretch out their fan-branched arms over fallen arches and
crumbling walls. This is the site of the ancient temple, and is now
occupied by the mosque of Omar and the mosque of Aksam. Its
descent into the valley of J ehoshaphat is precipitous and abrupt, and
is watered by the brook Kidron. This gloomy and shadowy ravine,
the most ancient burying-place of historic renown, is dotted here and
there with a few old gnarled olive-trees which, as living sentinels,
.462 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
I, I‘ 'MﬂM-rmw'um->_\_~,~‘
J
have stood guard for thousands of years over the rock-hewn vaults,
the memorial marble tombs, and the commingled ashes of the unnamed
dead. On the opposite side, in the west, is Mount Sion, gradually
sloping down in a southern direction into the valley of Hinnom 3 while
Mount Olives, which crowns the whole city, looks down'upon the
picturesquely indented walls and the naked and desolate valleys full
of sepulchres. I
Jerusalem is still, as it was of old, a walled city, with its ﬁve gates
guarded by sentinels, which are closed and barred at night. The
interior, except in the neighbourhood of the bazaars, is a silent soli-
tude of lifeless walls and cheerless habitations, intersected by narrow,
unpaved, winding streets and lanes, which extend from one gate to
the other. The uniformity of the external appearance is but rarely
interrupted by a latticed window; and the overshadowing archways,
giving support to overhanging buildings, diffuse a dismal gloom all
around them, in full accord with the melancholy sadness excited in
the heart of the lonely wanderer and the devout pilgrim. _
The ordinary dwelling-houses of Jerusalem hardly ever exceed one
story rising, above the ground ﬂoor. The exterior walls are of a
massive grey stone, generally plain and unadorned, sometimes orna-
mented with dropping fretwork, or alabaster tablets let into the wall,
inscribed with Arabic monograms elaborately carved in slight relief,
or illuminated in red, blue, or gold. The vestibule, where a porter,
seated on a stone divan, guards the entrance from impertinent intru-
sion, leads into a small court, and in this contracted space are con-
veniently distributed the kitchen, the ofﬁces, and the servants’ rooms.
By an open staircase connected with the vestibule the upper apart-
ments are reached, which are occupied by the master of the house
and the female portion of the family. In the greatest number of
houses the rooms, in place of ﬂat ceilings, are overarched with
cupolas; others are terraced and surrounded by parapets which are
frequently pierced by tubular tiles, so as to afford the inmates an
opportunity of seeing all that passes in the streets without being seen.
The internal decorations are of the ordinary oriental style, in the form
of elaborate arabesques and gilt carvings.
. The population of Jerusalem is estimated at twenty thousand souls,
of which at least one-third are Jews, one-fourth Syrian Arabs, two
thousand Greeks, one thousand Turks which make up the garrison
and government officials, and the remainder are Roman Catholics,
Armenians, Copts, Syrians, Abyssinians, and Protestant Christians, a
few European residents, and Mohamedans of various oriental nations.
The bazaars which offer for sale some particular kind of goods, or
are occupied by tradesmen who follow the same commercial pursuits,
give the names to the streets, where the narrow contracted stalls“,
raised a few feet from the ground, are arranged in a regular double
line. The grocers’ bazaar, the corn and meal bazaar, the meat bazaar,
and the oil and butter bazaar are the most frequented and the best
patronised. Articles of luxury and dress stuffs are supplied in suffi-
cient quantities to satisfy the most extravagant customers. Here is a
select assortment of merchandise from England, France, and Germany,
SYRIAN ARABS. 463
lucifer matches from Austria; glassware, mirrors, and rings from
Bohemia and Hebron 3 and silk and woollen goods from Damascus.
Pottery, clay-pipes, and soap are the products of native industry.
Vendors here call out to passers-by : “ Ho ! every one that hath money,
let him come and buy,” offering for sale beads and crosses from Beth-
lehem, folders and rulers of olive wood, vases cut from bituminous
scoria found on the shores of the Dead Sea, which are sold as relics
or mementoes of the Holy Land. The huckstresses, who display in
their stalls a variety of fruits and vegetables, are principally Arab
women, with their hands dyed, with henna, their faces fancifully punc-
tured, their lips tinged with blue, and their eyebrows stained black.
The crowd presents a strange variety of costumes as well as nationalities.
The Syrian Arab walks along in demure gravity attired in a ﬂowing
robe, with his shaven head covered by a red fez cap or entwined with
a turban. The Bedouin with his black piercing eye, his head-covering
(kcﬁié) of many colours, and his white and brown striped abba wrapped
around him in graceful folds, looks with disdain and with digniﬁed ,
assurance upon the frail tinsel of a luxuriant but servile civilisation. F
The Polish Jew, enveloped in blue silk caftan, feels humiliated because ,
he is hated, insulted, and proscribed in his native country, and ﬁnds
himself a stranger where his ancestors once ruled as kings and princes.
The Protestant deaconess, in European dress, hurries along on a
mission of charity and love, in imitation of her Lord and Master who
went about the world doing good. The Arab woman from the desert,
clad in a blue, wide-sleeved skirt open at the breast, and extending to
the ankle, with silver coins strung over her temples and forehead, her
arms adorned with bracelets, and a huge ring glittering in her nose,
carries her infant child, wrapped in a white woollen cloth, well
balanced on her shoulders, and would not exchange her laborious life
under the tent of camel’s hair-cloth for all the counterfeit pleasures of
a city home. The Turkish lady, with her face closely veiled and her
natural form disguised under the folds of ample drapery, her feet
encased in yellow slippers, followed by a black slave, scorns the inﬁdel
herd around her and congratulates herself that she belongs to the
governing class. The tall and ﬁnely-featured Persian, richly robed in
ﬂowing dress, does not love the Christian, but he hates the Soonite
Turk. Here are seen the Franciscan friar with a cord bound around
his waist; the portly Greek priest with unshorn beard and long ﬂow-
ing locks 3 and the ascetic dervish with his round, yellow cap, walking
side by side in a land where all sects are meeting, and where votaries
of hostile creeds worship at divided altars and kneel at diﬁerent
shrines to adore their patron saints. Here mendicants in great num-
bers, assuming the character of a professional class, are unwearied in
their importunate solicitations, and claim a share of the voluntary
offerings distributed by pious pilgrims in the form of alms. Here
Europe greets Asia, and worships in the same sanctuary and adores
a common God. Protestants and Catholics, Copts and Armenians,
Greeks and Abyssinians, Jews and Mohamedans, gathered together
from distant countries widely separated from each other, look upon
this narrow, contracted spot of earth as holy ground, and all are ani-
“""'--m~..,
464 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
mated by the common hope that their self-sacriﬁcing devotion might
bring them one step nearer to heaven. There is a Protestant church
in Jerusalem of the Anglican profession of faith. It is a handsome
building, chaste and simple in style 3 and as it is designed as a mis-
sionary establishment for the conversion of Jews, the two tablets of
marble which adorn the walls above the altar are engraved with the
ten commandments in Hebrew characters of gold. The prayer-books
are also in the Hebrew language, and contain the ordinary Jewish
prayers, with the exception of slight omissions when the expressions
are at variance with the Christian faith. With this mission are con-
nected a well-managed hospital, a sewing-school for the employment
of women, a house of industry for apprentices in the mechanic arts,
and an agricultural establishment, all of which are in a prosperous
condition.
To the Christian pilgrim the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is an
object of the most profound veneration, as it is supposed to cover the
site of Calvary 3 and it is here where St. Helena, the mother of Con-
stantine, is said to have discovered the true cross. Its architectural
style is Byzantine, and presents nothing very remarkable except its
low and rounded dome after the Latin model, forming part of a globe,
in contradistinction to the light, airy and elevated structure of the
Saracenic dome, which is a section of a cone. Nor is the'interior
ornamentation and arrangement distinguished for classic art, beauty
of materials, or elegant grouping of parts. The paintings are devoid
of all artistic merit, either in conception or style in execution. The
hangings are dingy and old, and even the artiﬁcial ﬂowers are covered
with dust and have lost their original gay colours. The whole interest
of the place centres in the sepulchre, which is conﬁned within a small
temple-like structure, and consists of a sarcophagus of white marble,
illuminated by the dim ﬂickering light of burning lamps of gold. It
is perpetually guarded by a priest, and the room is ﬁlled with the
odour of burning spices and aromatics intended as an incense offering
pleasing to the Lord. It is surrounded by the oratories of the various
churches which claim to be the guardians of the sacred precincts of
this Christian temple. The Greek chapel which occupies the front
of the sepulchral chamber, is most conspicuous, and holds a globe in
its centre which, it is asserted, marks the precise centre of the earth.
The post is also shown here which superstitious credulity has'sancti-
ﬁed as7 the post of ﬂagellation. The Latin chapel is on the opposite
side of the rotunda 3 it is called the Chapel of Apparition, for here, it
is maintained, Jesus ﬁrst “appeared to many.” The‘ Syriac chapel is
supposed to contain the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. . On ascending
a narrow and steep staircase the site of Calvary is pointed out, which
is marked by an altar and enclosed within the area of a small chapel.
It is said to occupy the precise spot where the cross once stood.
On Good Friday superstitious mummery is carried to such an
extreme that the solemn event of the cruciﬁxion is transformed into
an exhibition that might be considered theatricaLwere it not charac-
terised by the boisterous mimicry of the buffoon and the lowest tricks
of the juggler. At the earliest dawn of the morning a troop of
SYRIAN ARABS. 465
vagabonds, collected together from all the country round, as if infuriated
by unnatural excitement and impelled by the frenzy of blind fanaticism,
rush through the church, now emerging from the columns, then
chasing each other round the sepulchre, shouting, yelling, and screaming,
“Away with him !” “Away with him!” “Crucify him!” “Crucify
him I” This mob scene is wild and horrible, it bafﬂes all description 3
a disinterested spectator might imagine “that hell was empty and all
the devils were loose.” The performance at night, representing the
passion and the cruciﬁxion, is not much more decent, and is altogether
disﬁgured by stage-play. At sunset the monks assemble in the Latin
chapel, where a sermon is preached in Italian, a procession is then
formed that slowly winds its way towards Calvary. An exquisitely
well-formed waxen image of Christ, as large as life, nailed to the
cross, crowned with thorns and besmeared with blood, is borne in
front, amidst the jeers and scoffs, the clamour and tumult of the
crowd of mob-wretches and ragged beggars, howling to the top of
their voice, “ Crucify him ! ” “ Crucify him !” On reaching the
Greek chapel a halt is made at the pillar of ﬂagellation, where another
friar preaches a sermon in Spanish 3 moving but a short distance they
come to the altar which commemorates the place where the soldiers
divided the clothes, and here a sermon is delivered in French. At
the foot of the staircase that leads to Calvary a sermon is preached in
English. On Calvary, while a Latin discourse is pronounced, the
image of Christ is subjected to actual cruciﬁxion with all its detail of
horrors. As soon as this tragic act is completed, two monks, who
personate Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, approach the cross,
draw out the nails and take down the body as represented by the
eﬂigy, which is made of pliable materials. It is then wrapped in a
winding~sheet and carried to the stone of unction, where it is washed
and anointed in due form. And while the last sermon is being
preached in Arabic, the image is enveloped in a white shroud and
transferred to the marble tomb in the place of the sepulchre, and the
door is closed. The extravagances of the mob during these half-
ludicrous, half-solemn ceremonial performances transcend even in
monstrous incongruity their previous attempt of dramatic display.
They indulge in various gymnastic exercises, they jump over each
other’s shoulders, drag each other along, and utter the most discordant
noises that can possibly be conceived.
The pretended miracle of drawing the “holy ﬁre ” from the sepulchre
is simply a piece of deception. Amidst the confusion of processions
and prayers, while the assembled multitude is in an excited state of
expectation, a suifragan of the Greek church, called the “bishop of
light,” descends to the sepulchre, in the centre of which is a small
opening, through which a lighted taper is introduced, and in an
instant the cries “The ﬁre, the holy ﬁre has fallen,” resound through
the building. The light is then exhibited by a priest to the people,
who light their candles with a rapidity that is almost instantaneous,
and in the twinkling of an eye the whole church and the galleries are
in a perfect blaze of illumination. The candles which have thus been
lighted are looked upon by the pilgrims as the most precious relics.
2 G
466 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
They are honourable badges of distinction which confer the title of
moral] or haolji upon their possessors. They are placed over the
threshold to serve as protecting amulets against the entrance of evil
spirits, goblins, and ghosts 3 they are lighted over the head of the
bride and the bridegroom while kneeling before the nuptial altar 3 they .
are the ceremonial tapers at the baptism of children 3 they are held up
by the priest over the face of the sick and dying, to cheer up the
sufferer and bring comfort and support in his agonising struggle, as he
passes from earth to eternity 3 and after the pilgrim has paid the last
debt of nature, they illuminate his pale ﬁgure and lustreless eyes, and,
burning lower and lower, they are at last consumed and their mellow
light is extinguished for ever.
In a spacious court, tapestried with the lively green of a ﬂowery
lawn, embowered in a grove of olive, orange, and cypress trees, stands
the mosque of Omar, the most beautiful object of sight in Jerusalem,
and the most splendid religious ediﬁce in the East. It is built of
bluish white marble in the form of an octagon, and its light and
elegant cupola, with the arabesque frieze and circle of painted windows,
is a model of gracefulness and strength, an unrivalled masterpiece of
Saracenic art. In the interior the entablature of the ceiling, which is
supported by two rows of columns encircling the famous rock called
the Great Sukrah, is exceedingly beautiful, being ornamented with
elegant tracery of Arabic sentences expressive of some religious thought
or moral precept.1 The Sukrah is surrounded by a wall about ﬁve
feet high, and a silk awning is stretched over it, raised to the height of.
twenty feet. The huge rock is perfectly natural, and is composed of
the same calcareous materials as the underlying geological formation
upon which the city is built. It occupies the centre of the building,
immediately under the great dome. The upper surface of the rock is
rough-hewn and irregular, and it is believed that it is marked with
the print of the Prophet’s foot, for it is said that it was from here that
Mohamed ascended to heaven. At the south-west corner of the wall
of enclosure is a small rock, protected by a netting of ‘wire, which is
asserted to be the very spot where Aysa (Jesus) was presented to the
Jewish doctors in the temple. The Sukrah is held in the highest
veneration by Moslem believers. Ignorant credulity derives its origin
from heaven, from whence it is supposed to have fallen, and it is said
that it was the seat of the ancient prophets. When the gift of
prophecy ceased to be effective, and the prophets, suffering from per-
secution, were compelled to take refuge in other lands, it is declared
that this rock manifested the profoundest sympathy in their fate, and
would have accompanied them in their ﬂight had not the angel
Gabriel interposed his authority and prevented the departure of the
oracular shrine. “He grasped it with his mighty hand and nailed it
to his rocky bed, until Mohamed, on his nocturnal visit, seated on
El Burk (lightning), ﬂed hither from Mecca, and after having ascended
to the seventh heaven, and having offered his devotions to God, he

1 One of the sentences is to this effect, “The fear of God is the head- of Wisdom.”
Wortabet’s Syria, vol. ii. p. 285. r
SYRIAN ARABS. 467
ﬁxed the stone iminovably in this holy site, around which the Caliph
Omar erected his magniﬁcent mosque.”
The Jews have several synagogues in Jerusalem, of which the Great
Synagogue of Sion is the most celebrated. It is composed of four
distinct houses of worship, which form together an extensive building.
The oldest portion of the ediﬁce is in a dilapidated condition, and
tradition assigns to it an antiquity which dates back to the destruction
of the temple, when it was used as the bath hameclmsh or schoolhouse
of Rabbi J ohannan ben Sakai. The halls are lofty, cheerful, and
airy, extremely simple, but sufficiently commodious and decent in
appearance.
But the Jewish pilgrim’s shrine is neither a synagogue, a church, a
mosque, nor a temple, rendered attractive to the eye by the lofty con-
ceptions and the artistic reﬁnements of the imagination 3 it is simply
a relic of disjointed stones, a memento of scattered ruins, the remnants
of the crumbled walls of the ancient temple. Here is holy ground
(mokcm kodesh) where the worshipper, in token of his profound
veneration, takes off his shoes. This is the wailing-place of the Jews
where the devout men and pious women of their race assemble on
Friday evening to offer up their prayers and give utterance to the
most heartrending lamentations, inspired by the remembrance of their
national unity and national glory, of which the dumb and silent
stones before them are the most eloquent expounders. The sobs and
groans have here musical melody 3 the shrieks are the intense intona-
tions of passionate endearment; the wails are a chorus of melancholy
chimes of despairing, abandoned, and down-trodden humanity. “How
long yet, O God!” “Oh, how long!” is the cry of anguish of a
despised, insulted, and yet noble people. The men, in Polish and
Turkish costume, with their faces turned towards the temple walls,
are powerfully agitated, and their mind being in a phrensied state of
excitement, their shrill voices, their loud and hoarse invocations in
offering up the ordinary evening prayers (mincha), can be heard at a
great distance. The women form a congregation apart from the men,
wrapped from head to foot in long white robes, whose ample folds
appear like wings; they raise their arms towards heaven and strike
their forehead on the square blocks of stone, while joining the tumul-
tuous chorus and making responses in suppressed and plaintive notes
to certain passages of the prayer. At last the leader, bending forward,
leans his forehead against the walls, and tears—sincere, heartfelt, and
gushing tears—roll down his manly check, when suddenly all become
silent—but it is the silence of death.
-—__.
AUTHORITIES.
Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte. Par F. C. F. de Volney. 1799.
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. By John L. Burckhardt. 1822.
Syria and the Syrians. By Rev. John Wortabet. 1860.
Five Years in Syria. By Rev. W. Graham.
Journey to Damascus. By Lord Castlereagh. 1847.
468 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
Five Years in Damascus. By S. L. Porter.
Eight Years in Syria and Palestine. By E. A. Neale. I842.
Wanderings in the Holy Land. By J. Anderson.
Domestic Life in Palestine. By Miss Rogers.
The Holy Land. By W. H. Dixon.
Travels in Palestine and Syria. By George Robinson. 1837.
The Land of Israel. By H. B. Tristram. 1866.
Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land. By Wm. R. Wilson. 1849.
Recollections of Scenes in Italy and the East. By Beldam.
Aus Phoenizian. Von Hans Prutz. 1876.
The Ansaryrii and the Assassins. By Lieut. Hon. F. Walpole. 1831.
DRUSES. 469
DRUSES.
THE Druses occupy that portion of Mount Lebanon which extends
from the river Nahr-el-Kelb (Dog river)-—the dividing line that
separates them from the Maronites—to the neighbouring territory of
Sour (Tyre), between the Bekaa valley and the Mediterranean. They
also inhabit scattering villages in the plain, where they are distin-
guished from the other Syrians by their peculiar customs and the
mysterious reticence about their creed. Their population does not
exceed sixty thousand souls, of which fourteen thousand only have
their dwelling-place in the mountain,1 and they are capable of bringing
six thousand sturdy warriors into the ﬁeld. The Druses are the
direct descendants of the Arab shepherds who, at the very rise of
Mohamedanism, directed their march of migration towards the fertile
plains and the verdant mountain slopes of Syria.
Like all mountainous countries, Lebanon remained for a long time
the rampart of civil and religious liberty. Here the ferocious
conqueror who had subdued Palestine and the surrounding country
never obtained a permanent foothold. The Assyrians, the Egyptians,
the Persians, the Greeks, the Saracens, the Crusaders, and the Tatars
all failed to curb the indomitable spirit of this heroic mountain
people. Scarcely had the new religion been established among
nations contiguous to Arabia, and the conquerors had colonised the
territories subdued by their prowess and held in subjection by the
sword, than intestine feuds arose between the most distinguished
leaders of the Mohamedan armies which, though they related only to
the right of exercising supreme power, yet led to a permanent religious
schismawhich has divided the Mohamedan world into Soonites and
Shiites, constituting two distinct sects that have continued to exist up
to the present day. When in the second century of the hejira Greek
books were read and Greek literature was studied by the Saracen Arabs,
the disputations and metaphysical spirit of the Greek mind gave rise
to endless controversies and religious speculations of a wild and
fantastic character, which produced numerous dissenting sects, all
more or less tinged with the mystic doctrine of Magian philosophy or
the symbolism of ancient idol-worship of the Sabeeans and Assyrians.
As early as the year 821: A.D. twelve Arab tribes were encamped
round Aleppo 3 having been engaged in a bloody feud with the officers
of the government, in consequence of its oppressive measures and
its unjust exactions, they directed their steps towards the Lebanon
mountains, where they found liberty and independence, and a country,

Zwiedinck estimates their number_ at twenty-nine thousand.
470 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
though barren and desolate, yet mostly unoccupied and ready to
receive them. The Maronites held possession of the northern and
more fertile portion of the mountain regions 3 but the southern district,
east of Beyroot and Sidon, extending up to the highlands, was only
inhabited by a few fugitive Christians who had escaped the terrible
sword of the Moslem warriors. These Arab tribes were led by the
emir Fowaris Tnooth, and making their ﬁrst halt at Aindara, they
were induced, on account of the abundant supply of water and the
extensive ranges of rich pastures, to ascend the more elevated regions
near the sources of the Suffa and Barook rivers. Here they remained-
for many years, leading a life of rural simplicity and contentment,
until inﬂuenced by the rapid increase of their numbers, the great
severity of the highland winters, and the supposed advantages that
would be derived from an extension of their boundaries, they gradually
took possession of the lower lands without obstacle or opposition,
undisturbed by the jarring elements of family discord, and unmolested
by the arbitrary interference of feudal superiors. In a few years the
face of nature was entirely changed Substantial castles formed the
centre around which were clustered the habitations of a thriving and
happy peasantry. The wild dwarf-oak, called si'ndian, which bristled
like closely-compacted undergrowth from every mountain side, soon
disappeared under the stroke of the sturdy axe, and was replaced by
terraces constructed with industry and care, where the mulberry and
the vine were cultivated in large and ﬂourishing plantations. The
emirs gradually assumed the importance and arrogant pretensions of a
superior class 3 they continually made new accessions to the number
of their dependents, they enlarged the extent of their territorial
domain, and the amount of their annual revenue increased in proportion.
They vied with each other to be the reputed owner of the choicest
steeds 3 they passed their time in the noble exercise of archery, or in
the more exciting equestrian game of the jereecl1 By degrees the
people laid aside the nomadic habits of their Arab fathers 3 permanent
communities were organised 3 the arts of peace were introduced, and
commerce and civilisation reached even the most inaccessible mountain
retreat. Originally they were Mohamedans, at least in name. It
was not a religion of their choice, but their adherence to Islamism
was simply accidental. It was imposed upon them by their kindred,
who were devout in their professions and sincere in their convictions.
The Arabs of Mount Lebanon did not follow the banner of Mohamed
with the Koran in one hand and the sword in the other, charged with
the divine mission to convert the nations of the earth to Islamism,
and to wage incessant and inexorable war against inﬁdels of dissenting
crceds, and render them tributary as subject vassals of the kaliphs,
the divinely-appointed successors of the Prophet. But they remained
behind in their desert homes, tending their ﬂocks and camels unaffected
by the clash of arms, and uninspired by the shouts of triumph
and victory which re-echoed from the distant hills and roused into


1 The jereed is an equestrian tournament in which the champions are armed
with lances. It is of Turkish origin.
DRUSES. 471
action the more impassioned ranks of their warlike and impulsive
race.
About the year A.D. 1020 the sixth Fatimite kaliph, Hakem
Biamur Allah (“he who governs by the commandment of God”),
succeeded to the throne of Egypt. His wild and fanatic disposition
and his capricious temper urged him on to commit the most excessive
abuses of power, contrary to every principle of right and justice, and
his unnatural crimes and follies even were appealed to by his ﬂatterers
as proofs of a divinely-inspired nature. In violation of the funda
mental doctrines of the Mohamedan creed, he prohibited his subjects
from making the pilgrimage to Mecca 3 absolved them from the
obligations of fasting, prayer, and circumcision, and his arrogance
carried him to such a height of infatuation that he proclaimed himself
the very personation of the Deity; and as it was ascertained from a
register, which he ordered to be opened for this purpose, sixteen
thousand worshippers were induced to believe that the divinity used
his person as a veil to conceal its effulgence. Nor was there a prophet
wanting to support him in these impious pretensions. A Persian,
whose name was Hamzé, gave sanction to all the erratic eccentricities
of his patron, and encouraged him to proclaim among his people the
idea of his divine emanation as a doctrine of faith. Hamzé exhibited
much enthusiasm and fervent zeal in teaching the fundamental tenets
of the new creed, and gained over numerous proselytes, and his
labours were duly rewarded with honours and emoluments conferred
upon him by his master.
But Hamzé was not unaided in his missionary enterprise 3 he
attached to himself a fanatic follower and zealous disciple, who was
also a native of Persia, and bore the name of Mohamed, son of Ismail
Darazi, and who had already been initiated into the mysteries of the
Ismaelian sect. He advocated the divinity of Hakem, and in support
of this claim he wrote a book, in which he set forth that the soul of
Adam had passed into Ali, son of Abou Taleb, and has thus been
transferred through the ancestors of Hakem to the individuality of
that prince. For the eminent services thus rendered to his master he I
was made grand-vizier, and the management of public affairs was
placed under his control. Bold and unscrupulous in his designs, and
prompt and decisive in action, he openly proclaimed in the grand
mosque of Cairo his unqualiﬁed adhesion to the new doctrine in the
presence of a congregation of faithful Mohamedans who, incensed at
his insolence, rushed upon him, and he would have fallen a victim to
his rashness had he not preferred to escape from his persecutors by
ﬂight, rather than seal with his blood the new covenant of faith and
suffer himself to become a martyr to his religious convictions. At
this critical conjuncture Hakem failed to assert his divine power, but,
inﬂuenced by policy, he acted with discretion and facilitated the
immediate departure of Darazi by all the means at his command. He
supplied him with a considerable amount of money, and invested him
with authority to proceed to the mountains of Syria with the object
of propagating the new faith which he had espoused. Thus armed
for the exercise of his missionary functions, he arrived in the district
47 2 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
of the Wady Tanié, above the sources of the Jordan, and found ready
access to the encampments of the Arabs, who eagerly listened to the
novel exposition of religious dogmas, and many became converts to a
negative creed without ceremonial forms and without religious obliga-
tions. Hamzé, who was recognised as the chief prophet of the rising
sect, availed himself of this favourable opportunity of acquiring
greater importance by the increase of the number of his followers, and
gave a powerful inﬂuence to the work of proselytism by his writings
full of abstruse speculations of mystic philosophy, interspersed with
practical suggestions 3 and before ten years had passed the Arab tribes
of Mount Lebanon had accepted as a guide through life the outward
profession of religion elaborated in Egypt, while a select class of
votaries was initiated in the secret lore of the greater mysteries. It
is from Darazi, their ﬁrst religious teacher, that the Arabs of Mount
Lebanon received the name of Druses.
But the merit of gathering the scattered elements, and organising
them into a compact religious body, belongs to the emir Abdallah
Tnooth. Sincere in his convictions and roused to energetic action by
a well-regulated enthusiasm, he gave force and extension to the reli-
gious system of Hamzé, which secured at once its permanency and
furnished at the same time an illustrious example, inculcating the
strict observance of the duties it enjoined.
In the interior of the tomb of this venerable achel is suspended a
magniﬁcent lamp which is kept continually burning, and his memory
is so highly revered by his countrymen that many Druses of both
sexes make annual pilgrimages to his shrine, and account it a work
of no ordinary merit to perform this act of piety and devotion.
In Egypt, Hamzé, who was now the favourite of Hakem, endea~
voured gradually to prepare the minds of his people for the full accep-
tance of the religious tenets of which he was the central ﬁgure. He
suppressed the pilgrimage to Mecca3 discontinued the annual contri-
bution of the silk cloth which serves as covering for the Kaaba; he
himself ceased to visit the mosques, omitted the ﬁve daily prayers 3
infringed upon the fast of Rhamadan, and wholly disregarded the two
festivals of the greater and lesser Beiram. He abolished the tithes,
and suppressed all other voluntary offerings for the support of the
Mohamedan religion. In the year 408 of the hejira he proclaimed
universal toleration, and granted freedom of worship to all sects and
to all religions upon the principle that, as there is no distinction of
persons before God, it would be inconsistent with his divine magna-
nimity to favour one sect more than another. Thousands of Christians
and Jews who, by the tyrannical acts of power of the ruling autho-
rity, had formerly been compelled to assume the outward appearance
of Moslems and practise the religious rites and ceremonies of Islamism,
now returned to the bosom of the church and took shelter within the
pale of the synagogue. Hakem, to give more substantial proof of his
divinity, pretended that he was possessed of omniscience, and to sur-
round this deception with a halo of truth he sent out spies and eaves-
droppers in every direction, who pried into the secrets of domestic
life, and collected materials of information from public and private
DRUSES. 473
sources. By this trick he imposed upon many, who became convinced
that his divine omniscience must have some real foundation, because
he was thus enabled to reveal on the following morning all the inci-
dents of private life that had transpired or formed the subject of con
versation in the retired circle of families the previous evening.
Having received an insult at the bazaar, he ordered the inhabitants
of Cairo to be slain, the town to be pillaged and to be set on ﬁre,
whilst he himself viewed from the heights of Karaffa the bloody
massacre perpetrated by his African troops and his corps of slaves.
But the timely interference of the soldiers of the Turkish garrison
put an end to this atrocious deed of vengeance carried into effect by
irresponsible agents, and Hakem put on an air of innocence, disavowed
the acts of his soldiery, and granted universal amnesty to the people.
His own sister, whose life had been threatened, had him despatched
by some unknown hand as he was taking his ordinary morning’s ride
to the heights of Karaffa 3 and Egypt was thus delivered of a madman
and a monster by the dagger of the assassin. Such is the incarnate
divinity which is the fountain-head of the Druse religion 3 and it must
he confessed that if its doctrines and morals were not far superior to
its god, it could only be looked upon with suspicion, and would merit
to be denounced as a dangerous and monstrous absurdity. After the
death of Hakem the sect was persecuted by the Mohamedan rulers of
Egypt 3 and as Hamzé himself was compelled to ﬂy to the desert,
where he lived the life of a wanderer and an outcast, the Egyptian
Unitarians ceased to have an organised existence, and were ﬁnally dis-
persed and lost in the Mohamedan multitude.
In the meantime the military ardour and distinguished prowess of
the Druses rendered them sufficiently independent to bid deﬁance in
their mountain fastnesses to the nominal supremacy of their Saracen
masters, who ruled over Syria with the iron hand of power 3 and they
only required of these liberty-loving mountaineers to profess a formal
adhesion to the Koran without imposing upon them the ceremonial
practices and the mosque-worship of Islamism. Thus, in spite of
Moslem fanaticism, a dissenting sect, denying the divine mission of
Mohamed, enjoyed in perfect security the free and unrestrained exer-
(cise of its religion.
Although Syria was conquered by Selim I. in r 5 r 7, yet the internal
condition of the Druses remained unaffected by the change of rulers.
They were governed by their own emirs and sheikhs, whose standards
they followed as military vassals, and whose lands they occupied as
tenants, if they were not themselves absolute proprietors of the spot
of ground they cultivated. But as they frequently issued forth from
their mountain recesses in marauding excursions against the Turks
inhabiting the plain, they were at last reduced to submission by
Amurath III. in the year 1588, who exacted a heavy contribution
and rendered them tributary to the Turkish empire. Henceforth the
emirs and powerful sheikhs became oppressive, exacting, and corrupt.
They entertained ambitious projects, and the antagonism of rivalship
gave rise to a contest for political supremacy which was productive
‘of the most deplorable consequences. The emirs resorted to every
474 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
scheme of cunning and intrigue, and purchased their investiture from
the Turkish pasha of Acre or Damascus, and the chief who could offer
the largest sum was the successful applicant, who placed himself under
the protection of the military force of his liege lord, to whom he owed
the honours and emoluments of his ofﬁcial station.
The emir of the Druses was not only the chief ruler of his own
people, but his authority extended over the Christian Maronites, who
constitute the majority of the population of the Lebanon mountains.
J ealousies and animosities were occasionally excited between two
religious sects entirely hostile to each other, and quarrels and bieker~
ings often arose which led to armed encounters, and which were
necessarily prejudicial to the interests of both parties, for it was in
strict accordance with Turkish policy to foster these enmities and
encourage internal feuds, thus acting out in all its literal signiﬁcance
the well-known despotic political maxim, “Divide and conquer.”
Even as late as 1860, when the tanzimat had long before placed all
Turkish subjects upon an equal legal footing, the Druses, at the
instigation of the Turkish authorities, rose in arms against their
Christian neighbours, who, though much more numerous, are less
warlike and less valiant, and after indiscriminate slaughter and
devastation, they would have proceeded to the extreme of utter extere
mination had not the Christian powers of Europe interfered, and put
an end to these unprovoked massacres, insisting upon substantial
guarantees to secure the effective protection of the Maronites, and to
prevent the future occurrence of these atrocious deeds of murder and
robbery. From that time the power of the Druses was broken, they
ceased to be the ruling race in the mountain, and a Christian was
appointed, and is now, governor of the Druses as well as the Maronites.
Mount Lebanon, or the White Mountain, which is bounded by the
Mediterranean on the west, and the valley of Bekaa or Coelo-Syria on
the east, is about a hundred miles in length and twenty-ﬁve or thirty
miles in breadth. It is one of the ﬁve holy mountains of the
Mohamedans, by whom it is held in great veneration, and by the
Christian it is looked upon as consecrated ground trod by the foot—
steps of prophets and saints. Here nature presents the most striking
contrasts of beauty and sublimity, of enchantment and grandeur, that
cannot fail to impress even the most ordinary mind with a sense of
awe and reverence wholly abstracted from the gross tinsel of society
and the material necessities of everyday life. Here wild gorges and
precipitous deﬁles are constantly alternating with gentle declivities,
covered with wild oak and ﬁr, and decked, in early spring, with a.
carpet of grassy verdure, interspersed with beautifully tinted tulips,
ﬂower-clustered lupines, light and airy anemones, fragrant mignonettes,
various-coloured hyacinths, and sweet-scented jonquils. From the
snow-clad summits to the regions of the cedars the scenery is wild and
severe, and the landscape is often magniﬁcent. Here the wild juniper
grows in extensive tracts and casts its dark shadow over the sunny
highlands. In the most elevated wild oak districts, which have the
appearance of impenetrable forests, the panther, the hyena, and the
jackal, the wolf and the fox ﬁnd a safe retreat unmolested by the
nausns. 47 5
murderous ﬁre of the huntsman or the intrusion of the peasant’s axe
to clear the ground for cultivation. Nor is the inhabited portion of
the mountain less picturesque. Steep and rugged chasms which, in a
state of nature, were almost inaccessible, have been transformed, by
industry and steady labour, into capacious and symmetric terraces,
where the vine and the mulberry ﬂourish in perfection 3 and hamlets
and villages, which are scattered here and there, appear as if they
were suspended from the slanting sides of elevated ridges.
The climate of Lebanon is extremely mild and salubrious 3 even in
its most elevated habitable regions the thermometer never falls during
the winter months below thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and the summer
temperature varies from sixty-ﬁve to seventy-ﬁve degrees. In the
lower ranges geraniums, dahlias, carnations, and vegetables of every
kind remain unprotected in the open air during the coldest season
without the least injury. Frost is almost unknown, and when snow
falls, as an extremely rare and exceptional occurrence, it hardly ever
remains on the ground more than one day. Even in the midland
ranges the winter climate is almost like a perpetual spring, unless
there is an unusual fall of snow, which generally melts away in the
course of ten days. From the end of May to the end of October the
weather is hot, and with the exception of an occasional shower in
July, and a few days’ rain at the end of September, the sky is cloud-
less and serene, but the air is refreshed by the south-westerly Nile
winds, which blow in strong gusts from the direction of Egypt. In
September the weather is rather sultry, but even then a slight breeze
from the south, which springs up at mid-day and lasts till sunset, pro-
duces a cooling effect upon the atmosphere.
The Druses are a hardy, energetic, and industrious race. They are
restless in disposition, enterprising in their industrial pursuits, and
warlike and brave even to temerity when their rights are invaded.
They are courteous in their manner and conversation, but their polite-
ness frequently disguises their cunning, and often hides deceit and
falsehood beneath a fair exterior.
The peasant class are extremely reserved and uncommunicative, and
the austerity of their demeanour is hardly ever softened by a hearty
laugh or a peal of merriment. Their honour and public reputation
are dearer to them than any earthly possession. An insult offered in
private might be borne with patience and resignation, especially if
interest demanded a spirit of forbearance; but the slightest offence
given, or the most triﬂing wrong perpetrated in the presence of eye-
witnesses, is met with instant retaliation and revenged with the-
greatest fury 3 and bloody strife would be more frequently fomented
were it not that the law of blood-revenge is strictly enforced.
Hospitality is one of the sacred duties whose implied obligations
they never disregard or violate. N o consideration of interest, no
dread of power can ever induce them to betray or deliver up to an
enemy the stranger or fugitive who has placed himself under their
protection, and with whom they have contracted the sacred engage-
ment of “bread and salt.” Whoever presents himself at the door of
their dwelling, whether mendicant or traveller, is never turned away
476. THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
without being provided with food and lodging in the most generous
and unaffected manner 3 for they say that “ God is liberal and great,
and all men are brethren,”--a noble sentiment, which it would be
for the beneﬁt of mankind if all other religious sects were to
adopt and practise. Wandering minstrels are invariably accommo-
dated in the houses of the sheikhs, where they are not only plentifully
supplied with all their wants, but a collection of money is made for
them, to which each sheikh of the neighbourhood contributes his share
according to his means.
The Druse sheikhs are distinguished for politeness and affability in
their intercourse with strangers. The charms of their conversation,
their delicate ﬁatteries and their persuasive compliments, their dignity
of manners and their calm self-possession, evince not only a studied
attitude of conduct and demeanour, but lead to the irresistible con-
clusion that they are possessed of a high order of intellect. This
superiority over the ignorant and superstitious Maronites, with whom
they are most frequently brought in contact, renders them proud and
self-conceited, and gives them the air as if they considered it conde-
scension to entertain those, not of their rank and station, with
becoming courtesy, or that they fancied they are conferring a favour
upon the visitor or guest in making their social intercourse attractive
by their polite attentions and good breeding. Their aristocratic class-
pretentions are supported by ceremonial formalities, and regulated by
an order of precedence to which leading families of noble descent
consider themselves entitled, whose strict observance is strenuously
exacted 3 and this traditional homage is readily yielded with habitual
ease and unconstrained familiarity.
The fantastic head-ornament (tantoor) of the married women is the
only distinguishing peculiarity in which the dress of the Druses differs
from that of the other Syrian Arabs. This head-dress is in the form
of a horn made of dough, brass, tin, silver, or gold, according to the
circumstances and fortune of the wearer. It is from six inches to
two and a half feet long, and is gradually tapering upwards from a
broad base terminating in a point. It is placed over the forehead, is
ﬁrmly tied under the chin by a band, and. is profusely ornamented
with tassels and other glittering tinsel. The white veil with which
the women cover their face passes over it and falls down to their feet,
which gives them the appearance of horned spectres or ghosts. For
the last ten years, however, this part of the female national costume
has gone out of fashion, and has been replaced by the. fez cap
. studded with pearls or diamonds, or other ornamental ﬁnery, gracefully
entwined with a kerchief of a gay ﬂower-pattern. -
The greatest simplicity exists among the Druses in their 'mode of
living. They are remarkable for their frugal habits and sobriety, and
yet they are fond of raw meat, and whenever they kill a sheep they
consider the liver and heart dainty morsels without any other
preparation but the addition of a little salt. 3
The Druses are principally an agricultural people. They do not
cultivate, however, a sufficient quantity of wheat and barley to
supply their ordinary wants. The harvest commences in the month
pauses. 477
of July, and is cut down with the sickle. After the grain has been
exposed for some time to the heat of the sun, it is carried by the men
on their backs to the threshing-ﬂoor. Every peasant plants a small
piece of ground with tobacco, and frequently also with cotton, for his
own use and consumption. The vine and the ﬁg are extensively
grown, requiring no other care and attention except the labour of
pruning in the month of March, and an occasional ploughing during
the spring and summer months. If the vine is planted in alternate
rows with the mulberry, it winds around the trees and hangs in
graceful festoons from their branches 3 but in the vineyards set apart
for this speciﬁc culture, it is allowed to spread on the ground, no
upright supports being provided around which it may twine its
tendrils. The grapes, of which there are a great number of varieties,
are luscious and sweet 3 and some of the wine they yield can hardly
be surpassed in richness of colour and delicacy of ﬂavour. Wine-
making on the Lebanon is a very simple process. The grapes are
thrown in bunches into a circular basin of masonry with its bottom
on an inclined plane. They are then trodden out with the feet, and
the juice thus obtained runs off into reservoirs specially ﬁtted up to
receive it, and after a few days’ exposure to the sun the liquor is
drained off and put into barrels. The mash of the grapes which
remains is subjected to a second pressure, and a superior quality of
treacle is obtained from the juice, that is received in a separate tank,
where inspissation takes place by means of a white earth called
how/arm which, in the course of a few days, is gradually precipitated
and settles at the bottom.
But the greatest portion of the terraced mountain slopes is covered
with mulberry plantations, which have to be ploughed and watered at
least three times during the summer months. The production of silk
is a wearisome process, and requires the attention and care of the
women as well as the men. While the peasants attend to the labour
of keeping the mulberry grounds free from weeds, their wives and
daughters are engaged in the operation of smoking the seed of the
silkworms to facilitate their hatching, which is effected in ﬁfteen or
twenty days. In the meantime the men lop off the mulberry branches
close to the stem, which are stripped of their leaves by the women
and spread out as food for the worms. The beds on which the worms
are fed and reared are composed of round ﬂat cakes of dried cowdung
about a foot and a half in diameter, resting on shelves or platforms
arranged all around the room and extending in successive stages from
the ﬂoor to the roof. As the worms arrive to maturity they become
exceedingly rapacious, and the feeding process has to be repeated
every six hours. At the expiration of ﬁfty days the worms attach
themselves to the wild oak and fern branches placed within their
reach, and in the course of a week they enter the chrysalis state, and
the cocoons being perfected, they are removed and assorted according
to their quality.
The olive groves of the lower and midland regions are exceedingly
productive, and yield an abundance of the ﬁnest quality of oil. The
olive-trees bear only every alternate year, because instead of resorting
478 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
to the tedious process of picking, the trees are injured by beating
down the fruit with sticks during the period of gathering in autumn.
In the well-watered and sheltered valleys the orange, the lemon,
the pomegranate, the banana, sugar-cane, coffee, and the most deli~
cious fruits of temperate climates luxuriantly ﬂourish in the open
air, requiring but ordinary care and attention. The nature of the
climate is also favourable to the growth of vegetables of every kind.
Melons, cucumbers, and even pine-apples may be brought to a perfect
state of maturity in three or four months without artiﬁcial aid. So
well adapted to agriculture is the combination of climate and soil in
this favoured land, that in the same piece of ground three successive
crops of potatoes may be produced in one year, and the kitchen pea,
which will pod in two months from the time it is sown, may be
cultivated both during summer and winter.
The Druses are, on a small scale, a manufacturing people. They
weave cotton goods, which are used by the mountaineers as shawls
and girdles, and they manufacture silk stuffs which they exchange for
the corn of the Haouran, the sesamum oil of Palestine, and the coffee
of Beyroot.
The property in land among the Druses is principally vested in
the feudal chiefs or sheikhs 3 there are, however, some peasant proprie-
tors who cultivate their own land, and these are entirely independent,
except that they are required to pay the ordinary taxes, and render
military service. But the great majority of the peasantry are simply
tenants at will, and till the land which they occupy upon shares
according to the terms of the contract which they make with their
landlord, the division of the produce being generally fair and equitable.
Silk being the staple product of the mountain, the mulberry plantations
are divided into sections of which one or more are assigned to each
tenant. The house, which is built of stone, with two centre pillars for
the support of the roof, contains but one room sufficiently capacious to
serve as dwelling for the tenant and his family and as nursery for the
rearing of the silkworms and the maturing of cocoons. From thirty
to forty loads of mulberry leaves are considered an ample provision
for each tenant, and in addition a vineyard and a certain portion of
arable land are attached to each section. The tenant is required to
pay to the landlord one—fourth of the value of the mulberry leaves to
be furnished to him for the season, and one-fourth of the estimated
value of the vines and ﬁgs belonging to the section he occupies 3 and
in return for this outlay, and as a remuneration for his toil and
supervision, he is entitled to one-half of the net produce realised from
the silk culture and the working of the land. The tenant contributes
one-fourth and the landlord three-fourths for the expense of repairing
the terrace walls, or the money paid out for breaking up the new
ground. But the peasants rent sometimes the mulberry lands for a
ﬁxed yearly sum, and they attend to the labours of the silk crop for
their own exclusive beneﬁt. The advance money of one-fourth paid‘
by the peasant on taking possession of his section, is returned to him
in case he should voluntarily leave it, or if he should be turned out 3
and as a new valuation is made, if by his industry and judicious
DRUSES. 479
management he has contributed to enhance the value of the property,
the return money will also be increased in proportion. Arable lands
are cultivated by the peasants upon somewhat different conditions.
The seed which is to be sown is furnished in equal proportions by the
tenant and the landlord, and the produce of the harvest is divided
equally between them 3 or the land having been inspected by experts,
the rent-charge is either equal to or double the quantity of corn
requisite to sow it.
As the Druses have no slaves the household affairs are managed by
the women, and even the wives of the sheikhs are compelled to per-
form the domestic offices which are everywhere considered as menial
drudgeries, but are simply useful services adapted to the physical con-
dition of the female sex, and which ought to be cheerfully rendered
by rich and poor, that all may contribute by their labour to the sup-
port of the family. The wife lives a life of seclusion, but the master
of the house is equally conﬁned to his home 3 he is satisﬁed to pass
his time in the bosom of his family, and besides his wife, his mother
and sisters and sisters-in-law, he never sees the face of any other
woman. It is only on extraordinary occasions that he meets his
neighbours and friends at the house of the chief of the village, where
they assemble in the evening, seated cross-legged in a circle, smoking
their pipes, and entering upon an animated discussion about their
private interests, the prospects of the harvest, and the plenty or
scarcity of provisions. They now and then touch upon public affairs,
they pass in review the conduct of the emir, criticise the acts of the
government, and give expression to their opinion about excessive
taxation. Their boys are invariably present to be instructed by the
wisdom and to be inspired by the eloquence of their fathers 3 for this
is the most important part of the scholastic education they enjoy.
They are neither taught the Koran of the Mohamedans nor the Psalms
of the Maronites 3 the schoolmaster is not abroad among the Druses.
But the sons of the sheikhs and those of the principal aclcels are well
educated, and even their daughters know how to read.
The Druses are wholly devoted to the interest of the clan to which
they belong, and to strengthen the ties which bind them together they
conﬁne their marriage connections entirely within their own families,
which enables them to call out for their defence from a hundred to
two hundred armed men of war 3 and this is a source of pride and
satisfaction, because it confers upon them vast inﬂuence and import-
ance. They marry a poor relation in preference to a rich stranger,
and any deviation from the established custom is frequently resented
as an injury as well as an insult. A young girl is bound by the obli-
gations imposed upon her by consanguinity to marry her cousin, and
any infringement upon this right would rouse up a spirit of armed
resistance amongst her relatives who, after having made for her an
appropriate choice, would insist, either by persuasive argument or by
the expedient of force, that she should yield her consent to the pro-
posed matrimonial alliance sanctioned by the recognised rules of
clanship.
Among the sheikhs certain families habitually intermarry, equality
480 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
of rank being the only consideration to enter upon a marriage engage;-
ment 3 and this pretension of superior birth exercises such a powerful
inﬂuence over their conduct, that if the son of a sheikh should marry
the daughter of a common Druse, however wealthy, it would be looked
upon as an indelible stain upon the family escutcheon, and the-
offender, unless he escaped, would forfeit his life for this act of petty
treason, and even the bride would not long be allowed to survive her
rashness. .
A few days before the marriage of a Druse the favour of the land—7
lord or feudal chief is conciliated, in order to obtain permission for
the performance of the marriage ceremony, by offering him presents
of fowl, coffee, and sugar, who, in return for these attentions, sends to-
the bridegroom a pelisse of honour, which he wears during the ‘week
preceding the marriage; while he entertains his friends at his own
home, and passes his time in feasting and rejoicing. On the day
appointed, which is usually Sunday, the male relatives of the bride-
groom proceed to the house of the bride to serve as escort as she takes
up her march towards her future home. Before leaving the paternal
roof she takes an affectionate farewell of her male friends by kissing
each one in turn, after which she is presented with a purse of money,
to which all the relatives present contribute a proportionate share.
The bride, closely veiled, either on foot or on horseback, is then con
ducted in solemn procession, accompanied by music, to the house of
the bridegroom. Modesty ,whether real or feigned, on the part of the
bride, requires that the moving column should proceed but'slowly, to
indicate to her future husband that she is not over-anxious to enter
upon the duties of the married state, and a halt is made at short .
intervals, when the tediousness of the slow and weary march is enliv-
ened by appropriate songs and the exhibition of the sword dance. If
the bridal party passes through a village, she salutes the inhabitants
with becoming reserve, who, in return, greet her with a shower of corn
and raisins. As soon as the bride reaches her husband’s dwelling she-
throws a pomegranate in the midst of the assembled crowd, which is
instantly snatched up by the young men, each of whom receives a
precious morsel of this heaven-favoured fruit, which is considered a
propitious token of a speedy marriage. On passing the threshold the
bride sticks ﬁrmly to the doorpost a lump of yeast, which she carries
in her bosom, expressive of her determination to cleave closely to her
husband who, at the same moment, is standing on the housetop
exactly above the door, holding a drawn sword over her head,‘ emble-
matical of the absolute authority which he is to exercise over her
during life.
Whenever a sheikh desires to marry and has ﬁxed his choice upon
a young lady of his own rank, he sends a message to her father
demanding his consent to the proposed union. The father, after
being informed of the honourable intentions of the suitor, never fails
to consult the wishes of his daughter 3 and if she has sufficient reason
to reject the proposition, her determination is rarely disregarded. If,‘
on the other hand, she feels that the inducements offered are favourable
to her future happiness, she intrusts her interest to the care and
DRUSES. 48 r
judgment of her natural guardian, and the terms of the marriage
engagement are mutually agreed upon, which is formally ratiﬁed by
the bridegroom by sending to his betrothed presents of costly dresses
and jewellery as pledges of his ﬁdelity. On the day appointed for the
marriage some of the most inﬂuential aclicls proceed to the residence
of the bride’s father, and draw up a written contract, signed by them-
selves and a number of witnesses, which renders it obligatory upon the
bridegroom to pay to his future wife, in case of divorce, from ten to
ﬁfteen pounds sterling; and, that the contract may be enforced, when-
ever occasion may require it, the paper is delivered over to the bride’s
father for safe keeping. After these preliminary arrangements have
been concluded, the bride, mounted on horseback and attended by a
numerous train of male and female friends and relatives, takes up her
line of march in the direction of her future home. In the meantime,
at the feudal mansion of the bridegroom’s father, which has been for
a week the scene of continued festivities, the tenants and dependants of
the feudal chief are assembled, who, on being informed of the approach
of the bride, start out in advance of half—an-hour’s distance to meet
her, both parties being armed with guns loaded with blank cartridges.
As soon as they come in sight of each other they become engaged in a
mock ﬁght, displaying in regular skirmishing order all the tactics of
guerilla warfare, both of attack and defence. The bridegroom’s party
is generally driven back to the village, and after a vigorous resistance
the bride succeeds to force her way up to the mecclan,1 where she is
received with shouts of exultation and triumph, and amidst the discharge
of musketry she is borne through the crowded ranks and safely lodged
in the harem prepared for her reception. The greatest enthusiasm,
excited by the mimic warfare, prevails among the vast concourse of
Druses mounted on spirited Arab steeds, and the manly game of
the jereeol gives to the grounds surrounding the meeclan a highly
interesting and animated appearance. In the meanwhile the bride,
being seated on the divan in her own apartment and regaling herself
with sweetmeats and confectionery heaped up before her on a large
tray, receives the visits of her newly-acquired relatives, who assure
her of their affection by their heartfelt caresses and sincere congratula-
tions. As soon as these ceremonial visits are concluded and her
female friends have withdrawn, the bride throws a massive veil of
muslin and gold over her head, covering her face, neck, and shoulders,
and reaching down to the waist. While she is waiting in silent
expectancy, the noise of footsteps is heard, the bridegroom composedly
opens the door, lifts her veil, casts a fugitive glance at her, replaces it,
and departs without any other token of recognition. N 0 religious
ceremonies of any kind are introduced to give sanction to the marriage,
but the sheikhs who have the honour of being invited guests, bestow
valuable presents upon the bride, each one according to his social
position and wealth. In the reception-room the bridegroom occupies
the seat of honour of the divan, where he quietly listens to the good
wishes and felicitations of those present, which, as his dignity forbids

1 The sheikh’s country mansion.
2 H
482 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
him to return his acknowledgments, are properly responded to by his
brother. After having treated his friends with coffee and pipes, a
bountiful dinner is spread, of which all partake in succession, and the
festal board is enlivened by musical entertainments and a spirit of
merriment and rejoicing until the late midnight hours sober the
festal gaieties, and all agree that the time has arrived to retire to rest.
Polygamy and concubinage are alike repugnant to the moral teachings
of the Druse religion. A Druse is not permitted to have more than
one lawfully wedded wife at a time, and she is placed in all respects
on a footing of equality with her husband. But the marriage tie may
be dissolved upon slight and triﬂing causes 3 and when the separation
is once effected, it is permanently binding on the parties, and the
repudiated wife can under no circumstances be restored to her former
husband. If a Druse is dissatisﬁed with his wife, or if he is merely
prompted by a capricious temper and a desire for change, no other
formalities are required to bring about a divorce than the simple words
addressed to the woman, “ You had better go back to your father,”
which renders the separation irrevocable; but the wife carries away
with her all the property she possesses in her own right. If, on the
other hand, the initiatory step is taken by the wife, by saying to her
husband, “I wish to go back to my father 3 ” and he replies, “ Very
well, go 3” the divorce is equally binding 3 but the wife, in this case,
is only allowed to take one-half of her property, the other half being
retained by her husband.
The death of a Druse sheikh gives rise to the most solemn ceremonies
known in the mountains. Messengers are despatched in every direction
to announce the mournful event, and every sheikh, accompanied by a
numerous escort of dependants, immediately sets out on his journey
to attend the funeral of the departed feudal chief. The highest mark
of respect is shown to distinguished sheikhs, who are met at the
entrance of the village by the family and their vassals carrying the
body of the deceased in an open coffin on their shoulders. The
concourse of sympathising friends who assemble in the village and
the meeolan is immense, often exceeding four thousand and even ﬁve
thousand in number. While the deceased lies in state in a chamber
ﬁtted up for this purpose, parties of Druses, ﬁfty or sixty abreast,
move up and down in front of the dwelling, singing verses in honour
of the past course of life of the deceased, intermingled with loud
lamentations expressive of their unfeigned sorrow and grief. Others
are continually rushing into the chamber of the dead, kissing his
hands, his face, and his beard, and occasionally breaking forth in
pathetic exclamations which stir the heart and move the feelings. A
short time before sunset the female mourners group themselves on an
eminence in the distance, while the men follow the bier, and arranging
themselves in regular procession, they march to the ﬁnal resting-place
of the deceased. One or two aehels proceed to the family vault, and
after having deposited the coffin, they recite a few passages of the
Koran, and read aloud the will of the testator in the presence of those
who are interested in the disposal of the property of the head of the
family. The sheikhs, in the meantime, station themselves at a short
DRUSES. 48 3
'distance and indulge in religious thoughts and monitory reﬂections,
principally turning on the uncertainty of human life, the vanity of
all earthly possessions, the duty of entire resignation to the will of
God and absolute submission to the irrevocable decrees of Him who
governs and controls all things according to His supreme wisdom.
As soon as the last honours have been paid to the deceased, the
guests are partly lodged in the meedan, and are partly distributed
.among the villagers, where they take up their abode for the night,
and return to their respective homes early next morning. When a
common Druse dies, the funeral ceremonies are much more simple.
The ackcls present recite a religious litany which seems to have the
form of prayer, and when the body is consigned to the grave the men
sing, in a plaintive tone of voice, a kind of panegyric probably relating
to the life of the deceased, while the women agitate their handker-
chiefs to give expression to their grief.
The religious tenets of the Druses partake of that mystic character
by which all Eastern creeds are distinguished. It is one of those
attempts, like others of a similar nature which had already preceded
this, to make the all-embracing idea of an inﬁnite divinity compre-
hensible to the ﬁnite understanding of the human mind by a super-
natural incarnation of creative power. The Druses claim for their
creed the very essence of Unitarianism, they boast of their Unitarian
principles and call each other Unitarian brothers and sisters. They
acknowledge one only God, whom they represent as a free, glorious,
and eternal spirit, the bountiful Lord, the merciful Master, the creator
“of the universe, the predestinator and ruler of the world, undeﬁned
in existence, incomprehensible in being, whose attributes language is
inadequate to describe, whose essence imagination is unable to grasp,
and the profoundest thought cannot venture to fathom 3 and who at
different periods of the history of man has, as the source of all
revelation, assumed the human form without sharing the weaknesses
and frailties of humanity. His last incarnation took place in the ﬁfth
‘century of the hejira, in the person of Hakem Biamar Allah, who is
the last manifestation of incarnate divinities whose reign is continued
to the day of judgment, which is itself the triumphant indication of
the true religion, when the resplendent glory of Unitarian belief shall
be imiversally recognised, and the incarnate God shall see his enemies
prostrate at his feet, while his empire shall be extended over
the whole earth, and his kingdom shall be given to his faithful
worshippers. After the “time of trial” has passed, Hakem will
reappear under the “ Resurrectional Figure” of his gloriﬁed humanity
in all the purity and grandeur of the “King of kings,” surrounded by
a host of beatiﬁed spirits; and angels and archangels, cherubim and
seraphim, will acknowledge him as their chief who is “from everlasting
to everlasting.”
Universal Intelligence, which is the ﬁrstborn of the Creator, the
only immediate production of Omnipotence, is the medium through
which all other things have been brought into existence. Having
made its individualised appearance upon earth with every manifestation
of divinity, Hamzé, the beloved teacher and prophet, is the form
484 - THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
through which this Universal Intelligence ministers and mediates as-
an intercessory power between the Supreme Being and the family of
mankind. All spiritual emanations proceed from him, and it is he‘
who directly or indirectly communes with his ministering servants
and all true believers, and thus imparts to them grace and knowledge
in all that belongs to the supernatural and divine. To him the duty‘
will be assigned on the last day of judgment to wield the sword of
retributive justice, to cut down the adversaries of the Lord, and to
preside at that awful tribunal, where the actions of men will be
judged, and rewards and punishments will be distributed to every one
according to his deserts. -
According to the system of the Druses, all things are moving around
in the succession of a universal circle; all things are guided by an
absolute predestination 3 yet all individual existences enter into para--
disc and succeed one another by the principle or law of transmigration.
The number of human beings is always the same, and the souls of
men become either perfected and rise into a more excellent state of‘
existence, according to their degree of attachment to truth and the per--
formance of duty 3 or they become degraded and sink into an abject
state of misery and abandonment, in conformity with the greater or
less neglect and disregard of religious obligations comprised in the
seven commandments of Hamze’. The principle of metempsychosis is
not carried so far as to doom the souls of men to assume the form'of
inferior animals 3 they simply enter the bodies of inferior men, while
those souls who have arrived at the most perfect state of spiritual-
knowledge, and who have been transformed into a perfect ﬁgure by
their union with truth, emanating from the Universal Intelligence,
and have thus been separated from their bodies by death, have reached
the highest degree of transmigration, and are at once united with thev
ﬁnal consummation of all human happiness—the perpetual union with
the spirit and essence of the Imam. The seven commandments of'
Hamzé inculcate upon the followers of the Unitarian religion a strict
regard to truth in all verbal utterances 3 charity towards the brethren
and a watchful guardianship over their safety 3 the entire renunciation.
of all former modes of belief 3 the complete and imreserved submission-
to the will of God, whether in prosperity or adversity 3 and the
acceptance of the doctrine that the Unitarian belief is the consumma-
tion of all religion, of which all anterior creeds were but types, and
their legal and ceremonial precepts and injunctions but allegories,
which have been abolished and superseded by the brighter effulgence-
of the new revelation 3 a complete separation from all those who
cleave to false religions 3 the recognition of the unity of the Incarnate
Divinity in its successive manifestations in all ages, times, and epochs.
The moral precepts of the Druses do not admit a shadow of sus-
picion as regards the immoral practices of which they are accused by
their enemies. “ The true Unitarian places his conﬁdence in the
Lord and fears no trial.” “The spiritually minded, both men and
women, should keep themselves from all stain and fault, from all:
crime and impurity, they must put away from them all loose desires
and all sinful thoughts and actions.” “Let the women seek to pre-
DRUSES. ‘ 485
serve the strictest chastity, and give no countenance to the insinuations
and corrupting advances of sinners.” “ Take care not to tolerate
amongst you a murderer, a thief, or a fornicator, or a spender of other’s
goods, or one violent and unjust, or any person addicted to those vices
which are held in horror by all Unitarians.”
In a philosophical point of view, the Druse religion is abstruse and
metaphysical. Its fundamental doctrine is, that God has appeared in
human form among the present race of mankind, at different periods
of time, in nine successive manifestations. The Lord’s humanity is
held to be co-equal with his divinity 3 and although it was from time
to time clothed upon with ﬂesh, its incomprehensible nature and
ineffable essence remained ever the same 3 the ﬂesh was simply the veil
through which the divinity became manifest, but it did not partake
of the nature of the divinity. “Our Lord, worthy of all praise, is
‘ever the same in every time and in all ages. He appears in a carnal
‘ﬁgure and a human form when and where he pleases. The Cause
only is seen in the midst of us, and according to change of circum-
stances a different ﬁgure appears, but ages on ages change nothing
.in him.”
The next Unitarian tenet of greatest importance is to yield respect
.and perfect obedience to the hierarchy of the ﬁve Superior Ministers,
‘in accordance with their rank and position, who are either pure
spiritual beings or personiﬁed attributes united to a human body and
soul. The greatest and the ﬁrst in the order of existence of these
ministers is the Universal Intelligence, which is the only ﬁnite entity
that emanated directly from the creative power of the Divinity 3 it is
the only originating source and centre of all the dogmas and truths of
religion drawn from the fountain of all light and truth--the ineffable
and eternal Godhead. Its action and inﬂuence imparts inspiration,
and communicates knowledge and instruction to the other ministers
and believers. Hamzé is recognised as the ﬁrst manifestation of the
“Universal Intelligence ” among men, where he was known under the
names of Alsafa and Shadreel. Two ministerial servants attended
him who, on account of their disobedience, were called Adam1 the
Rebellious and Adam the Forgetful. Hamzé says of himself: “I
.am the chosen of the Lord! He formed me out of his brilliant light
before there existed place, or power, or genii, or men, that is to say,
seventy generations before he created Adam the Rebellious and Adam
the Eorgetful, each generation consisting of seventy weeks, each week
of seventy years, and each year equal to a thousand years as at present
counted. Throughout all these generations there is no epoch in which
I have not called the creature to the confession of the unity of the
Lord Most High and worthy of all praise, speaking under different
forms and different names.” “The Intelligence is perfect in faculty,
complete in action, powerful in motion 3 it is the principle of the
point of repose (210., the Unitarian religion), subtle, diaphanous,
governing all things worldly and celestial. Then our Lord sware, and

1 The name of Adam, as known to the Druses, has no reference whatever to th
Adam of Genesis.
486 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
said : “ I swear by my glory, by my sovereign and exalted majesty, no~
one shall enter into my garden—that is, my alliance—but by thee and by
thy love 3 and no one shall be devoured by my ﬁre—that is, the painful
observance of the letter of the law—but for having estranged himself‘
from me and for having revolted against thee. \Vhoever obeys thee
obeys me, and whoever is rebellious against thee is rebellious against.
me. I have ordained and established thee to be the sole means of
grace and mercy to all who faithfully serve and believe in me.” The
Intelligence, having heard these words of Albar (ﬁrst personiﬁcation
of the Deity), the Most High regarded him with complacency 3 he
saw there was no rival to dispute his superiority, no equal to be com-
pared with him. He thought he would be independent, and would
exist throughout all time and all ages without compeer. But the
Lord produced out of his obedience rebellion, out of his light darkness,
out of his humility pride, out of his wisdom ignorance, that which
made four bad elementary qualities opposed to the four good elemen-
tary qualities and constituted the “spirit of evil.” “Intelligence then
confessed his weakness and impotence, demanded to be forgiven for‘
his sin, and prayed to give him succour against his Rival. In accord-
ance with this prayer God formed the Soul, which has power to enter
into conﬂict with and overcome the cohorts of the Rival. It knows
all his cunning devices, the subtleties of his artiﬁces, and the manner
in which he insinuates himself 3 for the Rival is subtle and diaphanous
by his force and inﬂuence, insinuating himself into the bloodvessels.
He is darkness compared to the light of Intelligence, but compared to-
all others he is light.”
The second minister is called the “ Universal Soul.” It proceeds
from the Intelligence by a kind of emanation, and holds in its relation
to it the rank of a female, but occupies the rank of male with regard
to the inferior ministers. The Soul is inferior only to the Intelligence,
but is placed high above all other created beings, and the other‘
ministers derive their existence from her through the proliﬁc operation
of the Intelligence.
The third minister is the “ Word,” produced from the Soul by the-
Intelligence. The fourth minister is the “ Preceding,” produced out
of the Word by the operation of the Soul. The ﬁfth minister is the-
“Succeeding,” which is produced by the “Preceding,” and holds from
him all the powers for the production of the inferior ministers. F rom.
its light were called forth “the earth and all it contains, the spheres-
which make their circular revolutions, the twelve signs of the Zodiac,
the four elements, and matter, which is the ﬁfth element.”
These ﬁve ministers are called Suns of Righteousness, Gates of
Wisdom, Fountains of Living Waters, Vessels of Salvation, Doors of'
Truth, Stars of Resurrection. Hamze is exalted above all, for he is
styled the Sun of Suns. These ministers are believed to be now
standing as archangels in the presence of the Lord, waiting to become-
a personiﬁed manifestation and to attend the incarnate divinity in
his second glorious advent to judge the world. The votaries of the
Unitarian religion, after its ﬁrst establishment by Hamze, exhibited
much zeal and enthusiasm to propagate the new creed and increase
DRUSES. 432
the number of believers. Their missionary efforts were entirely conﬁned
to argument and persuasion, and the system of proselytism was well
devised and quite effective. This important duty of making new
converts was conﬁded to men well instructed in all the theological lore
of the time, embracing a sphere of knowledge and learning which
enabled them to contend in controversial dialectics with Mohamedans
as well as with Christians and even with Jews. These Druse mission-
aries were called the inferior ministers, and were divided into three
classes. The Dais is the chief of the mission 3 he is known by the
symbolical term of the “Application,” on account of the extraordinary
exertion and perseverance required to learn from the Imam the tenets
of the Unitarian religion. One of these was sent to every province to
preach the Unitarian. doctrines. As women are admitted on a footing
of perfect equality to all the religious privileges of Unitarianism, the
Dais is enjoined in his intercourse with women to preserve the strictest
decorum. He is to avoid every appearance of evil thatv might give
rise to suspicion, or may be the cause for slander and backbiting.
His instructions must be communicated in the presence of at least three
women, whose persons are concealed from sight by a curtain or a screen,
and they must, in addition, be accompanied by their husbands, their
brother, their son, or some other near relative. They must preserve
a modest and quiet exterior without excitement or emotion, abstain
from smiles, tears, and transports of 0y, and remain unaffected by the
impressions of love or fear. The Madhoom, the second inferior
minister, is subordinate to the Dais, and is called the “ Opening,”
because it is he who opens to aspirants the door of invitation, in his
hands are deposited the acts of engagement signed by the proselyte.
The Mocasser is also engaged in the missionary service, and exercises
his; authority under the Dais and Madhoom; he hears the title of
“Phantom,” because, like a phantom in a dark night, his learning
and preaching throw a glittering light, and give, as it were, shadowings
of truth without revealing it altogether. The missionary zeal of the
Druses was, however, of short duration. When the leading spirits of
the Unitarian religion perceived that heresy and schism were gradually
undermining the unity of their creed, and perverted the original
purity of their religious and moral teaching, they silenced the preaching
of the: missionary, declared the door of salvation to be ﬁnally closed,
and not only discouraged but refused admittance to proselytes.
All Druses, no matter what social rank they may occupy, are, to
some degree, acquainted with the fundamental tenets of their creed 3
but there are comparatively few1 who desire to receive full instruction
in the more abstruse doctrines, which impose upon them obligations,
and require a compliance with certain restrictions, and a submission
to deprivations which minds chastened by discipline and elevated by
philosophy alone are able to bear. '
Although there exists no real distinction of rank among the Druses,

1 The number of Ochals in Mount Lebanon may amount to four thousand out
of a population of upwards of twenty-ﬁve thousand. Churchill’s Lebanon,
p. 262.
48,8. _ THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
yet they are divided into two distinct orders. The initiated, which
may be females as well as males, are called ach'cls, from the‘ Arabic
word ahl (intelligence), which signiﬁes that they have become the
disciples of Hamzé or the Universal Intelligence. They are distin-
guished from the uninitiated, who are called cljahel (unlettered,
worldly), by wearing a white turban as the symbol of purity. Before
they are admitted into the rank of the faithful, an oath is adminis-
tered to them binding them to secrecy and the strict observance of the
Unitarian doctrines. All classes of Druses are instructed in the pass-
words and signs of recognition, by which they are enabled to make
known to each other their character and profession in all circum-
stances, and even in the presence of an enemy.
The achels are required to abstain from swearing, and to renounce
altogether the use of tobacco 3 they are not allowed to wear any gar-
ment of silk, or adorn their person with ornaments of gold or silver.
Their conduct through life must be characterised by prudent reserve,
watchfulness, cautious reticence, and circumspection. “ The gravity
and even stateliness of their deportment, the measured cadence of
their words, and the guarded brevity of their observations, involun-
tarily invite repose and trust, and combine in making good Druse
achcls the ﬁttest receptacles possible for conﬁdential communication.”
Their relation with the four achcl sheikhs 1 is most intimate, who
make them the guardians of such intelligence which most nearly con-
cerns the general welfare of the sect. Their inﬂuence among their
own people is very great 3 they give advice in every emergency, and
impart consolation when distress or misfortune overtakes any of their
neighbours or friends. When family feuds arise they act as peace-
makers and bring about a speedy reconciliation, for their religious
professions and moral principles are utterly at variance with the
violence engendered and the angry feelings excited by war. Without
renouncing the ordinary pleasures of social intercourse, or the ameni-
ties of private '=._life, some of the more zealous achcls take upon them-
selves the vow of celibacy, in order to be exempt from the cares and
passions which are necessarily connected with the management and
support of a domestic establishment, and they are thus enabled to
devote the greatest portion of their time to the duties enjoined upon
them by their religion. Others, who are inspired by a still higher
order of religious enthusiasm, practise many of the austerities of asce-
ticism. They pass their time in a state of abstraction, their mind
becomes absorbed in intense reﬂection and profound contemplation of
the Divine Unity that takes possession of their soul. They retire to
the solitude of the holo'wés (places of worship) 3 a coarse straw mat is
their bed, a stone their pillow, a coarse woollen garment bound with
a leather girdle their attire, and a morsel of dry bread twice a day
their only food. Their nature is supposed to have become so sancti-

_ 1 The four sheikhs are the cooled chiefs, who exercise the power of excommuni-
cation, determine all contests about religious subjects, and receive the declarations
of those who wish to be initiated into the mysteries of their creed. Formerly one
of them acted as chief of the religious order, but this ofﬁce is now abolished. Guy’s
La Nation Druse, p. 168. .
DRUSES. 489
ﬁed that they consider themselves sullied by the touch of a profane
person, and they never eat off a plate and never drink out of a cup
touched by unhallowed lips. They will not receive money or any
article of food that has been improperly acquired, and to avoid all
perplexity they generally exchange the money offered for other coin
.before accepting it as their own.
The uninitiated Druses entertain the greatest respect and reverence
for such of the aclsels who are distinguished for a life of piety and
devotion; they bow to them with the profoundest humility, and
hardly ever fail to kiss their hands—a mark of distinction which is
received with the greatest difﬁdence and much reluctance, and is inva-
riably returned even to the lowest peasant. They attend no religious
worship, and practise neither circumcision, nor prayer, nor fasting.
They drink wine and eat pork, and are not restrained by any religious
‘prohibitions 3 and yet the persecutions to which they have been sub-
jected by the Mohamedans have frequently compelled them to assume
the character of hypocrites, and comply with all external rites of '
Islamism while in the presence and in the power of their enemies.
For the same reason when they live among the Maronites, on whom
they are dependent, they enter the church and make use of holy
water. They are all things to all men, and interest alone exercises a
{controlling inﬂuence over their outward action.
The places of worship (holowés), to which the initiated alone are
admitted, are generally constructed in a simple style, and are situated
‘on high eminences at some distance from the village, commanding an
extensive view of the adjacent country, and surrounded by the most
picturesque scenery. The property attached to them yields a suﬂicient
revenue to relieve the necessities of the poor, and to dispense a gene-
rous hospitality to the traveller and the stranger. Every Thursday
evening the Druses assemble at the holowés, where all indiscriminately
join in the conversation, discussing the events of the day and exchang-
ing views and opinions on matters of private as well as public interest.
At the same time refreshments are provided, consisting of raisins, ﬁgs,
and sugar-plums, of which all are invited to partake. When the time
for the reading of the sacred book and other religious exercises arrives,
the uninitiated retire and none but the achels remain; the doors are
then closed, and sentinels are placed outside to prevent any imperti-
nent intrusion.
Every Druse, without distinction of sex1 or condition, is entitled

1 There are female Unitarians who, partly owing to their superior rank and
partly to the merits of their own superior intellects, are allowed to express and often
do express their opinion on every important matter connected with the welfare of
the sect, with a clearness, energy, and decision which often inﬂuence the general
deliberations. Indeed, there are some Druse ladies now in Mount Lebanon
whose wisdom, tact, and discrimination are so highly prized by their immediate
:‘relations amongst the sheikhs that no project would be considered complete unless
it had been submitted to their judgment and approval. Endued with great
physical-as well as great moral courage, the Druse women animate, and sometimes
even by their example shame, their husbands into deeds of courage and devotion,
following them to the ﬁeld of battle with persevering tenacity. During the last
‘civil war in 184 5, when the village of Ebtater was threatened by an overwhelming
490 THE ARAMEAN s'roox.
to make application for the purpose of being initiated in the higher‘
order of mysteries of the Unitarian brotherhood‘. Before he is
admitted to the novitiate of the religious fraternity, he is informed of
all the requirements that will be exacted of him on assuming his new
position, and which alone can render him worthy of being received
into full fellowship. He must renounce for ever all ostentation and
vain display in dress and apparel, which must henceforth consist of the
plainest materials. He must abandon the luxury of smoking tobacco‘-
and drinking wine and other intoxicating liquors, as entirely incon-
sistent with afserious manner of deportment, a habit of sobriety, and a
spirit of self-denial. During a probationary state of twelve months,
his conduct is closely watched by the ackcls ,' his ﬁrmness and perse--
verance are tested; his resolution of conformity is constantly called
into requisition; and his moral character, which is required to be-
irreproachable, is subjected to the severest scrutiny. At the end of'
the year, if he has given proof of sincerity, of good intentions, and
honesty of purpose, he is allowed to be present in the koZowé during-
the initiatory reading of the sacred writings. In the second year he-
assumes the white turban of an ackel, and by degrees he receives f-ull
instruction in the doctrines of the Unitarian religion 3 and if he recom~~
mends himself by his zeal and propriety of deportment, he is admitted
to full fellowship, and becomes a participant in all the hopes and
promises which inspire with a full assurance of immortality all true
believers, and especially those ministering servants who are thevery
pillars of the Unitarian creed, and furnish a glorious‘ example of a
virtuous, moral, and noble life.
The government of the Druses was originally and is still, to a.
considerable extent, based upon the feudal principle. The Druses
acknowledged the supreme authority of a chief called emir, whose
power was limited ,by the advisory control of the sheikhs, who had a
body of dependants and retainerssubject to their orders, and they’
were at the head of the local government of the villages. The dignity
of the emir, hakim or prince, although hereditary in his family, was
sometimes transmitted to a son and sometimes to a brother, and
conferred the right of exercising civil as well as military power. He
was responsible for the good order of his people ; adjusted the disputes
that arose between'ithe sheikhs, and thus prevented their making war
upon each other ; and, in case of disobedience, he was authorised to-
employ force. He also exercised judicial powers and reserved to
himself the right of deciding, in the last resort, all cases involving the
question of life and death. He could neither declare war nor make-
peace without the consent of the sheikhs, who were convoked in an
assembly whenever existing circumstances required unity of action ;;
and after they had been made acquainted with the true state of affairs,

body of Christians, the Druses contemplated abandoning the place, and one of"
the principal sheikhs proposed to give the signal of retreat. “Do you call your-
selves men?” exclaimed the wife of Sheikh Kassim Abdel Melik. “Give me a-
tarboosh and a sword, and I will lead out the clan.” The voice of the heroine
prevailed, and the Druses went forth to battle and conquered. Ghurchill’s Mount
Lebanon, vol. ii. p. 236.
DRUSES. 491
each one freely expressed his opinion, and the measures adopted, in
order to meet the existing emergencies, were determined upon by the-
suffrages of the majority.
No regular army existed in the country, but every man capable
of bearing arms was a soldier, and there was no distinction in this
respect between a sheikh and; a peasant, but all were required to be
ready to take up their march and meet at the appointed rendezvous.
‘With a musket and a good supply of powder and ball, a few barley
cakes and! some cheese and olives in‘ their wallets, they undertook
the est distant military expeditions, trusting to chance for provisions,
cheerfully enduring hunger and fatigue, and exposing themselves while
sleeping in the open air to the severest stress of weather 3 they fought
with the utmost bravery and never-failing perseverance, following the-
banner of the clan, which was borne forward by a select band com-
manded by a veteran called the bamctar. It is but rarely that it was
found necessary to excite 'their military ardour by making the hills
re-echo.with the wild notes of their spirited war-songs; but they
generally advanced in battle in perfect silence, they were calm and
composed, conscious that they were performing a sacred duty.
When war was once determined upon by the constituted authorities,
public criers ascended the summits of the mountains and exclaimed
in a loud voice, “To war! to war! Take your muskets, take your
pistols, noble sheikhs 3 mount your horses, arm yourselves with lance
and sabre, zeal of God, zeal of combats !” The summons‘ was heard
in the nearest village, and the proclamation, stating the place of
meeting, was repeated from village to village, and it thus reached the-
farthest frontier town in a short time.
Since 1841 the supremacy of Turkey over the Lebanon Mountains.
has been re-established by the ﬁve great European powers, and a
governor appointed by the sultan now exercises executive as well
as judicial authority over both Druses and Maronites, being assisted
in .his judicial functions by a council selected from the body of the
people.
The sheikhs are the feudal chiefs who exercise authority over the
principalities (mecatas) into which the whole of Mount Lebanon is
divided. All the male inhabitants of the mecata are under their
orders 3 they levy troops and command them in battle. They collect
the taxes and are entitled to an allowance of eight per cent.,
of which each claims a distributive share, besides contributions in
kind and occasional presents, which are from time to time exacted
from the people as their individual perquisites. On festivals, or on
an occasion of a birth or marriage in the sheikh’s family, or on his
return from a prolonged absence, it is customary for the dependants
of the feudal house to present to their chief a certain number of
fowls and a small quantity of sugar and coffee. The outward marks
of subordination which are observed by the vassal in the presence of
his feudal superior, are still the distinguishing characteristics of the
peasant, who approaches the sheikh in a respectful attitude of humility
and inferiority, by stooping down to kiss his hands, and this homage
is returned by the sheikh with the utmost politeness. He rises from
492 THE ARAMJEAN’ sTooK.
his seat, welcomes the peasant to his house, makes inquiries after his
health, and kindly invites him to be seated. The peasants’ labour
services are also at his command for certain speciﬁc purposes. He
can require them to bring stone from the quarry and timber from the
forest for the construction of a house,'and he can call upon them to
attend him when he makes an excursion into the mormtains. '
The feudal mansion (meeolan) is a massive stone building constructed
in a simple and unostentatious style, having in front of the gateway
a level space of ground, where the sheikhs pass away their time in
social intercourse with the peasants and strangers, conversing on the
ordinary topics of country life, and the interests ‘connected with
agriculture and the rearing of horses and cattle. .
M...‘—
AUTHORITIES. _
Ten Years’ Residence in Mount Lebanon. By Colonel Churchill. 18 54.
The Lebanon. By David Urqhardt. 1860.
Travels in Syria. By John Lewis Burckhardt. 1827.
Voyage en Syria et en Egypte. Par C. F. C. de Volney. 1808.
Five Years in Syria. By Rev. W. Graham. 1854. ~ -
Ueber das Volk der Drusen. Von. W. A. Neumann. 1878. '
Voyages en Arabic et d’autres Pays Circonvoisins. Par C. Niebuhr.
1776-1780. ' ‘
La Nation Druse. Par Henri Guys. 1863.
Observations sur les Druses. Par T. de Sacy. 1827.
ANSEYREEYAH. 49 3
ANSEYREEYAH.
THE l‘Anseyreeyah or Ansarii inhabit scattered districts all over
Northern Syria. They are found in large numbers as far north as
Tarsus in Asia Minor 3 they form one-third of the population of
Antioch, and they are the principal inhabitants between that town
and the sea. Seleucia also constitutes one of the chief centres of their
settlements. The districts of Hamah and Tripoli are in part populated
by them 3 but the plain of Ladikia and the mountain district east
of it are the chief localities where the bulk of their population is
concentrated 3 their aggregate number being estimated at two hundred
thousand souls.
The Anseyreeyah, also called Fallaheen or tillers of the soil, are,
like the Druses, of undoubted Arabic descent, but they are greatly
intermixed with races of Syrian origin. They are divided into
hostile parties, who hold no communication with each other, and are
respectively governed by independent sheikhs. They are generally
known under the names of Shemsia and Khamaree or Clausee; the
ﬁrst inhabit the plain near the sea north of Ladikia, extending into
the valley of Antioch to Adana and Tarsus 3 the last occupy the
district of Kelbia, which extends from N ahr el Kebir along the plain,
almost south of Djebele.
The physical characteristics of the Anseyreeyah are well developed;
they are a ﬁne, stout, well-formed race, of a tawny complexion, some-
what lighter than that of the Bedouin Arabs. Their hair is generally
straight and black, but brown hair is not uncommon. The women,
before their youthful charms have faded away, are quite handsome;
the colour of their skin is comparatively fair 3 their hair is ordinarily
jet black, but a few light-haired women are occasionally met with.
Their life is very laborious, and their constant exposure to the sun
soon renders them prematurely old and unsightly.
The moral character of the Anseyreeyah fully corresponds with the
unfavourable circumstances by which they are surrounded. They are
honest in their dealings 3 they never fail to pay their debts 3 and they
are very industrious and persevering in their daily pursuits. They
are very hospitable, and protect their guests and friends at the risk of
their own life. ‘ As they have been oppressed and persecuted by the
Turkish government, and are constantly exposed to the hostile attacks
of their enemies, falsehood and deception are defensive weapons of
which they make use on all proper occasions without the least
scruple. Being much addicted to lying, they have contracted the
vulgar habit of swearing to give energy to their words. Children
show some attachment to their mother, but-it is said that a son will
494 THE ARAMEAN sroox.
not hesitate to strike his father, and in the last extremity even shoot
him down. Their spirit of vengeance, when once excited, knows no
reconciliation, and robbery and pillage are professional pursuits.
They are remarkable for cupidity and the love of money, and are
never backward in asking for presents from strangers. '
The Anseyreeyah live together in villages, but their houses are
dirty, mean, and insigniﬁcant. They are built of rough stones
plastered with cowdung, are ordinarily composed of a single apart_
ment with the ceiling supported by stone pillars. The ﬂat roof is
constructed of timbers that are loosely placed together, and are ‘covered
with dried brushw-ood, over which is spread a layer of earth or mud
two feet thick. Two small openings over the door serve as windows,
so that if a birth and a death occur at the same moment the coming
and parting spirit may not meet. Their summer huts are ‘constructed
of poles walled and roofed with dried tree branches.
The costume of the town Anseyreeyah is Turkish in material and
fashion. White is considered a sacred colour, and all deem it essential,
as a mark of distinction, to conﬁne themselves to dress materials that
have never been dyed. In the rural districts the body-dress is a white
cotton shirt, provided with long pendent sleeves, gathered round :the
waist with a belt of red and black worsted. The front of the shirt
is open, for it would be regarded as an act of disobedience'to the
‘Creator to cover the region of the heart, and thus conceal it from his
view. At times, they wear short loose cotton trousers under the
shirt, and a cloak or jacket constitutes their outer garment. Their
head is covered with a tarboosh or fez cap, which is entwined by a
voluminous white cloth in the form of a turban. The ‘dress of the
Women differs but little from that of the men, except that they all
wear trousers, while their head-dress is generally a handkerchief, and
exceptionally only a tm'boosh. Though they are quite modest, yet
they never veil their faces. _
The food of the Anseyreeyah is coarse but substantial. Rice,
‘sorghum, maize, and wheat made into burgool 1 form their ordinary
vegetable diet. Many restrictions are observed as regards the use of
animal food. They never eat or touch pork 3 nor will they partake of
beef or mutton if the ox or sheep was lame or blind; nor will they
eat the ﬂesh of an animal shot dead, and some even refuse the meat
of a female gazelle. Hares and animals that split the hoof are
forbidden food. Fowls, on the other hand, form a favourite article of
diet. They freely indulge in drinking wine and spirits, but never in
the presence of a Christian or a Turk.
The chief occupation of the Anseyreeyah is the tillage of the soil,
a pursuit which they follow with much success. In the towns, how-
ever, they are engaged in commerce on a small scale 3 and at Antioch
they are quite prosperous as traders.
Though the Anseyreeyah are in many respects religious fanatics,

1 Burgool is a Syrian dish in general use, which is made of wheat that “has been
previously boiled with leaven and dried in the sun. It is ‘kept ‘for a year and is
cooked with milk and butter.
ANSEYREEYAH. 49 5
“yet they are not entirely averse to amusements. The Khamaree
regard smoking the pipe as a legitimate mode of passing their leisure
hours; and even their highest sheikhs indulge in this pastime. The
Shemsia, on the other hand, consider it an idle habit, and therefore
‘refrain from the vicious indulgence. The young men and maidens
of all the tribes, at times, meet in the evening round a bonﬁre and
amuse themselves in dancing. They form a ring and hold each other
by the hand, and thus placed they move slowly round the ﬁre from
left to right, exercising their toes and heels in rapid movements.
The time is indicated by the measured music of the pipe and drum,
accompanied by the voices of the dancers, who sing a simple chant
without the least variation.
The Anseyreeyah women are treated as inferior beings, and they are
even supposed to have no soul. Acting upon this i supposition, they
are excluded by the men from all religious assemblies and religious
ceremonies, and are kept in perfect ignorance about the precepts and
doctrines of their creed. They perform all the menial drudgeries
of the household, they bring in heavy loads of wood for fuel, fetch
~the water, and in addition to this they frequently carry one of their
infants on ‘their back. They do not live in seclusion, but they are
‘retired in their habits ; and yet they never fail to be present when a
stranger is a guest in their house, when they enjoy the privilege of
taking part in the conversation.
Polygamy is universally practised among the Anseyreeyah, and
some of them ‘have as many as four wives, which is the number they
are legally ‘authorised to marry; and if one of the four dies they are
at liberty to ﬁll her place by another. Divorce is not permitted, and
would not be much practised, for wives are greatly valued as the slaves
of the ‘household. Marriage is a contract of ‘bargain and sale, and the
money paid accrues in part to the beneﬁt of the father, and is partly
expended to buy the necessary outﬁt .for the maiden. The amount
paid varies from two hundred to a thousand ,piasters,1 according to
the wealth .of the bridegroom and the beauty and rank of the bride.
Sometimes a mare, a cow, or a donkey is accepted as price of purchase.
Before the suitor is allowed to carry home the bride, he is bound to
pay to the hires, or the owner of the bride’s village, as much as ﬁve
hundred piasters to obtain his permission for the consummation of the
marriage. As soon as the price is agreed upon and the payment is
made or secured, validity is given to the contract by a curious mode
of proceeding. The friends of the bridegroom climb up to the top
of the house armed with sticks, which they agitate in a violent
manner, while the companions of the young woman usher her in
through the door by a quick movement so as to avoid their blows.
The bridegroom then strikes his aﬁianced with a stick or the back of
a sword, until she cries so loud that her voice can be heard out doors.
This is the signal for all the friends and relations to retire, and the
young couple being left alone. the marriage is consummated.
When one of the Anseyreeyah dies, the body of the deceased is well

1 These sums are equivalent to £1, '15s. 6d. and to £9, 10s.
496 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
soaped and is washed with warm water. The corpse is wrapped
in a white shroud, and is consigned to the naked earth without a
coffin. Before the grave is ﬁlled up each one of the relations thrusts
a handful of earth upon the body. The tomb is marked by three
upright stones, one of which is placed at the head, the other at the
foot, and the third one in the middle. '
The government of the Anseyreeyah of the mountain districts,
where they form distinct and separate settlements, does not much
differ from that of the Bedouin Arabs. The whole nation is divided
into two classes: the sheikhs and the people. The sheikhs are either
sheikhs of religion or sheikhs cl maalem, also called sheikhs of the‘
government, and they have received the additional name of sheikhs cl
zohn or sheikhs of oppression. The latter also hear the title . of
mchaddam, which has been bestowed upon them by the Turkish
government, from whom they receive their appointment. But while
these chiefs bring their inﬂuence to bear in the general conduct of
affairs, their authority is merely nominal, and is entirely insufficient
for the maintenance of peace and order, and the security of life and-
property. Blood-revenge—huclt cl clam—is prevalent among them,
but those killed in battle are considered as having been the victims
of legitimate homicide, and no satisfaction is demanded on their
account. To prevent the blood feud from being initiated by the
injured party, the tribe of the slayer pays the blood-money to the
tribe of the victim, the amount exacted being generally sixteen
hundred piasters, which is equal to ﬁfteen pounds sterling.
The sheikhs of religion are an hereditary class, and form, so to say,
a privileged order. As a badge of distinction they wear, from earliest
childhood, a white handkerchief round their head. They are taught
to read and write Arabic; and as soon as they are sufficiently advanced
in knowledge, they are initiated in the secret principles of the peculiar
faith professed. by their people. They are sworn to secrecy, and they
consider the death of martyrdom a glorious reward, if efforts were
made to compel them to divulge the tenets of their creed. They are
known to have deﬁed by brave words of resistance their Turkish
oppressors who have threatened them with death, “Try me, out my
heart out, and see if anything is within there.” As they form an
exclusive body of sectarians, they are prohibited from eating certain
kinds of food, and are enjoined to take their repasts only in company
with other chiefs of religion. They refuse to touch food that has
been purchased with unclean money, and some go even to the extreme
of making use of no other provisions but such as have been produced
by themselves. The same nicety is observed by them with regard to
the purity of their water. They are required to exercise the most
unbounded hospitality; and after their death they are honoured with
a monumental tomb and are adored as saints. They are very much
respected by the people, who often kiss their hands and feet as they
approach them and offer them presents. They are generally applied
to for advice in difficult circumstances, and in cases of sickness they
are supposed to be able to ‘afford relief to the patient by the use of
charms. They practise astrology and presume to predict future events
ANSEYREEYAH. 497
by means of their occult science. They act as teachers and instruct
the boys in reading the Koran, and prepare them for initiation into
their secret religious rites. The lower classes, however, are only
instructed in the ordinary religious principles, but they are excluded
from the higher mysteries and the mystic part of their creed. It is
made their duty to obey their chiefs implicitly and without hesitation 3
to supply them with an abundance at feasts and religious ceremonies,
and, above all, to die a thousand deaths sooner than divulge the secrets
of their faith.
When a candidate for initiation is thought to be sufficiently
prepared, his tarboosh is removed and his head is entwined with a
white handkerchief. Thus marked he is conducted to one of the
chiefs of religion, who lectures him on his duties, and cautioning him
against revealing the great and solemn secret, he says: “If you are
under the sword, the rope, or the torture, die and smile; you are
blessed.” The candidate then stoops down and kisses the earth three
times in the presence of the’ chief, who instructs him in the articles
of faith, and on rising teaches him the sign and communicates to
him the three passwords by which he may recognise any brother in
the faith.
The foundation of the religion of the Anseyreeyah is Mohamedanism
of the Shiite sect, who have always been inclined to mysticism, and
from them have sprung numerous mystic offshoots. They regard
Mohamed el Hamyd as the prophet of God, and among themselves
their profession of faith is comprised in these words: “ There is no
God but Ali, and Mohamed el Hamyd, the ‘beloved,’ is the prophet
of God.” They have adopted a mystic religious formula, which is
about as rational as most of the crazy nonsense of supernaturalism.
They think it is well to court the favour of God and his wife, as well
as that of the devil. Their idea of divinity comprises a unity, a
trinity, and a deity which, according to their supernatural mathematics,
make ﬁve 3 but these ﬁve are three, these three are two, and these
two, these three, these ﬁve, are equal to one.1 Although they have
no mosques, yet they pray ﬁve times a day, turning each time in a
different direction, for they do not recognise Mecca as the centre of
the universe. At their religious festivals they worship in a closed
room which is guarded against all intrusion on the part of the
uninitiated. They pray before the tombs of their sheikhs without
addressing their devotions to the saints in person, but profess that
“Mohamed el Hamyd, whom Ali bless and .consecrate, is our only
protector.” Like the rest of Mohamedans they practise circumcision,
which is performed at various ages according to the precocity of the
child, and the solemn act is celebrated by feasting and musical
entertainments. But they say that circumcision is only an ancient
custom, with which they voluntarily comply to distinguish them from
Christians, but that it is not an imperative duty. One of the
fundamental doctrines of their creed is the transmigration of souls.

1 Mathematically considered, this is a far more complicated mystic divinity
than the_simple triune God of orthodox Christianity.
2 I
498 THE ARAMiEAN si'rocx.
They imagine that good men who are hospitable and {strictly » comply I
with all the articles of their faith ‘become stars ; other souls, who are
not absolutely depraved, are supposed to return to ‘thelearth again to
become Ansey-reeyah inv order that they may be puriﬁed and ﬂy to
rest; while the souls of the wicked return to the earth to become
Jews, Christians, and Turks. Unbelievers descend‘ to a still lower
grade, for they are transformed into pigs and other unclean beasts. .
AUTHORITIES‘.
The Ansayrii and the Assassins. By Lieutenant Hon. 1F. alpole,
R.N.- r851. - ' '-
The Ansyreeh and Ismaeleeh. By Rev. Samuel Lyde, B'.A-. 18.53.
Voyages en Syrie et on Egypt. Par C. Francois Volney. I799. , _
i-M'VOORIS. 499
MOORS ‘OR NORTH AFRICAN ARABS.
.A ‘HORDE of Syro-Arameeans of Phoenicia, taking advantage of the art
of navigation, in which they were skilled, sailed along the Medi-
'terranean, took forcible possession of a strip of land on the African
coast, then occupied by Libyo-Arameeans, and founded Carthage,1 at
' a spotpnot far "distant from where Tunis now stands ; and at this new
‘seat of empire they assumed control over the paciﬁc and inoffensive
‘pastoral and agricultural tribes of the Atlas, and became famous for
‘their wealth and their commercial and warlike enterprises. But
‘Carthage, the dominant nation of North Africa, when in the height
‘of her power, and after she had reached the very climax of her pros-
perity, was humbled by the Roman arms, and was ﬁnally ‘crushed by
"the overwhelming force of the Roman legions, and her existence as a
‘nation was destroyed to‘the very name. Henceforth a great portion
of North Africa became a Roman province, and its people were made
tributary ‘to the Roman conquerors. But the Roman power became
itself gradually weakened; it was subverted by the rude and undis-
oiplined forces 'of the Northern Barbarians, and was held as'conquered
territory by the Vandals, who, being dispossessed of Spain by the
invasion of the Visigoths, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and found a
new home in the fertile plains and fruitful valleys of the Barbary
States. But these new lords of power were, in their turn, expelled
:from their territorial possessions by the sword of Omar, who, with
hisarmed followers of Islamism, swept, like a torrent which no obstacle
*could arrest, over a vast region of country, extending from the sandy
plains of the Great Desert to the steep and lofty rocks of the Pillars of
Hercules.
Barbary, which is the name given ‘to the states that occupy the
north-western portion of Africa, and which includes the empire of
Morocco, the regencies of Tunis and Tripoli and French Algeria, is
the most healthy, the most fertile, and the most beautiful region of
the African continent. It embraces an extent of coast-line on the
Mediterranean of no less than two thousand miles, stretching from
the Gulf of Sidra on the east to Cape Nun on its Western frontier.
‘On the south it is bounded by the Great Desert, and is intersected
from north-east to south-west by the great Atlas mountains,2 which
extend from the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Sahara Desert is, in part, bounded by ranges of mountains

1 Carthage was founded 820 13.0.
2 Mount Miltsin, the highest point of the Atlas, is ﬁfteen thousand feet above
the level of the sea.
. 500 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
decked with luxuriant vegetation, and its high tablelands abound in‘.
rich pastures, which form the camping ground of various nomadic
tribes with their numerous ﬂocks and herds. Some of the oases are-
occupied by fortiﬁed towns, with a numerous population of traders
and merchants, who receive from the caravans that stop on their way
southward a supply of produce and merchandise which form the
articles of barter and exchange carried on with the nomadic tribes-
that roam through the desert. The Sahara is an immense sandy
plain, nearly on a level with the sea, without vegetation and nearly
destitute of water, except in some favoured spots wherea spring
bubbles forth from beneath the sand and covers the contiguous‘ surface-
around it with a carpet of living green. This whole country, extend.-
ing from the highlands of Morocco to the highlands of Soudan, was,
as late as the cretaceous period, a vast sea connected with the Atlantic
Ocean, here and there interspersed with islands which dotted its sur-
face, the lowest of which were frequently submerged beneath the
rising tide of its swelling waters.
The climate of Barbary is mild and salubrious, it is little subject
to sudden changes, and though the sky from April to September is-
almost cloudless, the excessive heat of summer is moderated by the sea
breezes when the trade-winds frequently blow with great violence. The-
rainy season commences in September or October and lasts till March
or April, but scarcely a day passes when the clouds are not partially
dispersed and the gloomy aspect of the sky is cheered by a few hours of‘
genial sunshine. On approaching the desert the heat becomes intense,
for rain hardly ever falls upon these arid and thirsty sand-barrens.
The argan tree, with its spreading branches and small leaves, bears-
olive-like berries, whose almond-shaped kernels yield an oil of strong;
ﬂavour, which subserves many a domestic purpose among the rude
mountaineers of the Atlas. . It forms vast forests on the mountain
slopes, here and there interspersed with dwarf and cork oaks. The--
cactus-like euphorbia plant1 is also indigenous on the Atlas. Its-v
succulent stem, its ﬂeshy arms and solid leaﬂets, bearing a bright
crimson ﬂower at their summit, give a tropical appearance to the-
landscape, darkened by the sombre hue of the’ surrounding vegetation.
From a cut made in any part of the bush a milky sap exudes which
consolidates into a gum, while its branches are employed for tanning-
leather. In the lowlands the dwarf palmetto, with its fan-like-
branches, is the natural production of this sunny climate. Trufﬂes
(tcrfez)——an eatable mushroom species—grow in great abundance-
beneath the sand, and when fully ripe they attain the size of a-large
apple. Forcing their way upwards towards the light, they swell and
crack the thin crust of ground by which they are covered, and are
thus unearthed from their hiding-places by the trufﬂe-hunters, who
dig them out with their sticks. After the outer skin is peeled off
they form a‘ delicate, nutritious, and wholesome food. They are
either boiled in water or steam, or steeped in wine, when they are
highly stimulating.

1 Euphorbia splendens.
MOORS. 50!
Lions, leopards, hyenas, wild cats, and monkeys haunt the forest
wilds of the Atlas. The rhinoceros, the wild boar, and the red fox
are indigenous to these regions; gazelles and the long-maned species
of goat, called acloaat, are common in the plains and on the mountain
slopes. The ostrich stalks in quickened pace over the burning sands
of the Sahara. Vultures, hawks, and falcons wing their ﬂight to the
highest mountain-peaks. The heron and the curlew wander near the
sea-shore, and pigeons and partridges are found near cultivated ﬁelds
approaching the habitations of man. Serpents, which distil the most
deadly poison, infest the woods and the grassy plains. The boa of
the desert, a monster which grows to enormous length, as it swiftly
glides along on the slightly undulating sand, “ﬁres the ground with
the velocity of its motion,” and even the ox cannot resist its giant
strength, for it strangles and crushes its victim by entwining the body
with its ample folds. This is the native home of the chameleon 3 and
the locust,1 no less changeable in colours, ﬁrst appears in green, then
changes into yellow, and‘at last assumes a brownish hue.
The soil in the northern districts of the Barbary States is generally
of a rich black or reddish-brown mould, remarkably fertile and pro-
ductive. It is never manured, the stubble only is burned before the
ground is prepared for sowing. \Vheat and barley are the principal
agricultural products. In some of the southern provinces rice, tobacco,
and cotton are produced, and in some portions indigo and sugar-cane are
of spontaneous growth. Near the towns every variety of culinary
vegetables are cultivated in the gardens. Water-melons are plentiful
and excellent. Fruits of every kind ﬂourish here to perfection. The
oranges are most delicious 3 the grapes are high-ﬂavoured and sweet 3
the apricots are of the largest size and of the best quality. Citrons,
lemons, pomegranates, ﬁgs, the prickly pear, plums, and apples are
abundant in well-stocked orchards.
The Barbary horse is second only in speed, gentleness, and power
of endurance to that of Arabia. Camels, sheep, and goats abound
mostly in the southern districts, while the greatest number of cattle
are reared in the northern provinces.
The greatest number of the population of Barbary are of Arabic
origin; they are either the pure and unmixed descendants of their
Saracen forefathers who came to Africa as warriors and colonists, liv—
ing in tents and leading, in part, a nomadic life, or following, in part,
agricultural pursuits 3 or they are the sedentary mongrel race of Arabs
called Moors, who form the largest proportion of the inhabitants of
the towns, whose pedigree, on their father’s side, can be legitimately
traced to the Arab conquerors with a notable accession of Arab exiles
from Spain, intermixed with Christian and Jewish renegades, natural-

1 The locusts are a species of grasshoppers. They are esteemed a great delicacy,
dishes are served up at the principal repast. There are various ways of dressing
them 3 that usually adopted is to boil them in water half an hour, then sprinkle
them with salt and pepper, and fry them, adding a little vinegar 3 the head, legs,
and wings are thrown away; the rest of the body is eaten, and resembles the
taste of prawns. A person may eat three hundred of them withou ill effect.
J ackson’s Account of the Empire of Morocco, p. 18.
502 THE ARAMAﬁAN STOCK.
ised Turks, and the offspring of Georgian, Circassian, and Greek wives,
Gallas concubines, and negro slaves. It is the Moorish population
which constitutes the ruling and governing class 3 they are the repre-
sentatives of the-wealth and aristocracy of the country.
The physical characteristics of the Moors presentv as little uniformity
as their origin. Though ordinarily only of medium height, yet-there‘
are many among them of a tall and commanding stature. Their com--
plexion presents a still. greater variety. They are usually of a. sallow-
cast, nearly white, at least in the cities ; but persons of a clear,ibrown.
colour are frequently met with, and many are almost black, especially
in the southern districts. While many among the higher classes are‘
distinguished for handsome features, manly countenances, and well-~
proportioned ﬁgures, the great majority of the middle and lower
classes are of a portly outline of body, with thick and clumsy limbs.
They have nearly all black hair, dark. eyes, an oval face, a small nose,
and white, well-set teeth.
But if nature has endowed the Moor with well-deﬁned character-
istics of beauty, she has been more partial to the men than to the
women, who,.although favoured with regular features and rotundity-
of form, have been made the victims of the. most absurd perversion
and the most capricious‘; fancy of barbaric taste. They not only’ dis-
ﬁgure their faces by cosmetic applications, but they subject themselves '
to a dietary course of fattening, so as to acquire sufﬁcient corpulency
which alone could make them an object of. attraction in the eyes» of
their lords, who look upon obesity as the highest mark of female-
beauty- '
The moral character of‘ the Moors partakes, perhaps, less of the good
qualities, and is more deeply imbued with the vices and evilv propen-
sities of human nature, than any other Eastern nation. It is true?
there are men among them whose private virtues would do honour tor
the most advanced civilisation, but their number is exceedingly limited.
Among those who are well educated, examples of good: breeding and
elegant manners are not rare. They are courteous, polite, and affable
in their social intercourse, and their delicate attentions evince a. desire
of making themselves pleasant and agreeable. They are mild in
temper, and are not easily provoked. They are slow to take offence ;:
but when their anger is once roused, and the measure of wrong and‘
insult is full to overﬂowing, they become loud and furious in their
vociferations, implacable in their resentment, and they may at times-
even be so forgetful of their ordinary self-restraint as to terminate a
dispute by assassination. Their most noble trait of‘ character is their
admirable fortitude in misfortune. Despair never haunts their har-
rowed soul even in the most distressing situations in life ; no calamity-
can abate their conﬁdence in the divine protection; no suffering can‘
shake their trust in a beneﬁcent and all-wise Providence. Their-
resignation is not the result of apathetic stoicism, but of that higher
philosophy which is based upon the noble principle that evil is'tem-
porary and will eventually be productive of permanent good. The-
moral deformities of the Moors are the natural products, which have-
grown to maturity, from the seed planted by surrounding circume
MOORS. 503
stances—their mixed origin, their domestic education, their supersti-
tious temperament, their religious bigotry, and more especially their
arbitrary, oppressive, and extortionate governments have all more or
less contributed to render them the most debased and degraded of
those Mohamedan nations who have the least claim of being called
civilised. In all countries where despotism, in its worst form, wields
the sceptre of power; where the ruler considers himself almost equal
to a god, exercising irresponsible authority and looking upon his
people as his slaves, whose lives and property are at his disposal, it. is
impossible that honesty, sincerity, truth, honour, ﬁdelity, and trust
could generally be cultivated as private and public virtues. In a
country where the government, instead of protecting private property
‘and encouraging the accumulation of capital by legitimate means, is
the most rapacious and the most extortionate, where justice is bought
and sold like merchandise, and where the enormities of a corrupt
administration are only equalled by the atrocious severity of the
punishments inﬂicted upon delinquents and oﬁenders, the anomaly is
easily accounted for, that such venal vices and deadly sins should
have contaminated the very life-blood of a nation comparatively civi-
lised. Smarting under the severest oppression of despotism, and
naturally prone to the meanest and most abject superstition and the
most unreasoning credulity, the Moors are cursed with the most
blighting and withering bane of social life—suspicion and distrust—-
which pervades their whole being and poisons every channel of society.
They weaken the natural ties of affection, destroy all the ﬁner feelings
of friendship and attachment, and render them perﬁdious, deceitful,
and insincere. The delightful dream of security in which a conquer—
ing race indulges, and the enervating inﬂuence of a tropical climate on
a people not originally indigenous to the soil, have made them indo-
.lent, sensual, arrogant, and corrupt. Their property being exposed to
seizure and the risk of conﬁscation by the government, and constantly
running the hazard of being stripped of their wealth by the rapacious
avidity of its subordinate agents, they have lost all energy and power
of exertion, they have become bewildered in their moral sense of right
and Wrong, and they ﬁnd it much easier to follow the example of
their superiors and defraud their more industrious neighbours by
cunning, that they may thus acquire the means of subsistence without
labour. The uncertainty of enjoying the means provided by steady
and well-directed industry, either makes them content with the bare
necessaries of life, or compels them to convert their legitimate gains
into money, to enable them to secrete their treasure in some safe hid-
ing-place beyond the grasping clutches of the government ofﬁcials;
and-this practice necessarily fosters the passion of inordinate greed and
avarice. Passive obedience being enjoined upon them from their ear-
liest youth, by their religious teachers, as an imperative duty, they
submissively bow to the most galling yoke of tyranny Without com-
plaint 3 and when occupying positions of trust and honour they exact
the same submissive obedience, and practise the same abuses to which
they were themselves subjected before they enjoyed the privilege of
being ranked with the governing class. Educated in habits of idle-
504 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
ness and luxurious ease, and without inclination and taste for intel-
lectual enjoyments, they seek pleasure in the gratiﬁcation of the
voluptuous passions 3 and the keenness of their sensual appetite being
blunted by inordinate indulgence, they can only ﬁnd. pleasurable
excitement in unnatural practices and the most monstrous vices.
The ignorance and stupidity of the Moors after they reach the age
of maturity is not due to the absence of intellectual power, such as
nature bestows upon her favourite children, but to their indolent
habit of mind, superinduced by the entire suppression of every
political right, the perversion of every principle of law and justice in
the management of public affairs, and their bigoted adherence to the
outward formalities of religion without the least regard to the moral
precepts and the spiritual tendencies of the creed which they profess.
While yet in a state of childhood they exhibit an uncommon share of
vivacity and acuteness, and at school they are as remarkable for close
application and ability as they are for their retentive memory when
all their lessons are learned by rote; but this fair promise of future
usefulness is blighted by the utter worthlessness and degrading
tendencies of the existing political institutions, strengthened by the
union of church and state, and sanctioned by the pretended infalli-
bility of religious laws and obsolete dogmas.
The houses of the Moors are everywhere constructed upon the
same plan. They are one story high, square in form, with flat and
terraced roofs, protected by a low parapet, and generally without
windows in the exterior walls, which are uniformly whitewashed.
The front entrance leads through a narrow vestibule by a ﬂight of
stone steps to a square courtyard, which is floored with black‘and
white marble, ordinary ﬁagstones, or enamelled tiles of different
colours. This central area communicates, either directly or by means
of galleries supported by pillars, with four large apartments, one on .
each side, entirely unconnected with each other, which open by folding-
doors, through which light is admitted; and they are usually painted
in diamond patterns of various colours, while the upper part is some—
times ornamented with carved woodwork. The rooms are furnished
with mats, carpets, and cushions, and the walls are often decorated
with lithographs, handsome mirrors, clocks in glass cases, chairs,
sofas, and even bedsteads of European style. The terraces serve as
verandahs, where the Moorish women pass their leisure hours to
enjoy the refreshing sea-breeze, and here they dry their ﬁgs, raisins,
and dates to preserve them for future use.
In some parts of Barbary1 the entrance-hall in the houses of the
wealthy and aristocratic Mussulmans connects with a single grand
apartment (golphor), which is provided with windows facing the
street. The floor is covered and the walls are lined with coloured
tiles, and the ceiling is carved and painted. A streamlet of ﬂowing
water is sometimes conducted through the middle of this apartment
in a marble channel, and during the stifling heat of summer this
purling rill cools the atmosphere and diffuses delightful freshness all

1 This style of houses is principally met with in Tripoli.
MOORS. 505
around it. This is the home of the master of the house, and he is so
selﬁsh and exclusive that no one, not even a member of his family,
would dare to intrude into this domestic sanctuary without his express
permission. Here he holds his levees, transacts his most important
business, and revels and carouses with his friends and companions
when he invites them to convivial parties. This apartment connects
with the interior open courtyard, which, on being covered overhead,
serves on great occasions as the reception-room of the women.
The Moors are not at all extravagant in dress. Their loose linen
drawers reaching below the knee are covered by full woollen trousers.
‘Over a short linen shirt with large sleeves they wear two or three
Waistcoats of broad-cloth of various colours, which ﬁt loosely,
.are trimmed in front with a range of buttons, and are sometimes
embroidered with gold or silk. A silk belt tightly encircles the
waist, and a velvet cord is thrown over the right shoulder, which
suspends on the left side a curved dagger (yaghatan) sheathed in a
brass case. The hatch, the universal out-door dress worn by women
.as well as men, is a piece of drapery of cotton, silk, or woollen cloth,
generally white, ﬁve or six yards long and about ﬁve feet wide, and
is thrown over the shoulders in a careless, easy, but graceful manner.
In cold and wet weather the hatch is laid aside and a hooded cloak
(salam) is substituted in its place. It is made of a single seamless
piece of blue or white woollen cloth of European manufacture, is
--closed at the neck, and is ornamented with silk fringes at the corners 3
it reaches to the heels, and is provided with a hood to which a silk
tassel is ﬁxed behind. It is worn on the head fastened by a strong
camel’s hair cord, and thus subserves the purpose of a cap or turban
.among the poorer classes.
The Moors shave their heads closely, leaving but a single lock
unshorn. The red fez cap is almost the universal head-dress; for
.those who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca (hacljis) are alone
entitled to assume the turban as the ordinary head-covering. The
.sit cross-legged and barefooted on a mat or cushion covered with white
linen; and it is only when they walk abroad that their feet are
protected by yellow slippers.
The women display in their dress, but more especially in their
_ jewels and ornaments, barbaric splendour without much elegance in
arrangement or taste in selection. Their shirt is of the ﬁnest and
.almost transparent tissue; it is remarkably full with extravagantly
long sleeves; and being open at the neck, it discloses the charms of
'the heaving bosom where it is set off with an embroidered border of
gold. ,Their full short trousers are of the ﬁnest linen, and their
sleeveless caftan or jacket is of cotton, ‘silk, or gold tissue. A Esilk,
linen, or cotton sash gracefully folded is wrapped round their waist,
with its loose ends extending down below the knee. When they go
to the bath-or on a visit they throw a hatch over their shoulders,
conceal their face with a white cotton veil, and encase their feet in
red or scarlet slippers embroidered with gold. Their hair is arranged
in divided plaits from the front backwards, hanging loosely behind in
506 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
different tresses with the ends tied with twisted silk. The top-70f‘ the
head is either covered with a close-ﬁtting velvet cap adorned with
sequins inconcentric circles, which is-concealed by a red or black outer-
cap ; or the. head isv elegantly draped in. a long silk scarf! with its-loose
folds fringed with twisted silk, which hang down behind in, an‘! easy
manner and reach near the ground. The head-dress: is copleted' by
a. black silk handkerchief‘ which is closely wrapped‘ round- it, is tied.
in a knot behind, and is. sometimes ornamented by a. band. of brilliants.
ﬁxed to the rim. »
The ornamental part of their toilet is- too-cumbrous. to be.» attractive,
and their cosmetic devices are too capricious to be artistic- The
quantity of jewels of gold and precious stones and less valuable
materials with which they adorn their person is quite bewildering,
and their practice of painting and staining renders them altogether
repulsive. They not only attach the ends of a golden chain. to- each of
their shoulders, which hangs down their bosom with provoking care-
lessness, but they wear, in addition, a great variety of necklaces of"
pearl, amber, coral, or beads. The upper part of their ear is pierced
by a small gold ring sparkling with a cluster of precious stones; at
the same time, the tip of the ear is weighed down by another'gol-dl
ring of enormous size set. with brilliants and. reaching down as- far
as the neck. Broad solid bracelets of gold enclasp their wrists, and
golden or silver anklets encompass their ankles like fett'ers. Their
ﬁngers are laden with rings of gold set in diamonds. Their cheeks
and chin are painted deep red. The palms of their hands: and the
soles of their feet, as well as their nails, are dyed in deep’ orange with
henna. Their eyelids and eyebrows are. tinged with a streak of black.
A long black line is-traced on the forehead and another in front of
the neck beneath the chin. The. tip of the nose and the cheeks are
marked with black spots. The Moorish women can give no better
reason for this eccentric mode of ornamentation than’ that it will“
make their husbands love them. Surelyv there is no disputing-
about taste.
Like all the nations of Arabic origin, the Moors are frugal and
temperate in their habits. They partake of the good‘ things of this
world in moderation. The universal and favourite dish, which is never-
absent at any of their meals, is cuscoosoo, which is prepared byv reducing
ﬂour, with the addition of a little water, into a paste, and after: being‘
thoroughly dried it is broken up into small grains, is seasoned with
pepper, onions, and butter, to which sometimes spices and perfumes-
are added, and it is then subjected to a cooking process by being“
steamed. Ordinarily, vegetables and beef, mutton or fowl, are served
up with the cuscoosoo, and fruits of every kind are abundantly supplied
and much relished. The use of tea is far more common among the
rich than that of coffee, and they occasionally indulge in wine and
brandy regardless of the prohibition of the Koran 3 but‘they hardly
ever drink to excess. The Moors, like all Orientals, eat with their
ﬁngers, seated on a mat round an. earthen bowl which is placed- on a‘
tray. They take breakfast at daybreak, which is but a slight repast;
they dine at twelve ; and the supper, which is their principal meal, is.
M'OORS. 507
served at sunset. Smoking tobacco. as well as hashish 1 is a common
luxury‘ with both sexes, and many are even addicted to. the practice
of opium-eating.
In his social intercourse the Moor exhibits. suﬂicient- politeness,
without troubling himself with ceremonial rules of etiquette. He
receives; guests in a cordial manner by shaking hands without
rising from his seat, and inquiring after their health 3 he requests them
to sit down on the carpetgor cushion placed on the floor for this
especial purpose.- No matter what the time of the day may be, tea
or coffee. is brought in in small china cups placed on a tea-board, which
is considered the highest compliment that can be paid to a visitor. In
some cities he invites his friends to a social gathering in front of his
house in the open street, where the party are seated on carpets
engaged in smoking, playing draughts or chess, or they carry on a
lively conversation unabashed by the strangers that are constantly
passing.
Their mode of salutation is of a more formal and condescending
character. When two: equals meet, they kiss each other’s hands after
having shaken hands with a quick motion. Particular friends and
relatives embrace and kiss each other’s faces and beards, at the same
time making inquiries" about their health and that of their family,
without, however, giving time for a reply. It is regarded impertinent
and a gross breach of decorum to make speciﬁc inquiry about the
health of the female members of a household, even should it be known
that a wife or daughter is dangerously ill. An inferior salutes a
superior by kissing that part of the hatch which covers his arm, and
if he wishes to show‘ the highest mark of respect to a person of high
rank he kisses his feet. Every subject is required, as a mark of
reverence, to take off his fez cap or turban and prostrate himself,
touching the ground with his. head, in the presence of the emperor
of Morocco: and the princes of his household.
The passionate fondness which the Moors exhibit for music is very
remarkable, and although they have not reached a high degree of
excellence in that art, yet some of their musical compositions played or
sung in quick time, while they are exceedingly simple, are not. wanting
in beauty, and never fail to excite the emotions and stir up the better
sentiments of the heart. Their taste for poetry is principally conﬁned
to love-songs, notwithstanding that their idea of the tender passion is
much degraded by their inordinate sensuality.
Their instrumental music presents but little variety, nor is the skill
of the performers of a high order. A hautboy without keys, the
Spanish mandoline, a two-stringed violin, a large drum, a common
pipe, and a tabor comprise all the instruments used by their musical
bands, sometimes accompanied by several voices, all singing in the

1 The only intoxicating articles of which the MIoors partake are the seed and
ﬂowers of hemp, which produce an exhilaration of mind imagining themselves the
sultan ; pleasing sleep closes this dream of delight, which passes off without any
other unpleasing effects than the awakening to a sense of unpleasant reality.
They smoke it as an opiate in pipes as small as thimbles, but. it is principally
conﬁned to the lower classes. Beauclerc’s Morocco, p. 274. j _
508 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
same pitch without the least variation. Band music, interrupted only
by repeated volleys of musketry, forms the principal amusement at
public entertainments. Jugglers and mountebanks of every descrip-
tion perform many ingenious tricks in the streets and the markets,
and are liberally patronised ; and strolling dancing-girls and dancing-
boys, gaudily attired, exhibit their obscene pantomimic dances in the
coffee-houses during late evening hours.
Their fondness for women is one of the master passions of the
Moors, but their standard of female beauty is far from being reﬁned.
Women undergo a regular process of artiﬁcial fattening as soon as
they are betrothed, in order to be in good condition on the day of
their marriage, so as to be certain to ﬁnd favour in the eyes of their
lord.1 Nothing is more humiliating to a Moorish woman than to be
lean or to be even of a slender form. The idea of delicacy of the
Moorish ladies corresponds with their limited education, the peculiarity
of their position and the restricted sphere of their domestic relations.
They pass their time excluded from the world of active life, and are
not permitted to have any intercourse with any one except their
husbands, their nearest relatives and intimate female friends. They
feel no hesitancy in exposing parts of their person which contribute
to render them attractive. The guardianship of their honour is not
in their own keeping, and they may almost be considered as irrespon-
sible as children as regards their moral conduct.
Young girls are given away in marriage at the age of eleven or twelve
by the sole will of their parents without consulting their wishes. The
marriage settlement is agreed upon by the contracting parties before
the kadc' who registers the act, and the father will provide for his
daughter a dowry as far as his means will allow, which belongs to her
in her own right 3 or the bridegroom will settle a certain sum upon
his future wife, to accrue to her beneﬁt in case of death or divorce.
After the marriage contract is deﬁnitely concluded the bride is kept
at home for at least eight days, during which time she receives the
visits of her female friends paying her the usual congratulatory com-
pliments. In the meantime one of the learned men versed in the
law and the religious duties enjoined by the Koran, called tall), attends
to her moral and spiritual instruction, addressing to her wholesome
admonitions, and impressing her mind with the responsibilities and
obligations incurred on entering the state of married life. To invest
his spiritual ministrations with religious authority, he accompanies
his admonitory lecture with the chanting of a pious hymn, which
imparts additional solemnity to the occasion. When the day of the

1 The standard of female beauty among the Moors is determined according to
the following rules :—“ Four things in a woman should be ample: the lower part
of her back, the thighs, the calves of the legs, and the knees.” The fattening of
Women begins when they are betrothed. They swallow three times a day regular
boluses of paste, and are not allowed to take exercise. Richardson’s Travels‘in
Morocco, vol. ii. p. 17.
The women use a grain called eZ houba, which they powder and eat with their
cuscoosoo until they acquire that degree of corpulency to which they aspire. They
also take with the same view large quantities of paste heated by steam of boiling
water. Lempriere’s Tour through Morocco, p. 329.
MOORS. ' _ 509
wedding approaches the bride is conveyed to the bath, where she is
perfumed and subjected to an elaborate process of painting, and is
profusely decked with tinsel and jewels, and thus rigged out she is
placed in state, seated cross-legged on an elevated couch, where kisses
of endearment are showered upon her by each one of her admiring
friends. While the bride is thus engaged the bridegroom has also
his levees; he is visited by his companions and friends, who, accom-
panied by a band of music, march through the streets on horseback,
repeatedly discharging volleys of musketry in his honour. In the
evening of the marriage the bride is paraded through the streets in a
close litter covered with cotton, silk, or gauzes of various colours,
borne by a mule, and is followed, in procession, by her relatives and
friends carrying lighted torches, playing hautboys, or ﬁring volleys of
musketry. On the arrival at the house of her husband she is intro-
duced into an apartment designed as her future home. There she
remains solitary and alone, while her husband is engaged in feasting
with his friends in another part of the house. She is seated on a
velvet cushion, dressed in a silk or velvet robe with close sleeves,
embroidered at the neckand breast with gold, and reaching not quite
down to the ankle. Her under-garment of gauze hangs down behind
in the form of a train. A small table stands before her upon which
two lighted‘ wax candles are placed. When her husband enters late
in the evening she puts her hands upon her eyes, and he receives her
and acknowledges her as his wife without further ceremony. As
soon as the marriage is consummated, the slaves who are in attendance
outside announce the joyful event by blowing hautboys and ﬁring off
guns. The barbarous custom still prevails here of exhibiting the
irrefutable proofs of the bride’s virginity to a council of relatives and
friends, for this alone constitutes the ﬁnal conﬁrmation of the contract
on the part of the husband, who, if he has reason to suspect his young
wife’s virtue, is at liberty to repudiate her at pleasure. The husband
generally remains at home during the ﬁrst eight days of the honey-
moon, but the wife is not permitted to leave her domicile under any
pretext during a period of eight or twelve months after marriage.
But this is not considered a hardship by the Moorish ladies, for
they cheerfully comply with established usages and the require-
ments of decency, and willingly make any sacriﬁce to please their
husbands.
Divorces are not as common as is generally supposed, except among
the proﬂigate rich 3 but a wife may be repudiated upon very slight
pretexts. Barrenness, disappointed expectations, disability of per-
forming domestic duties, incompatibility of temper, and inﬁdelity are
legitimate causes on account of which a wife may be divorced. But
the wife is not altogether subjected to the absolute control of her hus-
band. She has the privilege of leaving him if he neglects to provide
for her the necessary means of subsistence. If he so far forgets his
position and curses her, the law exacts a heavy ﬁne in money for the
ﬁrst offence, which is paid to the injured wife 3 he is obliged to give
her a ﬁne dress of still greater value if the insult is repeated 3 and if
the offence is committed the third time she is at liberty to seek a
510 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
home among her kindred, and ‘two months must elapse before her hus-
band is allowed to enter upon a new marriage engagement.
Although polygamy exists with the restrictions of ‘the Koranic
law, yet the great majority of the Moors have but one wife ; but ‘the
number of concubines, which are generally Gallas slaves, is unlimited,
in addition to negro slaves who attend to the affairs of the domestic
establishment. The young of both sexes never fail to assume. the
duties of married life, and subject themselves to its weighty and import-
ant responsibilities. An old bachelor would be looked upon as a
leper and an outcast of society, whom every respectable Moor would
shun as a suspicious character.
The respect which the Moor has for his wife is proportioned to the
number of children she bears him, and the Moorish women desire
nothing more ‘ fervently than to have a numerous progeny, otherwise
they are neglected, if not repudiated, by their lords. With them child—
bearing is quite a natural process, and produces neither feebleness nor
prostration of the nervous system; they are able to attend to their
ordinary household affairs the next day after delivery, frequently
carrying the new-born infant on their back. They generally suckle
their children during the ﬁrst two years, in compliance with the
requirements of the Koran.
Boys are circumcised at the age of eight years, when their education
begins. In all the towns schools are attached to the mosques, where
the taZbs impart instruction to children in reading, Writing, and some-
times in the ﬁrst rules of arithmetic. The education of the greatest
number is, however, restricted to reading and learning by rote a few
prayers selected from the Koran, which are written in Arabic char-
acters and pasted on a board. They are taught to fear and adore God,
to pay due reverence to old age, and to honour and respect their
parents. As soon as they reach the age of discretion they learn some
useful art, trade, or profession; are intrusted with the care of the
ﬂocks, devote themselves to the tillage of the soil, or become expert
in the exercise of arms. Sometimes a boy remains at school to pursue
his studies until he is qualiﬁed to assume the duties of the talk.
Whenever his course of studies is completed he is enrolled among the
learned men of his nation, and as a mark of honour he is paraded
through the streets, accompanied by his schoolmates and a and of
music. He is mounted on a ﬁne horse, caparisoned in silk and brocade
trappings and ornamented with jewels and ﬂowers. He holds in his
hands his prayers pasted on a board, and the procession stops at certain
appointed places until it arrives before the house of the head boy of
the school, where the whole company is treated with sweet-meats.
The language universally spoken in Barbary is a corrupt dialect of
the Arabic, called the Mugrebbin, which is intermixed with many
foreign idioms; but it is nevertheless Arabic in all its essential ele—
ments, and is readily understood by those who are familiar with
Arabic literature.1
When a death occurs in a Moorish family it is announced in the

1 For Arabic language, see supra, p. 38L
MOORS. 5n
loud shrill scream of the exclamatory notes, woolc'ahewoo, incessantly
repeated by all the relatives present. This mournful cry of ‘distress,
being uttered with a piercing ‘voice, is heard at a great distance, and
brings (together all those who are acquaintedwith, or dependent on,
the family, with the. object of lamenting and mourning with their
friends over the remains of one who was dear to them. Women
‘crowd in great numbers around the weeping widow or the sorrowing
mother ; they take her in their arms and shriek and howl until, in the
frenzy of excitement, she faints away and sinks senseless on the floor.
To .render the scene more lugubrious, a certain number of women are
hired who act as professional mourners. Their vociferous lamenta-
tions and frightful moanings grate upon the ear, and, beating their
heads and 'fkbreasts and scratching their faces with their nails, they
resemble furies rather than human beings. The burial takes place a
few hours after death. -After the corpse is washed it is wrapped in a
shroud composed of seven pieces of ﬁne linen sewed together, with_the
right hand placed under the ‘head, which is turned towards Mecca.
It is laid on a bier which is borne to the burial-ground by men, who
walk with a quick step, and are, from time to time, relieved by others,
who deem .it a meritorious act to render this service. While the
funeral procession moves along prayers are recited and hymns are
sung 3 and this ‘also forms the concluding ceremony after the body is
consigned to the grave. When a wife loses her husband she divests
herself ‘of all silver and gold ornaments, and thus renounces the
vanities and pleasures of the world during a period of four months
and eight days. If she is pregnant the time of her mourning is pro-
longed till after her delivery, while all her wants are supplied by the
relatives of her deceased husband. Among families of rank and
aristocratic pretensions a .son mourns for his father by abstaining from
shaving his head, trimming his beard, and cutting his nails .for a
certain deﬁnite period of time. In some parts of Barbary the custom
is prevalent of distributing cooked food among the poor on the even-
ing of the burial. This is called the supper of the grave.
The Mohamedan saints of Barbary are called mamboos. They
constitute a regular order, and, as a class, they occupy a position in
society distinct from the common people. Originally they were dis-
tinguished , for their exemplary piety, their frequent ablutions, their
constant prayers and fastings, and other devotional exercises, by which
they acquired a reputation for sanctity, and excited the reverential
feelings of the ignorant multitude.1 But now it is a kind of heredi-
tary dignity, for the male descendants of a reputed saint may assume
the title, and they enjoy all the consideration and privileges of their
sainted ancestor who ennobled their family. The m-av'aboos are gener-

1 'One of these saints is reported to have possessed the power to visit the tomb
of the Prophet at Medina and returning within the space of half an hour, and the
advice and information which he gave on these occasions received most submissive
attention. Another was supposed to possess the power of passing, during the
silence of the night, over to Europe, .and of killing sometimes from three hundred
to four hundred inﬁdels, and he inevitably returned to Barbary before daybreak.
Magill’s Tunis, p. 85.
512 THE ABAMZEAN STOCK.
ally men of, education, and their inﬂuence is very great among all
classes of society. They are the wise men of the nation; they are
consulted on all matters of difficulty, and many of the educational
institutions are under their direction and supervision. When a
Mohamedan saint dies, it is considered a national calamity. He is
buried with the utmost solemnity, and his tomb is invested with
religious sanctity and reverential awe. As a mark of honour a chapel
is erected over it, which becomes a sacred spot,'a hallowed sanctuary,
to which superstitious devotees make pilgrimages, to pour out their-
soul in prayer to the spirit of the holy'man, and ask his intercession
that their afflictions may be-lightened, their calamities removed, and
that their bodily and mental disorders may be healed. This invoca-
tion of saints, although not in. strict accordance with the spirit of'
Mohamedanism, has, nevertheless, a tendency to calm the troubled
soul of the worshipper, and inspire him with - comforting assurance
of speedy relief. These sanctuaries serve as places of refuge to the
most atrocious criminals-—a privilege which the emperor himself would
not dare to violate.
A still grosser superstition has elevated idiots and madmen—real or‘
feigned—to the dignity of saintship. They are looked upon as being
under the special protection of Heaven, and as being moved, in many
of their acts and sayings, by divine inspiration. They have free-
access everywhere ; all the houses are open to them. It is considered
an act of merit to feed and clothe them, and sometimes they are-
favoured with numerous presents.
The superstitions in which the Moors, in common with other Arabs,
place implicit faith, are childish in the extreme and perfectly inde-
fensible. A common dread of the “ evil eye” is universally prevalent.
If a stranger, in the simplicity of his heart, would express his admira~
tion for the ﬁne qualities of a beautiful horse, the owner would be
immediately struck with fear and trepidation lest some mishap might
befall his favourite animal. If well-merited praise were inadvertently
bestowed upon a young child, it would serve as a premonition to the
trembling mother that the darling of her bosom would meet with some
misfortune. To avert the blighting influence of the “evil eye,” charms
and amulets are universally worn, and stupid credulity does not for
one moment doubt the efﬁcacy of their counter-influence. Some of
the maraboos, like some bigoted priests in benighted Catholic
countries, derive considerable proﬁt from this vulgar superstition 5 for
they manufacture these religious baubles, which are compounded of
the most heterogeneous articles, or consist of a scroll of parchment on
which various combinations of words or sentences from the Koran are
inscribed. They are neatly sewn up in leather, or placed in em-
broidered bags, and are not only worn by men, women, and children,
but are frequently suspended about the neck of animals. Even
inanimate objects are not considered exempt from the malignant power
of demons, genii, and evil spirits, and it is believed that an open hand
painted on the door of a house serves as a potent charm to dispel all
sinister influences to which it may be exposed. It is regarded as an
unlucky omen for thirteen persons to be seated at the same time
MOORS. ' 51 3
round the table. Previous to the marching of an army the astrologer
is consulted, who watches the rising of a certain star. If it rises in a
clear sky, the omen is considered favourable; but if obscured by clouds,
it is of evil portent. ‘
In their religious belief the Moors are orthodox Mohamedans, and
in this respect they do not differ from the Turks. Since the French
have taken possession of Algeria the fanaticism of the Moors has
much abated, and Christians as well as Jews are much more highly
respected even in Morocco and Tunis. Formerly when a Christian or
a Jew was converted to Mohamedanism he was dressed in Moorish
style, and, amidst a great concourse of people, he was paraded on
horseback round the streets, accompanied by a band of music. But
notwithstanding that he assumed a Moorish name, and was adopted
as child by a Mohamedan whom he ever after claimed as his father,
he was only allowed to marry a negro woman or the daughter of a
renegade, and it was not until the fourth generation that his descen-
dants were recognised as genuine Moors.
In former times many of the Barbary slaves were Christians,
captured by Moorish pirates who infested the Mediterranean coasts.
But since the conquest of Algeria by the French, they have learned
to respect the Christian powers; their piratical ships have been
destroyed, and they have altogether ceased to navigate that great
inland sea. The number of slaves is very great in Morocco.1 They
are not sold in bazaars or slave-markets, but by public criers, who
make this their professional business. While neither Christians nor
Jews are permitted to purchase or hold slaves, the government is the
most extensive slaveholder, and realises a considerable amount of
revenue from their labour by hiring them out for stipulated wages.
The master has the right to punish them for slight offences by
ﬂogging ; but for grave crimes they are made amenable to the public
authorities. They are treated with humanity, and it is but rarely
that cases of cruelty occur. They have their own festivities, and are
favoured with many social privileges. When a slave is dissatisﬁed
with his master he is often allowed to buy his freedom; and to
accomplish the object he goes about begging in the streets with the
paper in his mouth which, when signed, secures his freedom, exclaim-
ing at every step, “ Ransom of God” (Fedeeah Allah) ; and frequently
he follows this vocation for many months before his efforts are crowned
with success.
The empire of Morocco is the only independent state of Barbary
whose sovereignty is directly derived from the Saracen conquerors of
North Africa. The line of succession of the existing shereef dynasty
has continued for the last two hundred years without interruption;
and as these princes claim their descent from Mohamed, asserting
that their ancestors came from the neighbourhood of Medina, they
are universally recognised as the kalifs of the West, and are profoundly
venerated by all true Mussulmans. The emperor of Morocco is an
absolute despot, without check or counterpoise except his own sense
1 Slavery no longer exists in Algeria and Tunis.
to
P1
5 14 THE ARAM/EAN STOCK.
of justice and right. His will is the law of the land, provided he
does not interfere with the established usages of religion, and acknow-
ledges at least a nominal allegiance to the laws of the Koran. As he
has four different capitals, wherever he may reside he administers
justice twice and sometimes four times a week ; he listens attentively
to the statementsof both litigants without distinction of rank, sex,
or condition; weighs the evidence adduced on either side, and renders
a prompt and peremptory decision‘ which, as far as the merits of the
case are concerned, is generally‘correct in the main points, although
the remedy is rarely equitable or just. The governors of. remote
provinces represent the emperor in the hall of justice, and possess the
same arbitrary power in giving judgment in all cases brought before
them for decision.
The regular court of judicature is presided over by the Audi, who is
assisted by four associate justices (Zoltz'els), whose jurisdiction extends
to civil controversies, misdemeanours, and to matters relating to
religion, marriage, and divorce; each functionary manages his own
branch of business, and is guided in his judicial proceedings by the
Koran and the commentaries. The trial of all cases is conducted in
public; the leads’ sits on the ground before the gate of his house, and
the parties to the contest, surrounded by their friends, plead their
case in person without the intermedium of attorneys. The plaintiff
makes his statement ﬁrst, and the defendant replies. The evidence of
the witnesses in support of the allegations of the suitors is duly
considered, and the sentence is pronounced with promptness and
.despatch. In important cases an appeal may be taken to the emperor,
who generally consults the men of the law (ulemas) before he renders
his ﬁnal decision, where the questions involved in the controversy are
of a complicated nature. In all cases where the crime is punishable
by death, the culprit is either executed, or he may be allowed to
redeem his life, forfeited to the law, by paying a pecuniary ﬁne,
which accrues partly to the beneﬁt of the aggrieved party, and is
partly turned over to the imperial exchequer.
The emperors exercise but precarious authority over the Kabyle
mountaineers of the Atlas and the nomadic tribes of Arabs of the
plains. Their iron hand of tyranny, their oppressive measures of
extortion for the purpose of amassing treasures so ardently coveted
by their insatiable avarice and rapacity, weigh most heavily upon the
inhabitants of the towns and cities where the available wealth of
the nation is concentrated. By the contrivance of creating special
monopolies for purposes of revenue, they destroy the commerce and
the general prosperity of the country. They engage in commercial
enterprises through the agencies of a certain number of imperial
merchants, who are the factors of their sovereign master, who, on
paying annually a stipulated sum and an indeﬁnite value ‘in presents
as a regular contribution, have the privilege of enriching-themselves
by means of the enormous proﬁts, realised from an exclusive trade,
to be in the end despoiled of their riches and plundered of their
. accumulated wealth at the nod and pleasure of the despot, by alleging
some plausible pretext for the outrage.
MOORS. 515
The revenues collected by the government are derived from multi-
farious sources. The amount of ﬁnes imposed for even slight offences
is extravagant; but it constitutes one of the means of yielding a rich
harvest by which the treasury is replenished. Presents of great value
are often received by the emperor from private individuals, from
provincial governors and other ofﬁcers of high rank, to secure his
favour and obtain his approval of some project of importance that
‘advances their personal interest 3 or to procure his attention to, and
the speedy termination of, a contest referred to him on appeal for
ﬁnal decision. A tax is imposed on live-stock of every kind, on the
produce of the land, and on ﬁsheries. The capitation tax of the
Jews,the import and export duties, and some other minor contribu-
tions exacted, are additional means provided for the support of the
_ government.
The ‘emperor does not intrust the safety of his person and the
integrity of his dominions to effeminate Moors or undisciplined
Arabs, but he maintains a body-guard of thirty thousand men
recruited from the enfranchised negroes and from the negro slaves.
They have the reputation of possessing two important qualities of the
good soldier—they are said to be faithful and brave.
All the more advanced civilisation of the Barbary States is concen-
trated in their capitals and maritime cities. Here commerce stores up
its merchandise for distribution 3 manufacture, though not ﬂourishing,
supplies articles of luxury and utility for home consumption as well
:as exportation 3 and Mohamedan learning, of moderate pretensions,
has here its votaries and zealous devotees.
Fez, which is the northern capital of Morocco, has long been
famous as a city of Vast extent, and is the most ancient seat of Islam
supremacy in the West.1 Its situation is quite picturesque 3 it is
built in a valley and on the gentle slopes of high bills by which it is
surrounded, and whose summits, being crowned with delightful gar-
dens, present the most enchanting view and diffuse the most delicious
‘odours. A small stream,2 at some distance from the busy mart and
the hum of the multitude, meanders along in graceful curves in its
sandy bed, and its passing wavelets supply the town with excellent
water. The city is fortiﬁed by a wall, which is pierced by seven
gates and defended by two castles. The streets are in fact only
narrow and contracted lanes, not broad enough for two horsemen to
ride abreast. The houses are lofty, but their architecture is most
simple, and presents nothing that exhibits taste or elegance. Two
buildings on opposite sides are frequently connected by arches which
obstruct the ingress of light and render the street dark and gloomy.
Besides the palace of the emperor it has no other public buildings of
importance, but a hospital for the insane, several public baths, and
seven hundred mosques, of which ﬁfty only are superb structures,

1 It dates its modern celebrity from Muly Edris in 807 A.D., as the second city
of Islamism and the palace of the Mussulman princes of the West. Richardson’s
Morocco, p. I 33.
r 2 The Wady-el-Juhar, a branch of the Teban.
516 THE ARAMZEAN s'roox.
being magniﬁcently ornamented with marble columns and surmounted
by lofty minarets.
Saracens ; but it has almost dwindled down to insigniﬁcance, and the
fanatic mamboos who preside over it possess but very little real learn—-
ing. There are, however, seven ﬂourishing schools here, besides several
private seminaries of instruction, where the young are initiated'in the
ﬁrst elements of a scholastic education. If Morocco can be said to
have a literary class it is found in Fez, for here is the centre where-
all those who aspire to literary fame congregate. The inhabitants are
distinguished for their religious fanaticism, which renders it uncom~~
fortable, if not dangerous, for a European to visit the place unless
disguised in Moorish dress, or under the protection of an escort of'
troops. The number of the population cannot be deﬁnitely deter--
mined, as no census is ever taken by Mohamedan authorities. It has
been variously estimated from thirty thousand to eighty-eight thou-
sand souls. A considerable number of these are Jews, who generally
reside in the new portion of the city. The commerce of Fez is exten-
sive, and embraces a variety of merchandise from every part of the
world. The public square, where goods of every kind are exposed for"
sale, is daily crowded with merchants and purchasers, and bears a close
resemblance to a public fair. Two caravans start from here annually;
one for Timbuctoo, which completes its journey in about ninety days 3.
and the other, which is the pilgrims’ caravan, to Mecca, whose invest»
ment is estimated at a million of dollars, stops at Alexandria on its
route, and reaches its point of termination in the course of ﬁve months.
The manufacturing industry of Fez is principally conﬁned to articles
of utility and such as are in common use. Its looms turn out a con-
siderable quantity of woollen hat'olcs and silk handkerchiefs. Morocco»
slippers and shoes of ﬁne quality are made here for the foreign
'market; and the red felt caps, which are almost universally worn in
all Mohamedan countries, and are designated by the name, of the
city, are manufactured here on an extensive scale.
Morocco is the southern capital of the empire, where» the emperor
has a palace in the outskirts, and where he resides one-third part of‘
the year. The city is seven miles in circumference, is surrounded by
massive walls ﬂanked by high towers, and is pierced by nine gates.
On two sides it is bordered by a wide belt of gardens, in which the-
date-palm, the olive, and the ﬁg are the most conspicuous trees. On
the north-west side the palm groves are in such close proximity as to-
present the appearance of a forest. The city has lost much of its;
former splendour, and the heaps of ruins with which it abounds have-
in a great measure been converted into gardens. It is situated in an
extensive and lovely plain that skirts along the foot of the Atlas-.-
mountains, and receives its supply of water by means of an aqueduct,
which connects with the river Tensift at a distance of six miles from
the gates of the city. The streets are crooked and uneven, and being-
unpaved they are quite miry during the rainy season, and exceedingly
dusty during the summer. Like all Mohamedan cities, its only public:
ediﬁces of note are its numerous mosques, which display considerable:
The university of Fez was once one of the most-
celebrated institutions of learning in the extensive dominions of the‘
MOORS. 517
architectural art. All the private houses are built in one and the
same style. A large courtyard, with a fountain in the centre, forms
the interior of the dwelling which encloses the yard on all its sides.
A passage-way, sometimes supported by columns, forms the lower story,
which is generally occupied by the servants, and here are also the
‘stables for the accommodation of the domestic animals. The apart-
ments of the family are all in the upper story, which are universally
entered from the yard. The part which turns towards the street has
the appearance of a lofty wall without windows, and is only entered
by a narrow door. In some of the palaces the interior is embellished
with the most exquisite carved work and vaulted ceilings, while the
floor is decked with the richest carpets. The public squares and
market-places are extensive, and the last are ﬁlled with every kind of
merchandise and natural products, from which caravans trading in the
interior are partially supplied with the necessary stock and outﬁt.
Its manufacturing industry is not of very great importance. The
hatcks produced here are not equal to those of Fez. The silk hand-
kerchiefs and the carpets manufactured here are quite creditable pro-
ductions. Its tanned leather has acquired a world-wide reputation.
Croat-skins are tanned with pomegranate bark, and are coloured light
yellow, red, and reddish brown. The morocco leather thus produced
is made into slippers, saddles, bridles, and other riding gear. Its silk
embroidery is elegant in design and of exquisite workmanship. In
ancient times Morocco was one of the great cities of the world,1 but
at present its population does not exceed forty or ﬁfty thousand souls,
including four thousand Shelluhs and ﬁve thousand Jews.
Magador 2 is the most ﬂourishing maritime and commercial city of
the empire. It lies in thirty-one degrees thirty minutes north
latitude 3 and its site forms a peninsula on the coast of the Atlantic.
It is built on a shelving beach in the midst of shifting sand-hills with
a rocky foundation. It is sheltered on one side by lofty ranges of
mountains, and the climate is softened by the north-east trade-winds,
which are continually blowing from the direction of the sea. ' It rains
here very rarely; and the temperature being extremely mild and
pleasant, the city affords a delightful summer as well as winter
residence. The streets are all regularly built up in straight lines, and
they are kept 'clean and in a good condition. The fortiﬁcations are
efﬁcient and well-entertained, and the walls are entered by ﬁve gates,
one of which leads directly to the harbour, another is on the land side,
and the remaining three are all on the side of the sea. Many of the
houses display some architectural taste ; the public buildings and the
residences of European consuls and merchants are spacious and elegant.
Its population is estimated at ﬁfteen thousand souls, of whom four
thousand are Jews and a hundred and ﬁfty Christians. Water is


1 Morocco was built in 1072 by the famous Jousel-ben-Dashﬁn, king of Sam-
tuma, of the dynasty of the Maraboos. It is the site of the ancient city Martok
of the Berbers. It is said that in the twelfth century it contained 10,000 houses
and 700,000 souls. Richardson’s Morocco, vol. i. p. 149.
2 Magador is a modern city, having been built in 1760 by Sultan Sidi Mohamed,
under the direction of a French engineer. Ibid. vol. i. p. 2 52.
518 THE ARA-MEAN s'roox.
' JRum-J-
w.<..._.;_..¢/_>n _ .. . q...
conducted to the place by an aqueduct which extends from the river-
K’sel, at a distance of one and a-half miles to the beach, where it
terminates in a swamp. The inhabitants are principally engaged in
commercial pursuits, for here is the central depot for the products of
the southern districts. The chief articles of export are olive-oil,
ivory, gold, beans, citrons, dates, gum-arabic, cattle, hides, goats’ and
sheep’s skins, almonds, ostrich feathers, wax, wool, and other minor-
The imports consist of cotton and cotton goods, amber,
articles.
buffalo hides, cochineal, ﬁr planks, iron, glass, spices, linen, stearine
candles, plates of copper and brass, cutlery, silk,’ stoneware, tea, broad-
Articles of copper and brass of excellent_Work--
cloth, tin, sugar, &c.
manship are made in the city, and morocco leather is also largely
manufactured.
The regency of Tunis is governed by a bey, who is nominally
dependent on the sultan of Turkey, but is virtually an independent
prince.1
exercises despotic authority.
the imperial treasury, but, in return for a ﬁrman conﬁrming his title
to the exercise of unlimited power, which is annually delivered to'
him by a special ambassador sent by the Ottoman court, he complies
with an ancient custom of sending to the sultan every three years a
present of considerable value.
were selected from the Turks of high military rank, often counteracted.
or thwartedthe measures adopted by the bey ; but the divan is now
entirely subordinate to him, being composed of creatures of his own
appointment, who exercise but little inﬂuence in the management of‘
public affairs.
government.
The bey exercises supreme control in all matters of
criminal cases. He establishes the police regulations, appoints all the
officers and supervises their ofﬁcial acts; levies and collects taxes ;:
conducts diplomatic relations, and to him belongs the absolute come
mand of the army and the navy. In the exercise of their judicial
functions, the beys were in former times, and are perhaps still to’
some extent, engaged every day for several hours in listening to the-
pleadings of parties in civil as well as criminal suits; and although
they had no knowledge of law, their decisions, which were ﬁnal, were
generally plausible if they were not always just. They were not
sparing in imposing ﬁnes, which are a valuable source of revenue, and
served as temptation to render them over-zealous in the discharge of'
their judicial duties.
A kat‘d is appointed in every district who obtains his oﬂice by
paying a certain sum into the treasury, and in order to maintain
himself in position he must add some special presents during the-
year. His opportunity as well as temptation to practise extortion.
and have recourse to undue exaction is very great, for he is at the-

1 By the treaty of Tunis signed by the bey in May 1881, the nominal supremacy
or protectorship has been transferred to France under the protest of the Turkish.
sultan, which is about as effective as that of the Pope of Rome.
He is the absolute master of the country, over which he-
He pays no regular contribution to-
Formerly a divan, whose membersv
He is the administrator of the public revenues, the-
judge from whose decision there is no appeal in civil as well as
MOORS. ‘ 519
head of the ﬁscal administration, and exercises unlimited judicial
authority 3 and the fees and ﬁnes derived from this source are propor-
tioned according to the nature of the case and the fortune of the
parties to the contest. But the excessive abuse of power is counter-
acted by the remonstrance of the inﬂuential men of the district,
accompanied by a valuable present to the hey, which hardly ever fails
to effect the removal of the oppressive katd.
The taxes in the interior are collected by the aid of a military force
under the command of the hey of the camp, who moves from place
to place, as if engaged in an active campaign, and is provided with
an immense number of camels to transport the produce collected, since
the taxes are paid in kind. The industrious husbandman is obliged
to contribute one-tenth of the increase of his live-stock and of the
products of his ﬁelds and gardens for the support of a tyrannic
government.
Tunis,'the capital of the regency of that name, is the most populous
city in Barbary. It contains from a hundred and twenty to a hundred
and seventy thousand inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in
the world, for it existed at the time Carthage was in its highest state
of prosperity. It stands close to the western end of the lake, and is
surrounded by the most picturesque scenery. Everywhere the eye
meets extensive plains teeming with luxuriant vegetation, bordered
in different directions by mountain-ridges covered by magniﬁcent
forests, and intersected by verdant hills which invest the landscape
with an inexpressible charm by the mellow softness of their colouring
and the diversity of their perspective. Here the date-palm, the
orange, the olive, the pomegranate, the ﬁg, and the apricot ﬂourish in
tropical luxuriance. The city is surrounded by an indifferent wall,
serving neither ~as ornament nor as defence, which is pierced by
numerous outlets. It is built on the slope of a hill which is crowned
by the citadel (kasbah) and other detached forts. It is six miles
distant from the head of the gulf which bears its name, and with
which it is connected by means of a lake. The streets are narrow,
and are not only irregular but unpaved. The upper city, which is
inhabited by the Mussulmans, is wanting in life and animation, and
it has the appearance as if it were entirely deserted 3 the lower city,
on the other hand, which is occupied by native merchants and Euro~
peans, is very lively and noisy. The houses are constructed of stone
or brick, and very rarely are more than one story high. They form
a perfect square round an interior courtyard open to the sky, and
are surrounded by a porch supported by pillars which leads to the
entry of the apartments. The open central space is covered over head
by a piece of cloth during the season of great heats or on occasions of
festivities. If the house has an upper story which is reached by a
staircase, it has an upper gallery which runs all round the four sides.
A second ﬂight of steps leads to the terrace, which is protected by
a parapet. The ﬂoor is generally paved with bricks, and among the
rich it is covered with ﬁne carpets. The walls are whitewashed, or
they are covered with little bricks resembling china ware marked
with ﬁgures coarsely drawn. The apartments are badly lighted, and
520 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
they are only provided with small windows opening generally into
the yard, and but very rarely into the streets. In front of some of
the houses the ﬁgure of a hand is painted red or black, which is
intended as a charm against the malignant inﬂuence of the evil eye.
Under most of the houses cisterns are dug, where the rain-water is
collected, which is the only potable water in the city. Some of the
mosques are ornamented with marble columns, differing in dimensions,
form, and colour, which are generally cut from blocks taken from
Carthage. They are surmounted by domes of the most resplendent
whiteness, surrounded by friezes of artistic sculpture. Some of them
have the interior Walls lined with marble. The ﬂoors are carpeted
with rich tapestry and the ceiling is supported by twisted columns.
The Marine Square is spacious and regularly laid out; to the right is
the palace of the English consul, to the left are two European coffee-
houses, and here the Christians meet to transact their business. The
bazaars or sookhs are the most animated part of Tunis, each profession
or art being conﬁned to a particular locality. A bazaar is simply a
covered street opened in the morning and closed in the evening. To
the right and left the walls are symmetrically pierced by recesses that
serve as shops (foudangs). The goods offered for sale are placed upon
shelves or are kept in drawers, while the proprietor is seated cross-
legged on the ﬂoor awaiting the arrival of a customer in a calm and
reserved manner; and when he is favoured with a call he demands a
ﬁxed price which he never reduces one farthing, nor does he make
use of persuasive terms to induce the purchaser to buy the article
demanded. The silk bazaar is open to the sky, and for this reason it
is always closed in rainy weather. The silk trade, as well as that of
jewellery and precious stones, is almost exclusively in the hands of
rich Jews. In the bazaars set apart for furniture and clothing the
sales are made by the public crier, and the amine or police oﬁicer ﬁxes
the price at which the articles are to be sold. The Moorish coffee-
houses, which are generally found near the bazaars, are simply large
halls supported by columns in Mauresque style and painted in glowing
colours. Stone benches covered with matting are ranged round the
walls and are placed here and there in the middle. The coffee is
served very hot in small painted cups without handles. It is most
excellent, having all its aroma preserved, and costs about a sou the
cup. Here are also congregated the hashz'sh smokers, who pass whole
days in these establishments singing or listening to story-tellers. The
women of Tunis are entirely without education 3 they never learn to
read, and their whole occupation consists in making sherbet, syrups,
and preserves. They pass most of their idle time in smoking cigarettes,
or in adorning themselves to win the favour of their husbands, or
their highly-strung imagination is excited to the utmost by the obscene
exhibitions of the alma or dancing-girls. Their seclusion is complete ;
those only whose husbands are not afflicted with the curse of jealousy
are permitted, from time to time, to leave their domestic prison and
take a ride in a close vehicle guarded by two faithful eunuchs ; or
they may enjoy the gracious privilege of visiting the public bath, or
perform a pilgrimage to the tomb of a famous mamboo. But the
MOORS. ‘ . 5 2 I
,greatest number of them are kept in close conﬁnement; and when
they go abroad, at long intervals, it is only to pay a visit to their
parents. To vary the monotony of harem life, on festival days the
master, of the family seeks recreation and pleasure in the celebration
of a kif. His wives and concubines, dressed in their richest costume,
adorned with jewellery and sparkling with diamonds, assemble in a
vast hall gorgeously lighted and ﬁtted up with cushions and pillows,
and as a mark of aristocratic distinction the ﬂoor is strewn over with
henna powder which is supposed to possess aphroditic virtues. They
(all smoke the hashz'sh or My‘ in narghz'lés or Persian waterpipes ; they
eat cakes, sweetmeats, and fruits, and drink sherbet. Their well-
entertained conversation is intermingled with laughter, mirth, and
song, and the scene becomes quite animated and exciting. These
bacchanal rejoicings continue till late in the night, so that they all
fall helpless asleep, when they are carried off by the eunuchs and
maid-servants to their. respective apartments. The kif is, however,
mostly celebrated by rich young men in their country villas, where
.the dancing-girls are invited to exhibit their voluptuous dances, and
where they become objects of attention on the part of their passionate
admirers. They begin to rehearse some smutty stories and sing erotic
songs accompanied by the tambourine. They next advance in a slow
and graceful step; they give a slight contortion to their body, and
.assume such an attitude that the light flowing drapery in which they
are enveloped falls, as if by accident, on the floor, and then they are
moving about, living statues, in all the charming nudity of nature.
They ﬁnally work themselves up into such a state of excitement that
they fall exhausted into the arms of their lovers. The profession of
alma is considered quite respectable in Tunis, and the most charming
‘of these women, who by their meretricious trade have accumulated
a large amount of money, renounce their public life, marry into good
families, and are admitted into respectable society.
The land surrounding Tunis is exceedingly fertile, but agriculture
throughout the regency is not in a ﬂourishing condition. The peasants
who are engaged in the tillage of the soil are merely tenants at will,
for the proprietory title to the land is exclusively vested in the hey.
Every year, in the middle of October, certain .ofﬁcers- proceed to the
villages, and the adjacent lands are rented out for a year to the highest
‘bidder 3 and if no bids are offered the land remains uncultivated, or it
is farmed out to labourers, who simply perform the work of tillage,
.and receive the ﬁfth part of the crop in return for their labour. This
.short' tenure renders cultivation very precarious ; no manure is applied
to the soil, and a wooden plough is the chief agricultural instrument
used. The soil, which becomes as hard as rock during the dry season,
is ploughed after the ﬁrst rainfall in November. Eight days after-
wards the ﬁelds are sown and planted, and the harvest is gathered in
the month of June. Wheat and barley are cultivated on a large scale
in the vast plains ; oats and maize are also largely produced 3 ﬂax,
hemp, indigo, safflower, and madder thrive well. Beans and chick-
peas and other vegetables are most excellent and most abundant.
Dates flourish‘ in the southern districts, and oranges are found in all
522 THE ARAMrEAN sroox.
the gardens. Medlars, jujubes, and pomegranates are common,’ and
yield excellent fruits. Olive-trees are very numerous, and much
attention is paid to their growth. Almond and ﬁg trees are planted.
in the orchards, and henna is cultivated in several districts. The
domestic animals reared are cattle, which are large, stout, andstrong;
their sheep are of large size and belong to the fat-tailed species ; their
camels are of a robust constitution, but they are rather of savage-
disposition.
The chief articles of manufacture of Tunis are morocco slippers,
attar of roses, damask, velvet, silk and woollen stuﬂ‘s, and red fez
caps, which are most highly esteemed on account of the enduring‘
quality of their colour; and they constitute the principal article of"
export. The other surplus products exported are olive-oil, wheat,
wool, leather, wax, dates, and sponges. The imports are ﬁne wool,
cochineal, Vermilion, alum, campeache wood, madder, sugar, pepper,
spices, paper, English broadcloth, benzoin, camphor, honey, quick--
silver, arsenic, corrosive sublimate, tin, iron wire, cotton, and coral
and glass beads. Caravans from Fez and Fezzan visit the place
every year.
The highest tribunal of judicature in Tunis is that of the boy,
whose decisions are ﬁnal and conclusive, and no appeal lies from his
judgment. The next highest court is that of the katd ,' and the kadz',
who is subordinate to him, adjusts all family affairs and decides cases
of divorce. The judgment both of the kadz' and the ka'z'cl may be
carried up to the mufti, who either conﬁrms it, or annuls it if he ﬁnds
it contrary to the prescriptions of the Koran. The sheikhs are the‘
administrative officers of the villages ; they are appointed by the boy
upon the nomination of the ka'z'd, and they also act as judges in minor
affairs in the absence of the katd or kadz'. The punishments inﬂicted
for crimes and offences are death, hard labour for life, banishment,
ﬁnes, and the bastinado. The Jews are subjected to the jurisdiction.
of their rabbis in all that concerns their internal affairs; and Chris»
tians are also tried by judges of their own religious profession. Of'
the aggregate population of Tunis, which is estimated at a hundred
and seventy thousand souls, the Jews are said to number thirty—ﬁve-
thousand souls ; and here, as in all parts of the Turkish empire, they
enjoy the same rights as the rest of their countrymen.
The regency of Tripoli is subject to the supreme authority of~
Turkey; it is governed by a pasha, who receives his appointment
from the sultan. The city of Tripoli is built upon a rock on a
peninsular tract of land bordered on three sides by the sea, and it is
connected‘with the mainland by a sandy plain of sparkling whiteness,
planted with long rows of date-palms. The streets are narrow and
uneven on account of the accumulated rubbish which is hardly ever-
removed, and the threshold of the doors of some houses is frequently
on a level with the terrace of a contiguous building. The shops are
small and are of a very inferior order, but they are, nevertheless, very
often ﬁlled with merchandise of great value. Of the covered bazaars
one is constructed in the form of a cross, the wings intersecting each
other at right angles. The great mosque, where the deceased member's-
MOORS. ' ' 523
4%
of the pasha’s family are interred, is very beautiful. It is built in the
large street near the city gate, almost facing the palace, and is a lofty,
square ediﬁce. The walls and ceiling are covered with beautiful
porcelain tiles neatly painted. It is ornamented externally by sixteen
marble columns, which are connected by light gilt iron bars that form
a kind of railing round the whole ediﬁce. In the interior antique
lamps are suspended in festoons on long silver chains, and Fpainted
eggs and silver incense-burners of open work are ﬁxed to silk cords.
On the side looking towards Mecca is a pulpit of white marble,
ascended by a stairway of fourteen steps protected by a marble
balustrade. Above it is a small dome of alabaster supported by four
pillars of white'marble. The ordinary vehicle of conveyance is a kind
of palanquin, covered with cloth and borne on the back of a camel.
The palanquin of the pasha is richly ﬁtted up, and is used to carry
the women of his household to their country houses. These ladies
are never seen in the streets unless they go to the mosque to fulﬁl
some religious vow. Formerly they walked out in the evening to
take an airing, surrounded by a guard and followed by a numerous
escort, accompanied by torch-bearers and silver incense-burners. Their
coming was announced by a herald who preceded them, and if a person
vwas found in the street where they were passing, he was adjudged guilty
of a capital crime and was punished with death. The women of the
middle classes walk out on foot, but they are generally accompanied
by a slave or a female servant, and are wrapped up in a drapery called
bamccm, which conceals not only their person but their face, leaving
but a small spot uncovered hardly sufﬁcient to see their way. Travellers
and strangers are accommodated in the fcudulre or caravansary, which
has an interior square courtyard provided with a spring of running
water and a marble reservoir, where the Mussulmans perform their
ablutions before their prayers and their meals. Around this yard are
built a certain number of little rooms destined to receive the goods or
effects of the stranger. The camels, horses, and mules of the traveller
are fastened by ropes to the interior walls. The public baths of
Tripoli are very capacious and are generally built of white marble.
They are visited during the whole day by an immense number of
women, who make there their toilet accompanied by their servants
and slaves. On coming out of the bath one of their attendants washes
their hair with an infusion of orange ﬂowers, another dries it and
besprinkles it with a powder compounded of burned amber, cloves,
cinnamon, and musk. Their hair is then braided into numerous thin
tresses, and their eyelids and eyebrows are painted black. The popu-
lation of Tripoli is estimated at from ﬁfteen to twenty thousand souls.
The city can boast of one of the grandest arches of Roman antiquity,
which is preserved entire, and was built in the year 164 A.D., during
the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
Algeria is a provincial dependency of France, having been conquered
in 1830. There are numerous French colonies scattered throughout
the provinces who, with the French population in the cities, enjoy all
the rights and liberties of citizens of France, are governed bynearly
the same laws, and have the same civil and political franchises. The
524 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
mass ‘of the population, however, are Moors, sedentary Arabs, and
Bedouins. The last were formerly governed by their own chiefs,
under the direction and supervision of the “Bureau ,Arabe,” which
formed a branch of the military department of Algeria, and was under
the immediate control of the military governor, who received his
appointment from the executive authority of France. In 1880 the
military government was restricted to‘ the wandering Sahara tribes,
and all the rest of Algeria was placed under the supreme control of
a civil governor, with a corps commandant, responsible to the minister
of war, at the head of the military department.
The city of Algiers, called by the Arabs El Djezair, is built in the
form of an amphitheatre along the Mediterranean Sea. The old city,
which is the home of the Arabic population, is of triangular form
and contains the kasbah or castle which has been much enlarged and
strengthened. , The new city is formed of the suburb Bab Azoun,
which is exclusively French and altogether modern in construction.
On the western side of the roadstead is a fortiﬁed island, which forms
a safe and convenient harbour. Here are found the admiralty
buildings, the arsenal, the lighthouse, and the shipyards.
In the old city the streets are narrow and irregular; they are
winding and uneven, built upon the slope of the hill with white—
washed terraced houses. The front part of the buildings presents a
uniform appearance, having no other openings but a few grated
loopholes; while the upper stories, supported by buttresses, are
projecting into the street. But on entering through low doors and
passing through narrow passages, the visitor frequently ﬁnds himself
in the interior of a palace, where he feels delighted with the coolness
of the atmosphere, and charmed by the elegance of the arrangement
and the richness of the ornamentation. A gallery runs round the
apartments, and the terraced roof commands an enchanting view over
the vast expanse of the sea and the blue-tinted mountain-heights of
the Atlas and Jurjura. The French part of the city has broad straight
streets, lined by magniﬁcent buildings equal to those found in the
large cities of Europe. In the old city several public squares and
new streets have been built by the French government. The Govern-
ment Square is decorated by the bronze statue of the Duke of Orleans 3
the Chartre Square has an elegant fountain in the centre, and the
esplanade of Bab el Quad or Place d’Armes serves as parade-ground.
Here is the seat of the supreme court of the whole territory, and here
are established a branch council of the university, alyceum, a Catholic
seminary, a museum, a public library, an Arab college, two Catholic
churches, and a Protestant temple.
Algiers has a population of sixty thousand souls, two-thirds of
which are European. It is more a commercial than a manufacturing
city. There are, however, found here native manufacturing establish-
ments of silk goods, carpets, woollen stuffs for buq'nooses and hatcks,
saddlery, jewellery, and watchmaking. In the suburb of Bab el Quad
power machinery is at work, foundries are in operation, and various
other industrial pursuits ﬂourish here.
MOORS. ' ‘4 52 5
AUTHORITIES.
Travels in Morocco. By James Richardson. 1859.
‘Account of the Empire of Morocco. By James G. Jackson. 1809.
Tour through the Dominions of the Emperor of Morocco. By William
Lempriére.
Morocco. By Beauclerc.
An Account of Tunis. By Thomas Macgill. 181 I.
Algeria and Tunis. By I. Kennedy. 1846.
Algeria. By John Reynel Morrell. 18 52-18 5 3.
Algeria. By R. Blakesley. 1859.
Morocco Das Land und die Leute. Von Adolph v. Couring. 1880.
Through Algeria. By Crawford.
Voyage dans le Régence de Tunis. Par Peyssounel et Desfontaînes. 18 38.
Ten Years’ Residence at the Court of Tripoli. By Richard Tully. 1816.
Voyage en Tripo‘li en Relation d’un Séjour de Dix Années en Afrique.
,Par; J. MacOarthy. I 8 I 9.
Etats Tripolitain. Par Dr. Hoefer ( Univers Pittoresque, tom. vii.).
l Descri§ition- de Tunis. Par Louis Franck (Univers Pittoresque,
tom. Vii. .
La Régence de Tunis. Par A. De Flau'x. 1865.
526 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
. BARBARY BEDOUINS.
THE wandering Arabs of the Barbary States have emigrated from the
mother country centuries ago, and for this reason‘they have much
deviated from the primitive customs of the original race. The differ-
ence of climate and soil, and their political dependence on the supreme
authority of the state to which they belong, have produced important
changes both in their physical and moral constitution. Constantly
exposed to the intense glare of an African sun, their skin has been
bronzed into a much darker hue, approaching a deep-brown or olive.
Their occupation being partly pastoral and ' partly agricultural, they
lead a more active life, display more energy; their look is quick‘ and
animated, and their physiognomy is highly expressive. They are
generally of medium stature, though many of them are tall but slen-
der ; their frame is mostly robust and strong, and their features are
regular. Their step is light and elastic, their attitude is marked with _.
much dignity, and they seem to be proud in the consciousness of hav-
ing descended from a noble ancestry. The outline of their face is
gracefully oval, and with black eyes, glossy black hair, and teeth
resplendently white, they still preserve some of the marks of beauty
of their race, though they have frequently a small nose and long ears.
The Barbary Bedouins have preserved many of the noble traits of
their ancestors, though in other respects they have rather degenerated.
They are sober, affable, easy in their manners; and while they are
somewhat licentious, they are exempt from vicious and corrupt prac- .
tices. Their hospitality and ﬁdelity resist all temptation. They
receive in their tents any one, Mohamedan or Christian, take care of
travellers as well as their horses, and they provide for them the best
food at their disposal. They are distinguished for their spirit of inde-
pendence, are humble in adversity, but arrogant and proud in pros-
perity. They are rather serious, talk with much gravity, and yet they
are neither morose nor taciturn, but love to converse on subjects with
which they are familiar. On the other hand,§they are covetous, subtle
in lying, are much addicted to idleness, and consider robbery and
pillage legitimate vocations.
The Bedouins who have in part preserved their nomadic habits live
together in regular campscalled dowars. The tents are either arranged
in a circle round the central tent of the sheikh, which generally occupies
the most conspicuous place, or they are placed in parallel lines form-
ing straight streets. The number of tents in a camp varies from four
to a hundred, and all the families belonging to the same do'war are for
the most part related to each other, for they only intermarry among
‘themselves. In the centre of the encampment is a vacant tent, which
. BARBARY BEDOUINS. 527
is dedicated to religious worship, and it serves at the same time as a
place of reception, where travellers and strangers are comfortably
sheltered and hospitably entertained at the expense of the whole com-
munity. It is also used as schoolro‘om, where the children assemble
early in the morning to learn to read and commit to memory the
usual prayers, which are written on boards in Arabic characters and
are hung up in the tent. The tents are composed of a number
of poles stuck into the ground, thus forming a simple frame, which is
covered with coarse cloth woven of wool mixed with goat’s or camel’s
hair. Each tent is occupied by a family, and during the season when
the heat is excessive the young of the domestic animals are sometimes
admitted for shelter. Three upright stones form the ﬁreplace where
the cooking is done. Their furniture is very simple. A rush mat
and a sheepskin serve as couch, and the hatch worn in the daytime is-
used as covering. Their cooking-vessels are an earthenware pot to
boil the meat 3 another pot, pierced with holes, answers the purpose
of a lid, and in this the cuscoosoo is steamed. They have also a goat-
skin bag and a wooden dish, which answers the purpose of a cup and
a plate. -
The Tunis and Tripoli Bedouins simply wear a thick hatch of
woollen cloth of a white or a dark-brown colour, from three to six
yards long and about two and a half yards wide. The two upper
extremities are fastened together over the left shoulder by a wooden
or iron pin, and thevrest of the garment is wrapped round the body,
being gathered round the waist by a belt or sash. The women are
dressed in the same kind of drapery, which envelopes their body in
graceful folds. They all go barefooted and bareheaded, and the rich
only cover their head with a red fez cap, around which a cloth is wound
in turban fashion. The Algeria Bedouins are dressed in somewhat
better style. A long and coarse tunic of undyed wool, fastened round
the waist with a belt, serves as under-garment. Over this they wear
a hatch, which is carelessly thrown over the shoulders and also answers
the purpose of a head-covering. The dress of the women consists of
a white woollen gown with short sleeves, which has either a camel’s-
hair cord for a girdle, or a sash is wound round their waist disposed in
such a way as to form a convenient receptacle behind, this being the
only cradle in which the children are rocked while their mothers per-
form the menial services of the household. The rich Arab women and
the wives of the sheikhs dress in a more elegant manner, especially on
occasions of public festivals. Their shirt and drawers are of the ﬁnest
linen 3 they wear a vest of silk, which is covered by a long-sleeved,
coloured robe reaching down to the knee. Sometimes they throw
over this a red or blue hatch or mantle, hanging negligently over their
shoulders and fastened in front by a silver clasp. All the rich Arabs
wear a white or coloured ba-rnoos of broadcloth, which covers the
head and is thrown over the shoulders like a mantle, and some of the
most respectable even protect their feet with. slippers. While the
men keep their head closely shaven, the women weave their black hair
into numerous plaits which fall down the shoulders, .and short tresses
ornamented with red ribbons encircle their forehead. Sometimes the
528 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
hair is rolled up in a few coils,“ which entwines the‘ head in the form
of a turban, and is held in position by tying a thick red cord around
it. A silk or cotton handkerchief is their only head-covering.
The sarnah is their most valuable head-dress; it is composed of a
number of silver or gold plates of ﬁligree Work to which a triangular
piece of cloth is attached, that falls down in graceful negligence on
the back of the head. They are passionately fond of pearls and
corals. They encircle their arms and legs with bracelets and anklets
of shells and ﬁsh teeth, and they adorn themselves with necklaces
and earrings. These ornaments are never laid aside even when
travelling. They tattoo their hands, and dye their eyelids and eye-
brows black with kohl or antimony.
The food of the Bedouins differs according to the prosperity of the
tribe. The poor generally content themselves with unleavened barley
cakes, or porridge made of barley ﬂour, and sour milk. Their cakes
are either eaten dry or they are dipped in honey or oil. But the
richer classes bake wheat ﬂour into cakes, and cuscoosoo constitutes
their principal dish. Besides sheep and goat’s meat the ﬂesh of'
camels is highly esteemed, and when hard pressed by hunger they
have no repugnance to devouring the ﬂesh of foxes and even that of
cats. In the southern districts they subsist almost exclusively on
dates and locusts ; the last are boiled in salt water. They only take
two meals a day, one in the morning and another in the evening; and
when sitting down to their simple repast they never forget the usual
bism-z'ZZah, “in the name of God,” before they partake of the food
spread before them.
The principal occupations of the Barbary Bedouins are agriculture
and the rearing of domestic animals. Those who have become
accustomed to sedentary habits and are exclusively engaged in the
tillage of the soil, live together in regular built villages surrounded
by euphorbia hedges composed of from ten to forty huts constructed
of interwoven tree branches plastered with loam. The land cultivated
lies in the vicinity of the village or the dowar. The soil being
generally fertile, their agricultural operations are very simple. In
autumn they burn the stubble and slightly turn up the ground with
a wooden ploughshare. The cereals cultivated are wheat, barley,
maize, and sorghum; and beans and chickpeas are also produced by
them. They harvest not only a sufﬁcient quantity of grain for home
consumption, but they have a considerable surplus which they dispose
of in the neighbouring markets. Whenever the natural fertility of
the spot they occupy is in a measure exhausted, or ceases to afford
sufﬁcient pasturage for their ﬂocks or herds, they strike their tents
and select a new unoccupied locality as their camping-ground. To
make this change without hindrance or interference from others, they
have to obtain a license to that effect from the provincial authority,
and they pay a certain proportion of their produce in return for the
privilege thus granted. Their herds and ﬂocks constitute their chief
wealth; they rear an abundance of camels, cows, sheep, goats, some
horses and asses. The cattle and ﬂocks graze freely in the daytime,
being guarded by the boys; but during the night they are securely
BARBARY BEDOUINS. 529
housed in tents made of palm branches. They rarely kill any of their
domestic animals, but keep them for their economic use and for their
milk "and their wool. Women attend to the bee-culture and to the
rearing of silkworms. They also spin camels’ and goats’ hair into
yarn, and being twisted into cords, it is woven into lza'z'cks and into
tent-coverings. Their loom is nothing more than two upright sticks
ﬁrmly driven into the ground which hold the warp; the ﬁlling is
passed with the ﬁngers without the aid of a shuttle, and the thread
is beaten down with a ﬂat piece of wood. They also dress camels’
and goats’ skins, and make good morocco leather, which is coloured in
variegated tints.
The Bedouins of a widely-extended settlement made up of numerous
dowars generally ﬁx upon some central point for the purpose of a
market, where once a week they transport all their disposable articles
such as grain, oil, fruit, henna, and vegetables, with the object of
selling them to the best possible advantage. They also drive there
the cattle, horses, and asses which they desire to sell, and the Moorish
merchants from the neighbouring towns resort to these places to obtain
supplies for city consumption.
‘ The ceremonials of etiquette observed by Bedouins are nearly the
same as those of the rest of the Arabs. On meeting they salute each
other by laying their hand upon their heart, saying, Saldm aleykoom
(“ Peace be unto thee”) 3 to which the other replies, Aleg/koom saldm
(“ Unto thee be peace”). Intimate friends kiss each other on the head
and the shoulders, and inferiors kiss the knee of their superiors.
When they meet a friend of the desert they grasp each other’s hand
six or seven times, and each one kissing his own hand feigns as if he
wished to kiss that of the other, who draws it back, indicating that
he refuses this homage. Distinguished persons, however, sometimes
permit an inferior to kiss their ﬁngers.
TheBedouin women are treated with much consideration, though
_ they contribute their share of labour in the management of the do-
mestic affairs. They gather the ﬁrewood, fetch the water for house—
hold use as well as for the animals, milk the cows, and grind the
wheat. They rarely conceal their faces in the presence of strangers ;
they make use of the ordinary face veil only when on a long journey.
They are quite modest, but exhibit no shyness when a visitor enters
the tent.
Parents take care and maintain their children until they are of mar-
riageable age. According to their custom, male cousins have a right
to claim in marriage their female cousins, and they are entitled to a
preference over all other suitors, so that if the demand is made in due
form compliance cannot be refused. ‘Vhenever a young man has cast
his eye upon a maiden he fancies, he makes a proposal of marriage to
the father of the girl, who, if he is inclined to favour the match,
expatiates upon the merits of his daughter, her industrious habits, the
fecundity of her mother, which promises in the girl the same excel-
lent quality, and in return for yielding up this precious jewel he
demands a number of cows and oxen as a dowry to be bestowed upon
such a splendid wife. The young man conducts in person the number
Wear _
WWW» ~.-w.\.m_,.,“‘ "a
' 5n‘
2 L
530 THE ARAlVL/EAN STOCK.
of cattle demanded to the tent of his father-in-law, who gives a portion .
of it to his daughter, and she dresses herself in her best style for the
graceful reception of her future husband. The father of the bride
invites all his relations and friends to the wedding, and all those who
favour the occasion with their presence offer a marriage gift to the
father of the girl, and every article presented is duly registered, for an
equivalent must be returned whenever a son or a daughter of the donor
is married. The young wife is escorted to the dowar of her husband
by all the women of the neighbourhood, who perform the zyghareet in
her honour.1 At their arrival the parents of the young man present
to the young wife a beverage made of milk mixed with honey as a
symbol of the pleasantness of the union, and while she is drinking her
companions sing a marriage hymn. The bride then dismounts and
plants in the ground a pole, which she ﬁxes as ﬁrmly as possible, say-
ing, “Like this pole, which shall not be taken from this spot by
simply making slight eﬂ'orts, it shall not be my lot to abandon my
husband unless he drives me from his tent.” The cattle are then
pointed out to her, over which she has the temporary guardianship,
and which she watches in the neighbouring pasture, while grazing, for
the space of two hours. At the expiration of that time she returns
to the tent of her husband, where, on entering, she is again regaled
with milk mixed with honey, and a piece of cake is also presented to
her. While partaking of this delicious draught her female friends are
singing and invoking the blessings of heaven upon the married pair,
that they may be favoured with a numerous offspring and extensive
herds and ﬂocks. The rest of the day is passed in feasting, horse-
racing, music, and burlesque representations.
WVhen parents refuse to give up their daughter to _a suitor, it some-
times happens that the maiden is secured by having recourse to abduc-
tion, either forcible or voluntary. She is then placed under the
guardianship of a friend belonging to another tribe, in whose tent she
remains until her parents consent to the marriage.
The young married couple are provided by their parents with all
that is necessary for independent housekeeping. They are furnished
with a tent and household utensils, and they receive in addition a
number of camels, horses, cows, sheep, and goats, with a proportionate
quantity of wheat and barley sufﬁcient to set them up in life.
‘When a Barbary Bedouin dies, word is sent to the relations and
friends of the unhappy occurrence, and they all pay a visit to the sur-
viving relatives to present their compliment of condolence. The men
scarify their forehead and the women their cheeks, and they utter in
a suppressed tone of voice expressions of grief and desolation. They
are in a constant state of agitation, for hours and even for days lament-
ing the death of the deceased, pronouncing his praises, and praying for
the repose of his soul. After the corpse has been carefully washed
and perfumed it is wrapped in a shroud, and is thus buried without a
coffin in an isolated ﬁeld. The grave having been ﬁlled up with earth, is

1 The zyghcm'eet is a peculiar noise produced by striking the open mouth with
the palm of the hand, and making an audible expiration accompanied by a cer-
tain sound. It is called z‘ahleel among the Bedouin Arabs.
BARBARY nnnoums. 531
marked by a heap of stones, which is henceforth considered a sacred spot
‘that is never profaned. Among some tribes the wives of the deceased
are bound to cut off their hair, which they deposit upon the tomb.
The government of the Barbary Bedouins still partakes of the patri-
archal character. Each tribe recognises the supreme authority of a
sheikh, who commands them in their warlike expeditions. Some of
the tribes in Tunis and Morocco are altogether independent 3 but most
of them are subjected to the control of- the government of the country
in which they live, and they are required to pay an annual tribute.
The dowar is under the absolute control of a sheikh who is appointed
by the central government, and he is generally selected for his wealth
and inﬂuence in the community. He is appealed to for the redress of
injuries, he adjusts quarrels, determines all contested cases, and he has
the power of giving effect to his decision and compelling acquiescence
to his judgment by the inﬂiction of punishments such as he may deem
necessary, the death penalty only being excepted.
In former times each tribe of the Algerian Bedouins could be
considered as a small nation or a kind of principality presided over
by a sheikh. He was generally the oldest man of the tribe and was
most distinguished for his ripe experience and for his honourable
‘conduct and valour, which enabled him to take the chief command
in time of war. His tent was ﬁtted up with carpets, and he admin-
istered justice under the shade of a tree. This kind of government
was neither elective nor hereditary, though certain families exercised
the governing power for centuries 3 but the tacid concession was only
vdue to the paternal administration. If a son succeeded his father it
was not by hereditary right but by the approval of the people; and
sometimes the best qualiﬁed member of the family was preferred to
the. oldest son. Frequently a tribe had several sub-chiefs who were
.all dependent for protection on a more powerful sheikh, called sheikh
almcz'schach; or several tribes recognised a single chief as their
common head, called sheikh cl hccbcr or emir. If a sheikh made ill
use of his power, the interior tribes abandoned him and joined other
tribes who willingly received them to strengthen theirﬁghting power.-1

1 There are more Arabs in Algeria than in any other part of Barbary. The
number of Arab tribes is estimated at one thousand one hundred and forty-ﬁve,
with a population of three millions, [occupying an area of a hundred and ﬁfty
thousand square miles. The doom‘ is the basis of the Arabs’ social organisation.
A certain number of dooars, forming a ferha, obey asheikh who settles disputes,
sees the taxes levied, and exercises police functions. The assemblage of a number
of fcrha, sometimes composed only of one tribe, is commanded by a laid whose
office is annual, and on his investiture he has to provide a horse ﬁt for military
service as an acknowledgment of vassalage, and he then receives the bm'noos and
.seal of office from the government. He has to see that the warriors of his tribe
are ready for service, and he commands them during the war 3 he is responsible
for all orders issued by his superiors, is charged with the interior police of the
tribe, particularly the markets, where he is obliged to be present either in person
or by his lieutenant. He has to decide controversies between the dooars of the
tribes of small importance, and refer to the agha those of greater weight 3 he has
also to arrest the criminals, of which he must give an account to the agha and
to the French authorities. He has a right to inﬂict corporeal? punishment and
exact ﬁnes to a certain amount. A group of several tribes forms either a grand
ha’o'dad or aghal'ih under the order of a ha'z‘d cl ha'id, an agha whose duty it is to
5 32 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
When a warlike enterprise was to be undertaken, the chief of the-
tribe convened all the ﬁghting men, and all of them rose and offered
their right hand to the country while they were singing the war-song.
Each warrior furnished his own horse and equipments. The soldiers
received no pay, and they were satisﬁed with any reward that was
distributed to them for their services.
In all important affairs the sheikh called together the heads of
families, and when the interestof several tribes was at stake a great
assembly was convened where each sheikh defended the rights of his
own tribe. The Algerian Bedouins were always allowed to change
the site of their dowars at pleasure ; but they were required to pay a
tribute to the dey, which amounted to a tenth part of their posses—-
sions, known as the 960mm. They were responsible for theft that was
committed within the immediate vicinity of their camp, provided it
was committed during the day ; for if it happened at night they were‘
unable to see it, and consequently could not prevent it, and they were
not liable to pay damages.
The Tunis and Morocco tribes are sometimes engaged in marauding.
expeditions with the object of stealing cattle from neighbouring tribes.
A lance and a curved sword (yagathcm) are their ordinary weapons of
attack and defence ; but when they make an excursionin the distance
they carry a musket in a sling and pistols in their belt.
The Barbary Bedouins profess Mohamedanism, but they are
ignorant of the doctrines and moral principles of their religion; they
have no religious teachers, and hardly any of them can either read or
write. They have numerous superstitions ; they give credit to charms
and amulets as affording efficient protection against incantation and
sorcery. Five, being of evil portent, is considered a critical number.
“Five (ﬁngers) in thy eyes” is an imprecation most malignant in its
fatal results.
AUTHORITIES.
Voyages dans le Régence de Tunis et d’Alger. Par Peyssonnell et Des~
fontaines. 18 38.
Avventure e Osservazioni di Filippo Pananti sopre 1e Coste di Barberia.
1817.
Algeria. By John Reynel Morrell. I8 52- 53.
Description de Tunis. Par Louis Franck (Univers Pittoresque, tom.-vii.).
Voyage a Tripoli au Relation d’un Séjour de Dix Anne'es en Afrique.
Par J. MacCarthy. 1819.

act under the order of the kalifat or the direct orders of the French authorities,
sees that the punishments ordered by the kalifa are duly executed, has power to
inﬂict ﬁnes to a certain amount, renders an account to the kalifa of complaints
made against the ka'z'd beneath him, arranges the military affairs of the kalifat,
and attends to the collection of imposts. Several aghalz'lcs may form a circum-
scription dependent on a bash-agha or kalifa. They join with their horsemen
the French forces in war when called upon. They are dependent on the order of
the French commandant. In their official capacity they can inﬂict ﬁnes, revise
the judgment of the aglzas and lea/ids of the territory they govern, and are respon-
sible for the regular payment of dues. Morrells’ Algeria, pp. 320, 321. '
Since the above was written this organisation has been superseded by a civil
government, as a part of French territory all over the part of Algeria called the
Tell. It exists only in a modiﬁed form among the Sahara Arabs. ' ‘
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 533
EGYPTIAN ARABS.
ALTHOUGH Egypt has been originally colonised by the Libyan branch
‘of the Aramaean stock, who had attained a high degree of civilisation
and power as an independent nation, yet after thousands of years had
elapsed, when she had become decrepit and inﬁrm from old age, her
rich and fertile domain was coveted as an invaluable prize by ambitious
rulers and mighty conquerors, and she fell a prey to the lust of power,
and was either governed by monarchs of a foreign race or became a
tributary province of great and world-subduing empires. She was
thus subjected to the Persian domination under Oambyses. She
yielded submissively to the prowess and military genius of Alexander,
who introduced Grecian learning and Grecian philosophy into the new
city which he had founded, and bequeathed to her a new dynasty of
muniﬁcent princes, who became the patrons of science and literature
in their adopted country, which they successfully ruled for nearly three
centuries. With the death of Cleopatra, after Octavius had defeated
all his rivals, the reign of the Ptolemies was closed, and Egypt was made
a Roman province and was governed by a preetor appointed by the Roman
emperor. After six hundred years of Greek and Roman supremacy,
which left no other vestige behind but a superstitious and schismatic
Christianity, Egypt was transformed into a Mohamedan state under
Amrou, one of the generals of Omar, the second Saracen kaliph; and
the native population was partly exterminated, partly converted, and
'partl y driven into the interior, while their places were ﬁlled by the trium-
phant army of Moslem warriors and numerous wandering tribes of
Arabia, who exchanged their wild nomadic habits and the arid sands
of the desert for an ordinary sedentary life and the fertile soil of the
valley of the Nile. In the year 969, when the power of the kaliph of
Bagdad was rapidly declining, an independent sovereignty was estab-
lished in Egypt in the person of princes who assumed the title of Fatimite
kaliphs. Their government was arbitrary and oppressive; they were
held in abhorrence by their own people 3 and having been invaded and
held tributary by the Crusaders, they invoked the aid of the chief of
the Turkomans, who was the sovereign of Aleppo. Although Egypt
was relieved from the tribute paid to the Christian conquerors, yet the
commanding general of the foreign troops seized upon the sovereign
power and made himself master of the resources of the country by
strangling the last of the Egyptian kaliphs. To strengthen his
usurped authority he organised a praetorian guard by the purchase of
twelve thousand Oircassian slaves, with which the conquest of Genghis
'Khan had stocked the markets of Europe and Asia, had them trained
in military exercises, and formed them into the most splendid body of
soldiers, distinguished as much by their mutinous disposition as by
534 THE ARAMfEAN sToox.
their bravery and their remarkably handsome appearance. These
‘Mamelooks, as they were called, soon became convinced that the-
destiny of Egypt was in their own hands ; that all authority, without
their support, was frail and untenable, and while they dictated the-
law to their own master, their insolence grew, by degrees, to such a
height that they slew his successor, the last Turkoman prince, and
proclaimed one of their own chiefs sultan of Egypt. But the same
disorderly spirit, the same licentious turbulence, which raised into-
power the Mamelook sovereigns, gave direction and control to the-
government, which was lawless and tyrannical in the extreme, and
even the leaders themselves were despatched in quick succession by
means of the sword, the bowstring, poison, public murder, and private-
assassination, to give room to others no less cruel, arbitrary, and
despotic than those that preceded them. Selim, the sultan of the
Ottoman empire, invaded Egypt in 1517 and put an end to the
Mamelook dynasty by the ignominious execution of Touman Bey, the
last of the Egyptian sultans. Egypt was made a dependent province
subject to the supreme control of Turkey; but the Mamelooks con—
tinued a distinct aristocratic class, they only married'among themselves,
and continually recruited their stock by new accessions from Circassia.
They held all the administrative oﬂices, they increased their inﬂuence
and power by enriching themselves, and they thus gradually gained
the ascendancy over their Ottoman masters, whose authority was
reduced to a mere shadow. Mehemed Ali, the founder of the present
hereditary vice-royalty of Egypt, exterminated, by an act of treachery,
the chief leaders of the Mamelooks, and thus annihilated for ever the
usurped power of the Egyptian preetorians.
Egypt, with an area of 216,23 5 square miles, and a population
estimated at from 2,500,000 to 5,111,367 souls,1 extends from the
Mediterranean, which is its northern boundary, to a chain of moun—
tains on the south which separates it from Nubia. The Red Sea and
the Isthmus of Suez mark its eastern limits, and the narrow strip of
its territorial outline is conﬁned on the west by the Libyan Desert.
Upper Egypt is traversed by two mountain-ridges composed of naked
rocks and rugged cliffs, which take their beginning at the last cataract
and enclose a long contracted plain whose greatest width nowhere
exceeds nine miles, through which the Nile traces its course, marked
out by nature and improved by art; now ﬂowing along in calm and

1 lVI. Raoul Lacour gives Egypt the minimum population of .2, 500,000, divided
out in the following manner z—Fellahs and city Arabs, 2, 300,000 ; Turks, 10,000 ;
Slaves, 40,000 ; Jews, 6000 ; Copts, 150,000 ; Levantines, 12,000 ; Greeks, 10,000 ;
Italians, 10,000; Frenchmen, 10,000 ; Englishmen, 5000; and other Europeans,
2000. The maximum estimate must necessarily include the wandering Arabs
subject to Egypt, and some provincial dependencies which make no part of Egypt
proper. The vast territorial extent subject to Egyptian supremacy comprises
Nubia, Senaar, including the provinces of the \Vhite Nile and Kartoom, Dongola,
Taka, Fazogl, and Kordofan. The superﬁcial area of this vast empire has been
estimated at 1,890,000 kilometres. According to the ofﬁcial returns of I87 3 Egypt"
has a population of 5,250,000 souls, of which the Fellahs are estimated at
4,500,000, the Copts at 500,000, and the Bedouins at 300,000. It is hardly pos-
sible that these numbers are correct.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 535
tranquil eddies, then rushing down, with impetuous force, between
two insurmountable barriers, overﬂowing its banks and spreading its
fertilising waters over an area of six hundred miles in length. Lower
Egypt includes the fertile region of country which extends from Cairo
to the Mediterranean. Having the Isthmus of Suez on the one side
and the Libyan Desert on the other, it forms an extensive plain which
presents many well-cultivated slips of land on the borders of canals,
and contains in the centre the triangular island which is formed by
two branches of the Nile that diverge in their course and empty into
the sea between Damietta and Rosetta. This fertile spot is the
treasure land of Egypt, to which the Greeks have given the name of
Delta.
Egypt takes its rise at the Tropic of Cancer, and extends nine degrees
into the temperate zone. The climate, during the greater part of the
year, is pleasant and salubrious, and the thermometer ranges between
50° and 60° F. during winter, and from 90° to 100° F. during the
hottest summer months. In the Theba‘id, in Upper Egypt, the heat
is frequently excessive, which is due to the arid plains by which it is
surrounded. From April to the end of May hot khamsin winds blow
from the south, at intervals, which are loaded with ﬁne dust and
mephitic exhalations. During the summer south-east winds, called
the simoom, prevail for a short time and drive before them clouds of
dust and sand which render the atmosphere oppressive, so that the
heat becomes almost insupportable. But generally the summer heats
are moderated by northerly breezes, which sweep along unobstructed
by any obstacle, and carry on their airy wings the noxious vapours of
the marshes and lakes, in the direction of Abyssinia. In Lower
Egypt the temperature is rendered delightful by the contiguity of the
Mediterranean and the extensive sheets of water of large lakes which
abound in that region of the country.
The coast of Lower Egypt extends in length thirty-six geographical
miles from the Canopic to the Pelusian mouth. The surface soil is
but little elevated above the level of the sea, and is exclusively formed
by the slimy deposits of the Nile, which are constantly renewed by
the annual inundation. The lands susceptible of cultivation are
much diminished in extent by large coast lakes, of which that of
Menzaleh is by far the largest, being, from the Dibeh to the Pelusian
mouth, thirty-six miles wide. The next largest lake is that of Mareotis,
which comprises a space of a hundred and ninety thousand acres.
There are, in addition, numerous small water-basins, which dry up
during summer, and serve as reservoirs when the river overﬂows its
banks. The strip of land bordering on the Libyan Desert is much‘
exposed to be immersed beneath a stream of moving sands which are
constantly encroaching upon the plain. Of the wadys or valleys which
stretch into the Arabian and Libyan Deserts, that of N atron lake is
separated by a low mountain-chain from the Bahr-bela-Ma valley, and
the wady1 Tumeilet extends in an eastern direction to Crocodile lake.

1 The wadys are generally streams which dry up during summer, and their
dry beds and the surrounding lowlands are also called wadys.
536 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
Upper Egypt has the Red Sea to the east and the Libyan Desert
to the west, including the oases of cl Kargeh, cl Dakhel, Farafrah,
Bahariyeh, and Siwah. The Libyan mountains form a long uniform
ridge, presenting few pointed or dome-like elevations. Like the
Arabian mountains, they are bare, and entirely destitute of vegetation,
and they form a barrier to the desert, sloping down east towards the
Nile and west towards the oases. The Arabian mountains present
many sharp pointed cliffs, high steep rocky walls, deep precipices,
and phantastically curved strata. Their geological formation belongs
partly to the cretaceous period, and is partly made up of primitive
rocks. Here is found the beautiful Oriental alabaster, but numulitic
limestone, which forms the constituent element of the Mokattam near
Cairo, is most predominant everywhere, unless interrupted by concre-
tionary calcareous rocks containing lime nodules intermixed with
pebbles. Between the Nile valley and the Red Sea extends a lofty
mountain-ridge composed of granite, gneis, mica slate, porphyry, and
diorite. The Cataract mountain, which is, so to say, an outrunner of
the Red Sea mountain system, is formed of masses of granite and
syenite. .
The whole of Egypt is traversed in every direction by an immense
number of canals, which principally serve the purpose of regulating
the distribution of the Nile waters during the annual overﬂow. But
navigable canals, which also serve the purpose of facilitating internal
communication, and bringing two distant points into commercial
connection, are by no means wanting. Of these the Mamudyeh canal,
which connects Alexandria with the western arm of the Nile, is the
most important. The Suez canal, which crosses the isthmus and
passes through Menzaleh lake, is the most gigantic work of modern
times, and does great honour to the genius and persevering energy of
M. Lesseps, the eminent French engineer, under whose direction it was
commenced in 1849 and was completed in 1869. This canal connects
the waters of the Mediterranean with those of the Red Sea, and
shortens the route to India by ' one-half and to China by one-third,
for it is now no longer necessary to circumnavigate the Cape of Good
Hope in order to reach the Indian Ocean. This canal passes altogether
through Egyptian territory, but as a channel of navigation it is placed
under the protection of the European powers, and constitutes a
universal highway, over which Egypt has no more control than it has
of any other ocean route.
The Nile, the most famous river of antiquity, is formed by the
junction of the White Nile or Bahr-el-Abiad, and the Blue Nile or
Bahr-el-Azrak. The ﬁrst takes its rise in a small plateau in Abyssinia
near Lake Dembea, which it traverses. The last forms the outlet of
a series of lakes which have been discovered a few years ago. The
Blue Nile forms a vast circuit and passes through the Shakeyah and
Dongola country, after having received the waters of the Atbarah.
It forces its way through several mountain barriers, and thus forms
ﬁve insigniﬁcant cataracts, of which the last near Assowan is no more
than four or ﬁve feet deep. From Syene to Cairo the river traverses
the centre of a valley, which on an average is about fourteen miles
EGYPTIAN ARABS. ‘ 537
wide. To a distance of forty-one miles, where it reaches the passage
of Gebel-Selselih, the lands on its banks possess but little fertility,
though some of the islands are quite productive. Near Beny Sueyf
the Nile valley is much enlarged towards the west, and on that‘ side
opens the fertile plain of Fayoom, which forms a kind of separate
plateau. Near Cairo the mountain chains which enclose the valley are
diverging; the G-ebel-el-Natron turns to the north-west towards the
Mediterranean; and the Gebel Attaka takes an eastern direction
towards Suez. At Batu-el-Baharah the river divides into the Pelusiac
and Canopic branches which, the one flowing towards Rosetta and the
other towards Damietta, form the actual delta.
As there are no forests in Egypt, wild animals are not numerous.
J ackals and hyenas are common, but lions are rarely seen unless,
pressed by hunger, they pursue the gazelles that wander through the
desert plains of the Theba'id. Crocodiles and hippopotami are only
met with in Upper Egypt. The ichneumon, which is a burrowing
animal, is found nowhere else, and is a real aboriginal production.
There exist several species of the serpent kind; and chameleons and
the geko are the most interesting of the reptile class. Among the
birds the ibis possesses historic renown; but eagles, falcons, wild
geese, vultures, and a number of smaller birds are no less indigenous
to the country. Of the vegetable productions of spontaneous growth,
the most common are acacias, mimosas, kalef-willows (Salim Egypzfz'aca),
the nebek (Rhammts lotus), the doom-palm (Cruczjfem fl’heba'c'ca),
cassias, the ZErua tomentosa bearing perennial flowers, the Pistia
stratiotis, and bushlike cacti.
The population of Egypt, like that of all conquered countries, is
far from being uniform. Two-thirds of the inhabitants are of Arab
origin, who have entirely changed the institutions of the country, and
have substituted in their place their own language, their religion,
‘their laws, and their manners; and have made Cairo, the capital, the
principal seat of Arabian learning, art, and reﬁnement. The Egyptian
Arabs differ from each other according to the mode of life they have
adopted. The fellahs or tillers of the soil, as well as the sedentary
Arabs of the cities, have much deviated from their ancestral type,
‘owing to the practice of frequent intermarriages with those Copts
who have adopted the religion of their masters, and the universally
prevalent custom of marrying Gallas slave concubines. Another
class of sedentary agricultural Arabs occupy the Thebaid in Upper
Egypt. They are under the intermediate control of sheikhs who act
as intermediary agents between the members of the tribe and the
government. They levy the taxes, decide the disputes, and adjust
the diﬂiculties that arise, being simply guided by reason and equity
in their judicial functions. The Bedouins, who inhabit the desert
east and west of the mountains, are of pure and unmixed Arab stock,
.and continue to be devoted to the free nomadic life, still unrestrained,
unconquered, and unsubdued. Some straggling families of this
pastoral people live in caverns and ruins and other sequestered places,
where the convenience of water affords them and their ﬂocks ready
‘means of subsistence; but the great mass of Bedouins form regular
5 38 THE ARAL'IEAN STOCK.
tribes, who encamp on the banks of the river immediately after the
inundation, when vegetation springs up in rank luxuriance, while
early in the spring they retire to the depth of the desert. The-
Mugrebbins or WVestern Arabs are quite numerous, especially in the
Said ; they either follow some trade, or are tillers of the soil, and are
remarkable for their industry and frugality. The Copts, who are the-
remnant of the ancient Egyptians, have been reduced to insigniﬁcant
numbers. In the large towns negro and Gallas slaves form a great
proportion of the population. Jews, Turks, Syrian Christians, and
free N ubians are principally found in the cities. They are generally
engaged in commerce, or exercise some mechanic art. A few of them
hold official positions in the administrative branch of the government,
while the N ubians are, for the most part, hired as domestic servants,
and are distinguished for their ﬁdelity and good conduct.
The Egyptian Arabs are above medium height, their stature varies
from ﬁve feet eight inches to ﬁve feet nine inches. Their muscular-
frame and their robust constitution have made them a race remarkably
well-formed and well-proportioned without rendering them corpulent.-
The complexion of those who have not been much exposed to the-
sun, especially in the towns and the northern provinces, are graduated
shades of a clear yellow, with the mellowing touch of a soft skin.
The labouring classes are much dark-er and of a coarser composition,
and on advancing to the southern borders the colour is continually
deepening until it assumes the tint of bronze or brown which, towards
Nubia, where the climate is hottest, approaches to a light black.
Their face is regularly oval, their mouth is large but well formed, the-
lips have a voluptuous swell; the teeth are perfect and of the most
resplendent white ; the nose is straight but rather thick ; the forehead
is but moderately developed, but is generally sufﬁciently prominent;
the eyes are deeply set, are black, and of the most brilliant lustre.
Their beard and moustache, though scanty, are worn long, and are dark
and curly. Their hair is black, straight, or somewhat curly. They
have broad shoulders, and strong and well-formed limbs.
The fcllahs are of medium stature, varying between ﬁve and six
feet; they are strong and robust, rather sinewy and muscular than
ﬂeshy or corpulent. Their complexion is of a greyish-brown tint,
frequently lighted up on the cheek with a dark-red ﬂush. Their-
features are heavy and coarse, but regular, and generally indicate a
childish simplicity varied by a gleam of clownish cunning. They have
a small, rarely high, forehead, projecting cheekbones, and mostly a
broad nose. Their mouth is large, their lips are somewhat thick,
and their teeth are broad and well developed. The bright sunshine,
and the clouds of dust which pervade the atmosphere at certain seasons
of the year, habitually cause them to lower the eyelids and half-close
their keen and piercing eyes, which gives them: a dull or rather lan-»
guid expression. Their shoulders are broad, their breast is vaulted,
their hands and feet are usually small, and their limbs are strong and
well formed.
The physical characteristics of the Egyptian women have much
similarity with those of their Arab sisters. At the age of puberty
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 539.
they are generally the very models of feminine loveliness and beauty,
both as regards their voluptuous and graceful form and their regular
and delicate features. Their carriage is erect and digniﬁed, their eyes
are glittering like stars, and their almond-shaped outline imparts to
them a searching and penetrating look. Their hands and feet are
most exquisitely beautiful. The expression of their face, which is a
perfect oval, is for the most part extremely pleasing, and many of them
are favoured with all the attractions which render the fascinating
charms of women irresistible.
Nor is the beauty of many of the fcZZah girls less conspicuous.
Although they are more muscular, and have their curve lines more-
rounded, yet their form is elegant 3 their face is a perfect Madonna
model, their feet are of exquisite proportion, and their hands are
bewitchingly delicate.
But like the fairy vision of a passing dream this brilliant and rose-
tinted bloom of early youth is destined to fade and wither from the
time of its unfolding, and as soon as it reaches its highest develop-
ment, whenever the ﬁrst fruit is gathered and the ﬁrst child is born,
the softest and most bewitching expressions, the most beautiful curve
lines of nature’s painting, are changed if they do not entirely dis-
appear. The bosom loses its symmetry, and assumes a ﬂabby, elon-
gated form, the face becomes marked with the wrinkles of care, and
at the age of forty their dark, lustrous, and ﬁery eye alone remains to
light up the dim and almost effaced outlines of their former beauty,
and bring into relief the dark shadows of ugliness by the glaring illu-
sions of contrast.
The moral character of the Egyptian Arabs has not only been
changed by the peculiarities of climate and the physical conditions of’
the country, but the numerous vicissitudes of fortune involved in the
interminable changes of the government—the most cruel, the most
rapacious, and the most tyrannical the world has ever seen—excited
new passions and developed self-preservative instincts, accompanied
by many vicious propensities from which their early ancestors were
entirely exempt when they had led a nomadic life in the wild deserts
of Arabia, where their freedom was unhampered and their indepen-
dence unrestrained. 'While in their social intercourse they are remark-
able for cheerfulness and a disposition to enjoy the pleasures of life,
they frequently indulge in frivolous amusements and ﬁnd diversion in
the shrill and inharmonious notes of musical performers or the public
exhibition of noisy parade. Their generosity is unostentatious and
free from affectation. In the ordinary affairs of life they are honest,
and are punctual in the discharge of their obligations. Their tempe-
rance and frugality are quite exemplary, and their moderation rarely
exceeds the bounds of reason. The higher classes are scrupulously
cleanly, and even among the lower orders cleanliness is a cardinal
virtue, though their humble condition, their menial occupation, and
the nature of the surrounding circumstances, frequently give them a
dirty and ﬁlthy appearance. They regularly bathe in the Nile, espe—
cially in the hot summer months, and even girls and young women
resort to' sequestered places on the river, and perform their ablutions-
540 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
in modest retirement without being surprised by impertinent curiosity.
The Arab of the meanest kind, and the most abject Egyptian beggar,
maintains his dignity, and is cleaner and less degraded than the corre-
sponding classes of the most civilised countries. Their hospitality is
an inheritance bequeathed to them by their ancestors ; their house is
always open, and their table is always free to the stranger and the
poor, and they never fail to invite those present at their meals to par-
take of their frugal fare. In the villages they frequently dine in the
open air, and solicit the favour of the passers-by that they may become
the welcome guests at their hospitable board. Considering that their
government has been exacting, oppressive, and arbitrary from time im-
memorial, it is as remarkable as it is extraordinary that the Egyptians
should have a particular fondness for their native land, which can only
be accounted for upon the principle of local attachment and intimate
associations rather than the pure sentiment of patriotism and love of
country. Their religious pride is so excessive that it would degene-
rate into fanaticism were it not for the restraining hand of the ruling
authorities ; and as it is considered respectable to lead a religious life,
their outward zeal frequently exhibits itself in formal ostentation,
which is generally one of the surest signs of hypocrisy. Policy and
dear-bought experience have, however, taught them to be tolerant, and
Christians as well as Jews have long enjoyed unmolested the privilege
of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
On account of the inexhaustible fertility of the soil and the relaxing
inﬂuence of the climate, the habits of steady labour and persevering
energy form no part of the Egyptian character; but indolence and
the love of ease, which pervade all classes of society, have blighted
the prosperity of Egypt, have retarded its material progress, and have
rendered its people the slaves of a commanding, controlling, and super—
vising power. And yet, notwithstanding that they have become
habituated to submissive obedience by the terrors of irresistible phy-
sical force, they are excellent soldiers, and exhibit much courage and
intrepidity in the presence of an enemy. The extortionate and unjust
exactions of the government officials have not only made cupidity one
of the prevailing vices, and have infested their otherwise generous
disposition with the canker of avarice and greed, but under these per-
nicious inﬂuences they have become overreaching and deceitful in all
commercial transactions having gain or proﬁt for their object. They
hardly ever scruple to utter a falsehood in order to impose upon a
credulous customer, or to advance their interest in striking an advan-
tageous bargain. Their power of endurance and their stubborn perti-
nacity in resisting unjust taxation are sufficiently evinced by their
refusal to meet the demand until forced to compliance by the taming
process of the bastinado.
The fella-ks are distinguished for their good-nature and unvarying
civility. They never fail to salute a stranger they may casually meet,
addressing to him the friendly words, “Salutation, O gentleman”
(Salamazf ya kawagah). They rarely render themselves amenable to
the charge of impertinent curiosity, but nearly always show the
greatest alacrity to impart information and render themselves useful
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 541
to the traveller who may need their services. They are very temperate
in eating, and are contented with the coarsest and simplest fare, even '
when served to them in moderate rations. They are careless and
unreﬂecting, bear the evils of life without complaint, perform their
daily labour without murmuring, and submit to every species of
hardship with commendable patience. They are, however, timid and
cowardly in their daily intercourse with their fellows: they endure
the grossest insults with philosophic composure and without exhibiting
the least spirit of resentment. They would lie and steal, if by this
means they could escape the punishment that is threatened to be
inﬂicted upon them. They are far, however, from being an idle or
thriftless race ; on the contrary, when proper inducements are offered,
by the expectation of an adequate remuneration for their labour, they
are remarkably industrious; and they are as busy as,ants to perform
their daily task to support themselves and their families, notwith-
standing that the just rewards of their exertions are frequently ﬁlched
from them by extortionate landlords and exacting tax-gatherers.
Excess of sensuality is a permanent feature in the * character of
the Egyptians. They are strangers to that delicacy of feeling and
that lofty and exalted sentiment which invest the relations between
the sexes with a halo of sanctity and modest virtue. The practice of
introducing into the harem the reﬁned and charming dancing-girl, whose
moral character is not of the highest order, for the purpose of amusing
the women and teaching them the graceful attitudes and voluptuous
motions of high life, excites in some of the female captives licen-
tious feelings, disorders their imagination, and renders them accessible
to the intrigues of depravity and crime. Among the lower orders
there exists a disposition to engage lightly in quarrels, and sometimes
even Without adequate cause. Their angry passions being once
roused, they become exceedingly abusive, they curse the father or
mother, or beard of their adversary, and apply to each other the most
opprobrious epithets ; but their animosities are easily appeased, they
are readily reconciled upon the slightest advances; they never hear
malice in their heart, and even the most ignominious punishment
inﬂicted by the hand of power leaves no deadly hatred behind, but,
being borne with resignation, it is forgotten as soon as its effects
have subsided. _
' The mental qualities of the Egyptian Arabs, if properly directed
and disciplined, would be of the highest order. Their quickness of
apprehension, their ready wit, and their retentive memory are
intellectual qualities which, if duly developed by a judicious education,
, would render them equal to any civilised nation in the'world. Their
language being full of ambiguous expressions, they excel in the art
of punning, which is rather a frivolous accomplishment; but their
satire is more weighty and profound, and while their jests have always
a sharp point or aim at a deﬁnite object, their jeers are galling and
withering. Even the lower classes exhibit their spite against the
government when oppressed by unjust taxation, which they cannot
otherwise resist, by composing songs in the form of lampoons, in
which they ridicule the law under which they suffer.
_ 5 42 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
The houses in the cities of Egypt are constructed upon the same
plan as those of other Mohamedan cities of the East. They are
generally of stone and brick ; their external appearance is plain and
unattractive, and the internal arrangement presents that uniformity
which is so well adapted to the domestic life characterised by Oriental
seclusion.
The villages inhabited by the peasants (fellahs) are situated on
elevated ground formed by the accumulation of rubbish, so as to place
them above the reach of the inundation, and are an irregular aggre-
gation of mean, insigniﬁcant mud hovels, of which the low walls,
being not more than from six to eight feet high, are composed of sun-
dried bricks. The roof is supported by rafters of palmltrunks, which
are covered with palm branches or millet stalks, and are rendered
watertight with plaster of mud mixed with chopped straw. These
huts are divided into two or more rooms to which light and air are
admitted through a low door or small apertures high up in the wall,
which are sometimes provided with a wooden grating. The top of
the terraced roof of these lowly huts is often surmounted by pigeon-
houses of a square or pyramidal form, consisting of a number of
earthen jars, arranged in regular piles, and cemented with plaster of
mud, thus forming honeycombed nests for an innumerable quantity
of these birds.
In villages of greater pretensions many of the houses have an upper
story which serves as the family dwelling, while on the ﬁrst ﬂoor are
the storerooms and the stables for donkeys, buffaloes, sheep, and goats.
These places are sometimes the residence of the nazz'r, or deputy-
governor of the district, who generally occupies a neatly-constructed
dwelling surrounded by gardens. The uniform, unprepossessing.
appearance of some of the villages on the river banks and of the
interior, is somewhat relieved by the palm-groves by which they are
surrounded ; and scattered palm-trees here and there shade with their
spreading branches the lowly and humble huts of the peasant proprie-
tors. The only buildings of prominence distinguished from the rest
are the whitewashed dwellings of the sheikhs and the mosque with its
small minaret, which occupy a central position, closed in by narrow
alleys running in meandering lines. A ~
The furniture corresponds precisely with the humble pretensions of
these dwellings. It is conﬁned to a few mats spread on mud divans
which serve as beds; some earthen vessels of various sizes used in
cooking, one or two amphoras without handle for holding water, a
wooden bowl for preparing the bread, and a handmill to grind the
corn. Among the better classes the bedstead in most common use is
made of palmsticks, and on this rude frame is laid a mattress stuffed
with cotton, with a light blanket in summer and a stuffed quilt in
winter for a covering. In Lower Egypt an arched oven (fm‘n) occupies
the whole width of one of the chambers, which is constructed of
brick in the form of a narrow platform, and is used for purposes of
cooking as well as a place of repose to which the husband and wife
retire at night, a cowdung ﬁre being kindled within during winter.
The children are less comfortably situated than the master and
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 543
mistress of the house, for they are promiscuously huddled round on
the ﬂoor unregarded and uncared for.
The dress of the men of the middle and higher classes is handsome
and tasteful. The under-garments are composed of a pair of drawers
(Zz'bas) of linen or cotton reaching to the ankle. The shirt (hamccs),
which is worn over these, is of linen or cotton or of white silk stuff,
and is provided with very full sleeves which extend to the wrist. To
these is sometimes-added, in cool weather, a sleeveless short vest
(soodcyrcc) of striped coloured silk. As outer-garments they wear a
long robe (caﬂan) of silk, often mixed with cotton, striped or ﬁgured
with ﬂowers, which descends’ to the ankle, and its long and partially
open sleeves extend 'to the ﬁnger-ends, so that the hand may either be
exposed or concealed at pleasure. It is fastened round the waist by a
girdle (hczam), which is either a coloured shawl or a scarf of ﬁgured
muslin. Over this is thrown a long cloth coat (gibbch), which may
be of any colour, and constitutes the principal out~door dress. On
occasions of ceremony a long and ample cloak of cloth (banish) with
wide open sleeves is worn by men of consideration and importance.
A closely-ﬁtting white cotton cap covered by a red fez (tarboosh)
‘ornamented with a blue silk tassel, serves as head-dress, which, with
-a long piece of ﬁgured muslin, or more rarely of a cashmere shawl
that is gracefully wound round it, forms the turban. The feet are
protected by shoes (marhoob) of red morocco with pointed and upturned
toes. As these are taken off on entering a house or a mosque, it is
more genteel to wear inner shoes (mead) of soft yellow morocco. Thus
accoutred the Egyptian gentleman walks abroad with a silver seal
ring encircling the little ﬁnger of his right hand, being set with a
--cornelian on which his name and some pious motto are engraved.
He deposits his tobacco-pouch and his silk and gold embroidered hand-
kerchief in his bosom, while a servant follows him carrying his pipe.
The costume of the more respectable of the lower orders is far more
simple. A pair of short drawers, a wide-sleeved tunic or shirt of blue
‘cotton or of brown woollen stuff which is open from the neck nearly
to the waist, and sometimes a white or red woollen girdle, with a
turban composed of a white, red, or yellow woollen shawl or muslin
wound round a white or brown tarboosh constitute the principal
articles of dress of those who rank above the poorest. The latter,
especially among the fcllahs, are frequently clothed in tattered rags,
or under the most favourable circumstances they may have managed
to preserve in good condition a brown felt cap and a loose-sleeved blue
cotton or brown woollen shirt, descending to the middle of the leg,
and girded at the loins by a rope or sash, to which, in winter, a coarse
kind of woollen pelisse, with alternate stripes of white and brown, or
a hooded cloak, is added by the most thrifty.
The turban is held in greater esteem in Egypt than in any other
Mohamedan country. Amongst the more wealthy families a place of
honour is assigned to it, being deposited at night on a chair which is
used only for this purpose, and forms a part of the bride’s furniture :
for it is considered by the wife a privileged spot upon which she
places her head-dress.
544 THE ARAMLEAN sroox.
The costume of the ladies of the wealthier classes is at once
appropriate, rich, elegant, and sometimes even magniﬁcent. The
chemisette, which reaches not quite to the knee, is very full, and is
made of linen, cotton, or silk stuff, and sometimes of coloured. or
black crape. Under this is worn a pair of trousers (sunt'iyan) of
striped silk, or white or ﬁgured muslin, which are tied with running
strings below the knee, with the ample folds reaching down and partly
covering the feet. - A long-sleeved vest (yelelr) of silk or muslin ﬁts
rather closely around the body, leaving half the bosom coquettishly
uncovered, which is concealed only by the transparent chemisette. It is
fastened in front by a row of buttons which extend a little below the
girdle, while it is open on each side from the hip downward. A
diagonally folded shawl or embroidered kerchief encircles the waist,
with its loose folds hanging down behind. A gold or silk embroidered
robe of cloth or velvet or silk stuff is thrown over the g/elelc. The
ordinary riding or walking attire (tezyeereh) is a large loose gown of'
pink, rose, or violet silk, provided with sleeves equal in length to-
that of the whole dress. The face veil (borchoo), which is indispen-
sable as a part of the out-door dress, is a narrow strip of white muslin
which conceals the face, but leaves the eyes exposed, and reaches-
down nearly to the feet. To make the disguise more complete, a long
piece of black silk, called the habamh, covers the head down to the
eyebrows, and wraps its ample folds round the shoulders. Unmarried
ladies wear an habarah of white silk, or a shawl is substituted in its
place. The fashionable head-dress is a white cap (takeeyah), concealed
by a red fez, with its blue tassel hanging down behind, closely
enwreathed with a printed or painted muslin or crape kerchief, to-
which a crown-like tiara (ﬂoors) and other ornaments are attached.
The head-veil (tarhah), which hangs down behind, nearly reaching to
the ground, is composed of a white piece of muslin embroidered at.
each end with coloured silk and gold, or of coloured crape ornamented
with gold thread and spangles. The feet, mostly stockingless, are
encased in shoes of red or yellow morocco sometimes embroidered
with. gold. Over these, yellow morocco slippers (baboosh) are worn
with high pointed toes, which are frequently replaced, especially in
the bath, by wooden clogs or pattens from four to nine inches high,
artistically carved, and ornamented with mother-of-pearl or silver.
The hair is fancifully arranged; it is divided into an uneven number
of braids ranging from eleven to twenty-ﬁve, intertwined at the ends
with three black silk cords, to which gold ornaments are attached.
It is cut short immediately over the forehead, but two full locks hang
down over both temples, which are often curled into ringlets, and are
sometimes plaited.
The women of the lower orders wear a pair of trousers or drawers,
a blue linen or cotton gown, a borchoo of a kind of coarse black crape,
the upper part of which is often ornamented with false pearls, small
gold coins or other trinkets, with a dark-blue head-veil of muslin or
linen. Many women throw over their head a mantle (mcZag/eh),
composed of two widths of cotton or linen, either dyed blue or of a
checked pattern, of which one corner being kept in position by the
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 54S
hands or teeth serves to veil two-thirds of the face, leaving one eye
uncovered. In the southern part of Upper Egypt the principal article
of clothing of the women is a large piece of drapery of dark-brown
woollen stuff, in which they wrap their whole body, the upper ends,
being drawn over their shoulders, are connected together by the
corners and fastened over the breast. A long strip of the same
material falls down behind and serves as head-veil. The greatest
number of women of the poorer classes wear earrings, wire necklaces,
bracelets, and anklets, and sometimes even nose-rings.
It is from Egypt, the native country of the henna shrub,l that the
custom has spread all over the East to use the paste prepared from
the powdered leaves and ﬂowers of this plant as a cosmetic, imparting
an orange stain to the nails and the skin wherever it is applied.2
I The ladies of modern Egypt are all zealously devoted to this ancient
practice, and they consider it an important beautifying process to
stain their nails and their ﬁngers and toes by this kind of tanning
operation.
Among the feZZahs as well as the labouring people of the cities the
women tattoo3 their chin, their forehead, the middle of their breast,
a portion of their hands and arms, as well as feet, with indelible
marks of blue and green. In Upper Egypt most females puncture
their lips to give them a dark bluish hue. '
The Egyptian at the very earliest dawn of the morning, after
having performed the usual religious devotions, indulges in the luxury
of smoking a pipe and sipping a cup of coffee prepared by his wife or
his servants. This is generally, but not always, followed by a light
breakfast, which consists of eggs, bread, butter, cheese, clouted cream,
or curdled milk. Sometimes it is simply composed of a kind of thin
pastry (futecreh) saturated with butter dipped in honey, or spread
over with sugar. But the most common breakfast dish is a mess of
beans boiled during the whole night in a closely-stopped earthen
vessel by covering it with hot ashes, or keeping it immersed in a hot
bath. The beans are seasoned with linseed oil or butter, to which a
little lime-juice is added. Many even make a frugal meal of bread
dipped in a mixture compounded of salt and pepper, and rendered
more palatable by the addition of any or all of the following ingre-
dients :—-marjoram, mint, cinnamon, sesame, and chickpeas. This
seasoning compound is called doolckah.
The Egyptian Arabs dine lightly at noon, and partake of a copious

1 Lawsonia inermis.
2 The henna is prepared by being powdered and mixed with a little water so
as to form a paste. The paste is spread over the part to be dyed, where it remains
during the whole night bound with linen. It is renewed every fortnight or three
weeks. Many only dye the nails, others extend it to the ﬁrst joints, some make
a stripe on the next row of joints, and the whole of the inside of the hand and
the sole of the feet. Lane’s Egypt, vol. i. p. 5 3.
3 The operation is performed with needles tied together (generally seven) ;
with these the parts are pricked in the desired pattern, some smoke-black mixed
with milk of the breast of a Woman is rubbed in, and about a week after, before
the skin has healed, a paste of pounded fresh leaves of white beet or clover is
applied, which gives a blue or greenish colour to the marks. Ibid.
2M
546 . THE ARAMnEAN STOCK.
supper at sunset. Contrary to the general usages of the East, many
of the Egyptians enjoy at their regular meals the society of their
wives and children; but this practice is far from being common
among the lower and much less universal is it among the higher
classes. The mode of eating, and the manner the dishes are served,
does not differ materially from the customs prevalent in ‘ other
Mohamedan countries. The washing of hands ; the sitting on a carpet
or mat, with one knee on the ground and the right knee raised, round
a tray of tinned copper or brass placed on a low stool often inlaid with
tortoise-shell or mother-of-pearl, and loaded with a great variety of
dishes; the general invitation of the master of the house to partake
of the meal by saying bismillah (“in the name of God ”) in a low but
audible voice ; the round cakes of bread; the limes cut in half; the
boxwood, ebony, or tortoise-shell spoons, all arranged in due order
for use and service; the eating with the thumb and two ﬁngers of
the right hand—are all of Arabic origin and faithful types of early
Saracen manners.
The master of the house takes the ﬁrst morsel out of the dish, and
the others follow his example. If he has a distinguished guest at the
table he shows his politeness by picking out some dainty piece, and
thus compliments the stranger with his delicate attentions. A spoon
is used to eat soup or rice, and a piece of bread ingeniously doubled
up is made to enclasp a small piece of chopped or stewed meat, which
is always seasoned with onion or garlic, with vine leaves, lettuce, or
cabbage, or mixed with rice, to which pepper, salt, and sometimes
parsley are added. All the dishes are served at once and each one
makes his own selection. The different kinds of meats, although
prepared in various ways, are all cooked in clariﬁed butter. Cucum-
bers and gourds are stuffed with minced meat ; small strips of mutton
or lamb are roasted on skewers; fowls are sometimes stuffed with
raisins, pistachio nuts, crumbled bread, and parsley; and on extraor-
dinary occasions whole lambs, stuffed with pistachio nuts, are served
up to be devoured piecemeal by the guests. Fish dressed with oil
are also in common use as an article of food. The most ordinary
vegetable dishes are cabbage, purselaine, spinach, beans, lupines,
chickpeas, gourds, colcasia, and lentils, as well as water-melons when
in season. Every meal is closed with a small quantity of pillaw or
boiled rice, mixed with a little butter, and seasoned with pepper and
salt. Nile water is the only beverage indulged in during regular meals.
In the houses of the rich sweetmeats are handed round, followed by
sherbert of sugar-water, in which raisins have been boiled sweetened
by adding a sufficient quantity of sugar, and rendered odoriferous
by a few drops of rose-water.
The evening hours after supper are passed in friendly conversation
while sipping the never-failing coffee and smoking the ever-cherished
pipe, or by paying a visit to friends, or playing chess, draughts, or
some other game. The coffee (caweh) is exceedingly strong, and is
drunk without sugar or milk, with the addition of a little cardamom
seed, in tiny cups of china fumigated with the smoke of mastic.
The fellaizs and labouring classes of the towns do not fare quite so
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 547
sumptuously. The poorest peasants are satisﬁed with a coarse kind
of bread made of dhcw'a or maize ground into meal, which is eaten
with raw onions, a vegetable which in Egypt is sweet and mild;
.and they esteem themselves highly favoured if they can afford to
indulge at times in a little honey, cheese, sour milk, or dates. Lentils,
prepared so as to render them quite palatable, are also a primary
article of food. Those who are in more prosperous circumstances are
abundantly provided with milk, new cheese, eggs, small salted ﬁsh,
cucumbers, and melons, a great variety of gourds, leeks, beans, chick-
peas, lupines, egg-plants, dates, and pickles. Maize is not only used
for making bread, but when the ears are ripe they form a good
substitute for bread by being toasted and baked. Meat and rice, of
which the fcZZahs are most passionately fond, make their appearance
but very rarely on the peasant’s table, and it is only on festivals that
‘they are permitted to share these luxuries with the better classes.
The wants of the peasantry are extremely few, for their food is of the
‘coarsest and simplest kind; the necessaries of life are easily supplied 3
‘their habitations are gloomy and ﬁlthy holes, and their clothing
is scarcely sufﬁcient to cover their nakedness. Notwithstanding these
disadvantages, they are not only a healthy and robust race, but they
are ever cheerful, are not subject to despondency, and suicide is
altogether unknown among them. They are, however, like the rest
of the Arabs, inveterate smokers, and after the day’s labour is
performed, and they have partaken of their usual food at supper, they
often resort to the coffee-house of the village not for purposes of
dissipation but only for pastime. Here they either smoke the pipe
ﬁlled with the mild-ﬂavoured tobacco of Syria, and occasionally take
a sip of a highly-diluted cup of mocca, which is handed round to all
‘the company present, and paid for by one whose turn it is to treat the
‘crowd in accordance with some recognised rule. Sometimes they are
favoured with a musical entertainment, and they listen with undivided
attention to the boisterous song of some rakish-looking lad.
The fcZZahs do not merely constitute the greatest number of the
agricultural population, but they are continually ﬂocking to the towns, '
where they are petty tradesmen, or exercise some mechanic arts, or are
employed as servants and labourers. They still preserve the distinc-
tion of tribes of their Bedouin ancestors, although many of the customs
of the wandering Arabs, not being adapted to a sedentary life and a
laborious occupation, have been abandoned or have degenerated. For
the nearest relation to revenge the blood of his kindred or to kill the
unfaithful wife,1 to wipe away the stain of dishonour from the family,
is still an imperative obligation which is unfailingly complied with
‘unless intimidated by fear of punishment on the part of the govern-
ment authorities. Nor has their pride of aristocracy been entirely
effaced, for those tribes who have kept themselves comparatively pure

1 When the wife of a fellah has been found to have been unfaithful to her
husband, in general be or her brother throws her into the Nile with a stone tied
to her neck, or cuts her in pieces and throws her remains into the river. Lane’s
Egypt, vol. i. p. 266.
548 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
and uncontaminated by foreign intermixture will not give their
daughters in marriage to men of a mixed tribe who have intermarried
with Copt proselytes to Mohamedanism or their descendants; and
though they manifest no repugnance to taking the daughters of these
converts in marriage, yet they despise them as belonging to an inferior
class, treat them with the greatest contempt, and apply to them the
opprobrious term of fcllahecn, while they arrogate to themselves the
more honoured name of Bedouins.
One of the most remarkable traits of character of the fellahs is their
attachment to their native village, which to them is a terrestrial para-
dise that possesses many excellences not shared by any other locality-
Wherever they may wander this love for their native home never
abandons them ; and their eyes are ever turned towards that domestic
Mecca of their dearest affections and their future hopes. Under the
feudal chiefs of the Mamelook dynasty, and from the time Mehemed
Ali commenced his remarkable career, up to a very recent period, the
feZZahs were merely looked upon as serfs attached to the soil, doomed
to labour for and obey their imperious masters, who appropriated'the
chief products of their toil and left them scarcely sufficient means to
supply the simplest necessaries of life. They were slaves, yet they
were personally responsible as if they had been freemen ; they had no
property they could call their own; their life, their services, their
goods and chattels, all were at the absolute disposal of the despot who
had usurped the powers of the government; and yet they were com~~
pelled to provide for their own support and that of their family. They
were dragged away from home by force, and their own agricultural
labours had to be suspended to cultivate the lands of the boy, of the-
pasha or his retainers; to labour in the factory or some public work,
or to serve in the army; and yet the triﬂing remuneration they
received was paid in scrip instead of money, which they were forced
to sell at an enormous sacriﬁce to enrich the government officials who
speculated on the wants and necessities of the indigent peasants.
They were thus organised into regular gangs by government agents,
and forced to labour under the lash of tyrannic taskmasters, while
their wife and children and their aged parents were starving at home.
The slightest fault committed by them, or absence for a month from
their village, was punished by conﬁscation of the little property they
possessed, and they were driven from their homesteads as outcasts and
vagabonds. They were not permitted to travel from one village to
another without passport. If they attempted to ﬁnd employment in
the cities, in order to escape the unjust oppressions, the enormous
exactions, and extortionate demands of their superior lords and rulers,
they were chained together by the neck, if apprehended, and con-
demned to labour as galley-slaves; or they were at once led to
execution; and a similar fate awaited those who harboured the
fugitives.
No fate was considered more dreadful by the Egyptian women than
to have their sons and brothers torn from their embraces by the
ferocious Aranaud cavalry to be enrolled as soldiers in the Egyptian
army. During the atrocious despotism of Mehemed Ali the levy of
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 549
troops resembled a slave-hunt. To escape this great calamity, mothers
maimed and mutilated their children so as to render them unﬁt to
serve in the army; they gouged out an eye, punched out the front
teeth, or cut off some of the ﬁngers. When the period of conscription
approached, the whole country was thrown into a state of commotion ;
all work was suspended, and the young men who thought themselves
liable to be seized ﬂed into the mountains, hid themselves in the crags,
‘cliffs, and caverns, where they were provided with food by the women,
who sought out their haunting-places every night. WVhen the young
conscripts were about to be carried off on the Nile boat, bound hand
and foot, long ﬁles of women followed them along the banks in funeral
procession, wrapped in dark dresses, their faces besmeared with mud,
dancing the funeral dance, and uttering passionate shrieks and curses,
‘loud and deep, against the agents of tyranny and oppression who
despoiled them of all they held most dear upon earth.
During the administration of Ibrahim Pasha the condition of the
fellahs has been much improved. They have not yet been made land-
owners, but their possessory rights as tenants for life have been placed
upon a more permanent and secure basis; and on proving a title of
occupation a legal guarantee (hogget) is issued, which protects them
against all intruders and fraudulent claimants. The odious edict of
conﬁscation has been abolished, and in most cases the property, of
which the owners have been arbitrarily deprived, has been restored.
Money has been advanced to the most needy to repurchase the land
that had been sold without possibility of recovery. The system of
conscription has been regulated so as to render it less onerous to the
rural population, and the time of service has been limited to a term
of years. The iniquitous practice of having recourse to compulsory
‘labour for the construction of canals, embankments, and railways has
been abandoned, and the agricultural population has become more
settled and permanent. But the mudirs or provincial governors are
still permitted to advance money on the growing crop at usurious inte—
rest, which keeps the peasants in a state of poverty and dependence,
and is a source of ruin to the country people.1
All the lands of Egypt are considered as the absolute property of
the government,2 and the soil is cultivated by the peasantry, who are
either tenants at will or tenants for life, upon the condition of paying
a certain amount of land-tax into the public treasury. But the viceroy
holds, in his own right, no less than two hundred thousand fcdhmzs
of the richest and most improved lands; and all the princes who are
the direct descendants of Mehemed Ali and other grandees are large
landed proprietors who pay but a triﬂing tax to the government ; and
‘the agricultural labour required to keep these immense estates in a
condition of efficiency as a proﬁtable investment is supplied by engage-

1 This ruinous practice has been interdicted by a decree issued by the ministry
of the new Khedive Tevﬁk in October 1879, but it is extremely doubtful that
simply a royal edict can root out one of the crying abuses which ruins the fellahs,
but enriches the official functionaries who are the beneﬁciaries of this indirect
mode of extortion.
_2 It is estimated that there are 4,800,000 fedhans of land in cultivation.
550 THE ARAMjEAN STOCK.
ments called voluntary, but which are really compulsory, and at the
lowest rate of wages, or starvation prices, which in Egypt, where the
mode of living is extremely simple and cheap, is a mere triﬂe. It is
undoubtedly true that these wealthy landholders have, by the intro-
duction of machinery and improved agricultural implements, conferred
a great beneﬁt on the country at large, by bringing thousands of
acres of waste land into cultivation and increasing the aggregate of'
productions of the soil, but they have contributed little to raise the
labouring classes to a higher level, and initiate measures for the entire‘
enfranchisement of the poor and oppressed fellahs.
The inexhaustible fertility of the soil of Lower Egypt is due
exclusively to the annual inundation of the Nile, which overﬂows its
banks about the middle of June, spreading its waters, impregnated
with fertilising materials, over the low lands, and retiring within the
limits of its natural channel about the middle or end of October. The-
ground set apart for cultivation is sown in wheat, barley, lentils, beans,
lupines, and vegetables about the beginning of November, and the-
harvest is gathered in the months of March and April. Clover is
sown without previously ploughing the land, and in the spring the
whole country is a continuous meadow, decked with the freshest ver-
dure and enamelled with lovely ﬂowers, while herds and ﬂocks are-
dispersed over the plain, giving variety and beauty to the general
aspect of nature. It is only in exceptional cases that more than one-
crop is produced during the year in Lower Egypt; but in Upper-
Egypt, where the productive qualities of the land can only be ren-
dered available by artiﬁcial irrigation, three successive harvests are-
annually reaped by the industrious husbandman. The winter crop
comprises wheat and barley, and at the time of the vernal equinox
dizom'a is sown, or indigo or cotton is planted ; soon after the summer
solstice the ground is again sown with dhoum or planted in maize.
Sugar-cane is cultivated throughout the greater portion of Upper-
Egypt, and is eaten in a raw state as an ordinary article of food ; and
a considerable quantity of rice is produced in the swampy lands on the
Mediterranean. During the civil war in America, when the southern
states were blockaded, cotton became one of the principal agricultural
productions of Egypt. The high prices it brought in the market
rendered its cultivation exceedingly proﬁtable, and the wheat ﬁelds
were generally converted into cotton plantations. Cotton is still a
staple product of great importance in Egypt; it has built up Alex-
andria, has almost changed it into a European city, and will serve as
a means of introducing a higher order‘ of civilisation and Western.
reﬁnement in the land of the ancient Pharaohs-1

1 The average annual agricultural products of Egypt are very considerable.
She produces 13 millions hectolitres of maize, Wheat, and barley ; 4 millions hecto-
litres of beans, 300,000 hectolitres of rice, 720,000 hectolitres of dhoura, 100
millions kilograms of cotton, 13% millions kilograms of ﬂax, 4 millions kilograms of
indigo, 1,900,000 kilograms of saﬂ‘lower, 2,800,000 kilograms of tobacco, 54,000‘
kilograms of hemp, 150,000 kilograms of poppy-seed, 250,000 hectolitres of Sosa--
mum, 4500 hectolitres of castor-oil, and 40 millions kilograms of sugar. See
Stephen’s Das heutige Aegypten, p. 78. In 1867 the quantity of cotton annually
EGYPTIAN ARABS. ‘ 5 51
The agricultural implements used by the fcZlahs in the tillage of the
soil are of very primitive construction, but as the preparatory labours
to put the land in a tillable condition are comparatively light, they are
suitable for the purpose they are intended, and accomplish the object
proposed. They are the work of their own hands, and can therefore
be procured without much expense. Their threshing-machine (away)
is provided with wheels armed with metal plates, and is drawn in a
circle by cows or oxen over the sheaves placed on the threshing-ﬂoor
of mud, made solid and ﬁrm by interposing layers of rushes and canes.
The Egyptian plough is simply a solid beam about six feet long, to
the upper end of which a crooked piece of wood is ﬁxed, inclining
downwards at an acute angle, to the lower extremity of which a trian~
gular-pointed share of iron is attached. To the front of the beam the
draught oxen are hitched, which are urged on and guided by means
of" a long switch held in the right hand of the driver, while with his
left he has hold of the plough handle. This plough makes but a
shallow furrow, but does not turn up the soil. Instead of a harrow a
heavy cylinder is used, which passes over the ploughed ground and
breaks up the clods. The iron hoe is but slightly bent upon its
handle, and serves at the same time as spade and shovel. The reaping-
hook or sickle is the only instrument used for harvesting and cutting
clover.
Irrigation is effected by the aid of the shacZoof, which is composed
of two wooden posts or pillars about eight feet high and three feet
apart, with a horizontal piece extending from top to top, to which a
lever is suspended generally formed of a long and slender pole, one
end of which is weighted with a heavy lump of clay, and to the other
end is attached, by two long palmsticks, a closely-woven wickerwork
basket shaped like a bowl, or a sack of leather or of thick woollen
stuff kept inﬂated by a hoop. By this simple machine water is thrown
up to the height of eight feet into a trough hollowed out for its
reception, or into a reservoir placed at a convenient distance. The
sahz'ah, or waterwheel, which revolves vertically and is provided with
a continuous series of buckets or earthen pots attached by cords, thus
raising the water in an unbroken stream, is also used for the same
purpose. But this tedious system is rapidly giving away to the less
expensive mode of irrigation by steam power by means of the portable
engine, which can easily be transported from place to place. To
facilitate the process of irrigation the land is divided into small squares,
like a chessboard, enclosed by low ridges of earth a few inches high,
to which the water is admitted from a drain that borders one side
of the ﬁeld and connects with the reservoir from which the water is
supplied.
Round Damietta the orange groves present the most delightful
spot that can possibly be imagined. The pure and unclouded sky,

grown in Egypt was estimated at from one to two millions of kantors (from 93 to
186 millions of pounds), valued at the time at from 93 millions to 186 millions of
pounds sterling. One-sixth of the land of Lower Egypt was cultivated in cotton.
In 1875 the cotton exported amounted to 2,615,120 quintals. 3 Lotts’ Nights in
the Harem, vol. ii. p. 277.
5 52 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
the cool atmosphere redolent with the perfume of the white orange
ﬂowers, the golden fruit hanging ripe on the branches, the dark
glossy leaves forming a canopy of shade; near by the lofty date-tree
with its fruit clusters, the yellow-ﬂowered acacia, the gloomy tamarind,
the tattered long-leaved banana, and the pomegranate with its scarlet
blossoms, interspersed here and there with a lowly peasant’s cottage,
mark out the tropical features of this truly magniﬁcent domain. In
the province of Fayoom the olive and the vine are cultivated, and
melons, sweet and mellow, are produced in great variety. The syca~
more ﬁg, the thorny nebek, the gum-bearing sont (Acacia gzmwmfera),
the henna shrub with its umbels of ﬂowers, are indigenous to the
country. Here gardens planted with rose-bushes which impregnate
the air with their odours are extensively laid out near the villages,
and here the quintessence of all perfumes, the “ attar of roses,” is
distilled from fragrant rose-leaves. Senna and coloquint grow spon-
taneously in Upper Egypt ; the historic papyrus, which is a gigantic
sedge, covers the marshy lowlands on the banks of the Nile. The
lotus, with its lily-ﬂowers and ﬂoating leaves, is cradled into indolent
repose by the slight ripple of shallow lakes and ponds.
The sole, the mullet, and the gilt-head swarm in the lakes near the
mouth of the Nile ; and an immense number of boats are engaged in
ﬁshing and preparing the roe—a valuable article of commerce—for
the market. Here wild geese, ducks, and teal cover the surface of .
the water, and the ibis, with its lank and slender legs, stalks along
on the brink of the lakes to gobble up some small ﬁsh, or frog, or
reptile. Cormorants, herons, snipes, rice-hens, and cranes are hovering
about; now feeding, now taking a short and sudden ﬂight, and then
again alighting at the water’s edge, and basking with quiet indifference
in the sunbeams. The ﬂamingo, with red and black spotted wings,
long scarlet legs and elongated beak, struts along with its high neck
outstretched, as if conscious of graceful beauty and proud of its inde-
pendence. The clumsy pelican vies with the swan, which sails along
in meandering curves in the beauty of its white plumage. Storks are
common on the river, quails ﬂock together in great numbers; the
ostrich wanders through the neighbouring deserts; eagles, vultures,
and hawks wing their ﬂight to the loftiest peaks of the mountains.
The camel, the buﬂ’alo, and the ox, the ass and the horse are the
beasts of burden, and sheep and goats supply not only wool and skins
for clothing but meat and milk for food. The hippopotamus—the
huge river-horse—and the giant crocodile are, with the ichneumon
and the chameleon, the characteristic animals of Egypt. The elephant
and the antelope are found in the extreme interior, where the vast
plains are overgrown with bushes and jungle.
Egypt is perhaps, at the present time, the most commercial country
in the Levant. The recent completion of the Suez canal, which
connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, has given to her the
shortest transit-route between India and Europe, has increased her
external commerce, and has assigned to Alexandria considerable
importance as a seaport city. It is stated upon credible authority
that during the period of ten years from 1862 to 1872 the exports of
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 553
Egypt amounted to 120,240,000 pounds sterling, and her imports to
5 2,2 1 8,367 pounds sterling.1 The great disparity between the exports
and the imports is undoubtedly due to the great quantity of cotton
grown during that particular decade, which was sold at the highest
market prices in foreign countries. Her caravan trade to Senaar,
Darfoor, and Eezzan, and other parts of the interior of Africa, is also
very extensive, and through this channel she receives, in exchange
for her own commodities, gold-dust, ivory, rhinoceros horns, ostrich
feathers, gums, and drugs. Her principal articles of export of great
value are cotton, sugar, rice, gum, ﬂax, dates, natron, wool, and, in
favourable years, beans, wheat, and barley, all of which are principally
sold in European markets, and generally form the return cargo for
the thousand and one articles of manufacture from England, France,
and Germany. Her imports also indicate a high state of commercial
activity. She receives coffee, perfumes, and gums from Arabia;
muslin, silks, and cotton stuffs from Surat and other parts of India;
spices from Ceylon ; shawls from Cashmere and Persia ; oil, fez caps,
and ﬂannel from Tunis and Tripoli ; raw and manufactured silk, soap,
and tobacco from Syria; and brass, copper, and iron manufactures
from Constantinople.2
Although Egypt is chieﬂy an agricultural country, yet Mehemed
Ali wasted much capital and diverted much of the labour of the
country from the legitimate business of the farm, in order to put in
operation power machinery for manufacturing purposes. He erected
substantial buildings, imported from Europe the most improved and
most expensive machine-work, and established factories on a large
scale for the manufacture of woollen cloth, calico, coarse cotton goods,
silks, ropes, and other articles of economic value? The iron foundry
is one of the ﬁnest establishments of the kind in the world. An
armoury turning out the most improved arms, a cannon foundry, a
cartridge factory, and engineering shops are in full operation, and
numerous private foundries exist both in Cairo and Alexandria. Paper
is made on a large scale by improved machinery. Extensive and
costly sugar-mills and rum distilleries in the Fayoom district form a
part of the Daira or private property of the Khedive. The great
majority of trades practised in Egypt form separate csnafs or guilds,
the membership of which is obligatory on all who work at the respec-
tive crafts. Each es-naf is presided over by a sheikh, who is the chief
of the corporation; he determines upon the admission of members,
ﬁxes the scale of wages, directs the manner in which contracts shall
be executed, and selects the workmen who are to do the work. He
also collects the taxes payable by the csnaf, and is directly responsible
to the government for the management of affairs. There are more
than forty of these corporations or guilds, representing the different

1 Correspondence of the New York Herald of July 1873. According to an
.ofﬁcial statement, the exports in 1874. amounted to £I4,80I,I48, and in 187 5
t0£122730,195' _
2 The imports amounted in 1874 to £5,322,400, and in 1875 to £5,694,820,
3 Most of these manufacturing establishments have ceased operations, for it was
found that the articles produced could be imported at a much cheaper rate.
.. -11‘-
wlﬁ w’ _ "F.
L.- f “a Mm-mE-r'vmuw
‘n
554 THE ARAMZEAN sToox.
, . ,_.._.,
trades practised in the country. There is still a large manufacturing"
establishment that turns out annually ﬁfty thousand red fez caps, and
a considerable quantity of woollen cloth is woven in private workshops.
Carpets are also manufactured to a large extent in the great cities.
Alexandria produces much cotton-cloth, and Damietta is famous for
weaving and dyeing silk. Blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, weavers,
dyers, embroiderers, goldsmiths, shoemakers, and tailors are the trades-
a, most numerously represented. The Egyptians have long since enjoyed
‘ considerable reputation in the preparation of morocco leather.
They
are also famous for hatching fowls’ eggs by artiﬁcial heat.
The only art which the Egyptian Arabs have cultivated with success
is that of architecture. Many of their mosques and other public
buildings, constructed in the light and graceful Saracenic style, are
remarkable for grandeur and beauty, and the interior structure and
decorations of numerous private dwellings are rendered quite attractive-
by the extraordinary display of magniﬁcence and splendour, character~
ised by tasteful arrangement and a judicious blending of colours.
The Nile forms one of the most important channels for the trans‘
portation of produce and merchandise to and from the interior.
Numerous Nile boats (kangz'as) are constantly sailing up and down
the river, or are moored on its banks, freighted with valuable cargoes,
and giving life and activity to the towns and villages of the vicinity.
The construction of the isangz'a is simple but elegant ; it is about
thirty feet long, is provided with two masts, and is propelled by two
lateen sails, and is admirably well adapted to take advantage of the
winds, no matter from what direction they may blow. Two cabins,
separated from each other by a narrow passage, occupy the aft part of
the vessel. The main cabin is ﬁtted up with windows and green blinds;
it opens on the deck, and is prolonged, as it were, by an open verandah
which serves as shelter against the heat of the sun. The closest atten-
tion and the nicest management are often required to prevent the boat
from capsizing, for the ordinarily smooth navigation of the Nile is
sometimes rufﬂed by sudden heavy squalls which sweep down from
the mountains. The boatsmen are strong and muscular, but they are-
exposed to great hardships. ‘When the winds are lulled into repose
they ply the car and propel the boat by rowing, and in shallow places
it is sometimes necessary to assist its forward motion by towing or-
poling. They are nevertheless of cheerful disposition, and thoroughly
good-natured, and they always encourage each other while at work by
singing, or by rending the air with some less harmonious boisterous utter~-
ances. They are far superior in their morale and decency of behaviour-
to the rough and vulgar boatsmen and sailors of Western countries.
Their shouts and apparently incoherent phrases in time of danger or
difﬁculty indicate neither fear nor signs of indiscipline, but are simply
pious ejaculations, or words exciting mutual conﬁdence, and exercising
an animating inﬂuence which prompt them to united exertion. The
Arab sailor is submissively obedient, and although he is sometimes
unjustly beaten, he never resists the blow, nor does he bear malice in
his heart, but in the course of an hour the unpleasant incident is
obliterated from his memory and the brutal act of power is forgotten.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 5 55
As soon as the day’s labour is ended and the last meal has been taken,
he joins with his comrades in conversation, while two or three pipes,
ﬁlled from the common stock, are passing from mouth to mouth.
Here grave subjects of morality or religion are frequently discussed,
not in the learned jargon of philosophy or theology, but by taking a
common-sense view of matters and things. Sometimes the captain
(recs), who is always listened to with deference, joins the party and
adds much interest to the intellectual entertainment by touching upon
a favourite topic—the history of some famous old mosque which their
ancestors had built, and where their forefathers had worshipped. At
moments when they are less seriously inclined, one of them would
Volunteer to tell a story after the fashion of Thousand and One Nights,
bringing out in bold relief and placing in the foreground all the weak—
nesses and frailties of human nature without the least reserve and
concealment, and yet without obscene vulgarity 3 or, when in a more
poetic mood, they strike up a song to the sound of the darabooha,1 full
of sentiment and the most glowing ﬁgures of an exalted imagination.
When the Egyptian is at leisure, and his mind is free from cares,
troubles, and vexations, he enjoys the most simple amusements that
can make him forget the routine of everyday life. Smoking the
pipe is a luxury in which all classes indulge, and the wealthy are
scarcely ever seen without a chibouque,2 which they either hold in their
hand or it is carried behind them by their servant, being ﬁtted up
with all its ornamental appendages. The stem, which is generally
four or ﬁve feet long, is of jasmine wood covered with silk, which is
kept in place by gold thread or by a tube of gilt silver, with a gaudy
silk tassel dangling from the lower extremity. The bowl is of baked
clay, nicely burnished and coloured red or brown. The mouthpiece
is composed of two or more parts of light-coloured amber, interjoined
by ornaments of enamelled gold, agate, jasper, cornelian, or some other
precious gem. Among the highest classes and in the harems the
narghc'lé is used in place of the common pipe.
Horseback exercise is also one of the greatest pleasures the Egyptian
is capable of appreciating to while away the weary hours 3 or he
engages in a conﬁdential chat with a friend in the coffee-house, or
takes a stroll through the bazaars and makes purchases of articles
of fancy or utility; or he visits the public baths, or retires to recline
in the harem on the soft cushions of the divan, where one of his wives
or a female slave lulls him to sleep while kneeling before him and
rubbing his feet with her soft and delicate hands. In the evening he
enjoys the fresh air by taking a boat excursion on the Nile, or by
reposing in quiet retirement in the cool shade of the orange and syca—
more groves on its banks.
Although an Egyptian gentleman deems it beneath his dignity and
a dangerous incentive to vice and dissipation to perform on any musical
instrument, yet he is passionately fond of music, and he never fails
to avail himself of every opportunity that presents itself to attend
private and public entertainments of which vocal and instrumental

1 A species of tambourine. 2 Turkish pipe.
‘Lg
556 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
music forms a conspicuous part. The Egyptian music is characterised
by its plaintive strains and its melting softness, caused by the delicate
gradations of its notes, which are divided into thirds—a peculiarity
which can only be appreciated by a practised ear, and is discriminated
with exactness only by those who are masters of the art. Their musical
compositions, which are perfectly simple and artless, are simply a few
expressive notes adapted to suitable words so as to form a song, and
the same strain is repeated for every single or double line. The
musical instruments proper to Egypt are still of a primitive ‘type.
The most notable in common use are a three-stringed viol, which is
played with a bow; a dulcimer, which the performer holds on his
knee while he strikes the instrument with two plectra of buffalo
horn fastened to the foreﬁnger of the hand ; a guitar, with double
strings for each of the seven notes, played with a plectrum made of
vulture’s feathers; a ﬂute, composed of a simple reed pierced by six
or seven holes, which yields sweet and mellow tunes in the hands of
a skilful player by applying the lips, drawn together to the smallest
compass, to the edge of the tube ; and lastly, a kettledrum made of an
earthen pot covered with parchment.
The gawazecs or dancing-girls of Egypt are of very ancient date,
and appear in no other country under the same disguise and in the
same character. They are generally abandoned courtesans ; and while
many of them are extremely handsome and are richly dressed, the
great majority are of ordinary mould, and are neither elegant in their
manners nor graceful in their movements. They keep themselves dis-
tinct as a separate class, marry amongst themselves, and are educated
from earliest infancy to the venal profession as public dancers or
singers, or they are taught to make themselves agreeable in the still
lower capacities of vice and depravity. If they formally enter into
the marriage relation, their husband is but a subordinate servant, their
agent or manager; and he acts as musician if they devote themselves
to the profession of dancing. A few of their more fortrmate sisters
accumulate considerable wealth, consisting of valuable ornaments,
negro slaves, camels, asses, and cows. They are either stationary,
being settled in the towns, or they move from place to place, living
in temporary huts or tents. In religion they profess Mohamedanism ;
their common language is Arabic, though they have a number of cant
expressions only understood by themselves. Since 1834 they have
been banished from Cairo, and they are now dispersed throughout the
provinces, Esne being their principal headquarters.
They often commence their performances by singing to the dam-
booka or tambourine, in a soft, melodious voice, one of those sensual
ditties which serve as prologue to more exciting exhibitions that strike
the eye and inﬂame the imagination. Their song is characterised by
infusing life and spirit into simple words until they become so wildly
impassioned that their head is moving as if in a delirium of joy, their
eyes are rolling, and their notes are uttered in broken ejaculations, as
if it were “in gasps and sobs of pleasure.” Their dances are simply
pantomimic ﬁgures representing the common incidents of life, in which
the Eastern conception of love, incarnated in the turbulence of uncon-
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 5 57
trollable passion, forms the heroic part of the dramatic performance.
Their elegant freedom of manners, their graceful licentiousness, and
their light and unconstrained movements are almost unsurpassed,
while the, ﬂexibility of their features, which faithfully betray the
emotions they wish to mimic, is most astonishing. When they begin
to dance, as soon as they divest themselves of their veil, they over-
leap all bounds of modesty and reserve. Their long and very wide
silk robe ﬂoats on the ground, negligently girdled by a sash; the
chemisette, as transparent as gauze, envelops the outline of their
beautiful form, as it were, in a mist of foam; their black and glossy
hair is perfumed and falls in long tresses down their shoulders. Their
attitude varies as their action progresses ; each look is full of mean-
ing, each gesture speaks so forcibly that it is impossible to be mis-
understood. The clacking of the castanets and the mellow sounds of
the ﬂute slacken or quicken the dancer’s steps. Their form is with
ing in an agony of joy, their bosom heaves and pants with passion;
the blood rises and tinges the pallor of their cheeks with a crimson
ﬂush ; their eyes are wandering and pour forth ﬂashes of frenzied ﬁre,
and step by step they descend downward until they appear as if
intoxicated and frantic with bacchanal excitement ; and forgetting all
rules of decency, they abandon themselves to the disorder of their
senses amidst the indelicate applause of excited and admiring spec-
tators.
The almah are of a different and somewhat aristocratic character.
They may be ranked, in point of respectability, in the category of the
opera-singers and the actresses of modern Europe. They form a
privileged society to which those only are admitted who possess a
ﬁne voice, are naturally gifted with eloquence, are familiar with the
rules of grammar, and are endowed with the necessary qualiﬁcation
of composing and singing extemporaneous verses adapted to the
occasion of a banquet, a festival, or any ceremonial Observances.
Their memory is constantly enriched with new songs and thrilling
tales, which they recite to amuse the women when invited to the
harem, where they give instruction in music and the graceful motions
of the dance. Their intellect is generally of a superior order, and is
highly cultivated; their conversation is spirited; their language is
distinguished by purity of expression; their diction is poetic, and
their style is fascinating and harmonious. Their manner of recital is
exceedingly graceful, and in rehearsing a moral theme of tragic
interest they give full intonation to their plaintive voice, and thus
excite the deepest sentiments and the most profound emotions, until
they affect their auditors to tears. In singing they give full scope to
their natural talents for music. Some of their airs are gay, and are
sung in a light and lively measure; but it is the pathetic strain in
which they attain the highest order of excellence, and sometimes the
effect which they produce upon their audience is so powerful that, in
a burst of enthusiasm, large sums of money are lavished upon them
by a spontaneous recognition of merit that becomes irresistible. The
almah are present at the marriage ceremony of the wealthy, and
accompany the funeral procession of the great, where they sing elegiac
558 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
. "-gmf~_~<“;;-wwqw
joined the boisterous chorus.
verses in honour of the deceased, or act as professional mourners,
uttering groans and lamentations, and exhibiting every mark of
outward grief and despair.
The Egyptians are still fond of public entertainments, boisterous
rejoicings, and festival ostentation ; but since their habits and manners
have been disguised under a superﬁcial tinge of Western civilisation,
much of the old spirit and many of the old practices have passed
away. Formerly the opening of the canal at Cairo, or the festival of
the Nile, was celebrated with great pomp. The rising of the river
above sixteen cubits was an occasion of rejoicing and public festivities.
On the day ﬁxed by the authorities, the pasha and his court, decked
in all the glittering splendour of Eastern magniﬁcence, proceeded from
the castle to Fostat or Old Cairo, where the canal which runs through
the city takes its rise. Accompanied by his military escort he placed
himself under a gorgeous pavilion erected for this purpose, where a
band of musicians struck up an air of welcome. The crowd assembled
on the occasion was immense, often exceeding three hundred thousand
in number. Horses richly caparisoned, as well as asses and mules,
were called into requisition, but the pedestrians were by far the most
numerous. The boats of many who came by water, especially those
of the ladies, were elegantly painted, artistically carved, covered with
.a canopy supported by gilt columns, provided with blinds which
closed up the windows, and decorated with streamers of various
colours. The multitude was looking in silent expectation and with
.an eager gaze at the pavilion, where the pasha was sitting in state,
until the signal was given, and the air was rent with shouts of joy,
trumpets sounded, and kettledrums and other musical instruments
Immediately the statue of clay called
the “betrothed,” representing the Virgin, which by virtue of an
ancient rite was formerly consecrated and sacriﬁced to the N ile-god
in times of dearth, was thrown into the river by men appointed for
this particular service, the mound was cut, and the obstruction being
removed the water rushed into the canal and announced to the
inhabitants of Grand Cairo the happy event. The pasha then threw
gold and silver coins into the stream, which skilful swimmers were
always ready to ﬁsh up by diving. This was a day of universal
merriment and joy, a period of peace and goodwill among men,
while neighbours and friends were greeting each other with mutual
congratulations and compliments. The spectacle in the evening was
still more attractive. The streets, the mosques, and the minarets
were brilliantly illuminated, and the ﬂooded squares of the city were
covered with boats adorned with rich tapestry, and furnished with
soft cushions ; and to these temporary abodes of luxury and pleasure
the families of the wealthy resorted to regale themselves with a
collation of fruits, sherbets, sweetmeats, coffee, and other refresh-
ments.
The return of the Mecca pilgrims to Cairo is still an occasion of
great rejoicing and festivity. A vast concourse of people, without
distinction of age or sex, crowd the thoroughfares and avenues to
proceed to the pilgrims’ camp, accompanied by a band of music, and
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 5 59
‘carrying in their hands garlands and bunches of ﬂowers. Joy and
gladness are depicted on every face 3 and wives, daughters, and sisters
welcome with their embraces and kisses their nearest relatives and
friends, who had been absent for many months and had thus com-
pleted a long and perilous journey, to be entitled to the meritorious
distinction of a hadjc', which is the highest position of honour in the
religious career of a Mohamedan devotee. He is conducted home in
triumph by the members of his family, where a sheep or a fatted kid
has been killed, and where he is treated with much consideration as
one that had been lost and was only recently found. Alms are
(distributed to the poor as a grateful acknowledgment of divine
protection; the house is illuminated, and feasting, dancing, and
music are kept up during the whole night. Next day the procession
enters the city, and the whole population turns out to receive the
pilgrims, and the ardour of religious enthusiasm knows no bounds.
In his domestic relations the master of the house in Egypt is the
patriarch of the family, he is honoured with the appellation of sheikh,
and has the supreme control of all home affairs. His slaves are
obedient to his will, they stand with their arms crossed in attentive
attitude at the farther end of the hall, seeking to anticipate his
smallest wants. His children are never seated in his presence except
with his express permission, and they entertain the highest regard
and respect for their father 3 they reply to his questions with modesty
and digniﬁed self-restraint 3 they feel highly delighted when he
manifests unequivocal signs of tenderness and affection by fondling
and caressing them. When the sheikh enters the family room, all
rise 3 when he begins to speak, all attentively listen, and everywhere
treat him with the greatest esteem and even veneration. The more
he advances in years the more he is loved, and often enjoys the
happiness of seeing sheltered under the same roof anumerous posterity
of children and grandchildren, who pay homage to his experience and
wisdom, honour him in his old age, smooth the wrinkles of his brow,
and consecrate to him a life of devotion.
The mode of salutation in Egypt is at once highly expressive and
affectionate. An Egyptian Arab meeting a countryman of his own
~faith hardly ever fails to salute him with the customary formula,
“ Peace be to you” (Salaam alcyhoom), to which it is obligatory to
make a proper return by saying, “Peace be to you, and the mercy of
God and his blessings.” Particular friends salute each other by
joining their right hand, and then each kisses his own hand and
applies it to his lips and forehead, or merely places it on his heart
without kissing. After long absence, or on extraordinary occasions,
they usually embrace and kiss each other’s check or neck, ﬁrst on the
‘right, then on the left side. The reply made to an inquiry after a
person’s health is simply “ Praise be to God,” and it is from the tone
of the voice only that it can be ascertained whether the person is
well or ill.
It is improper for a visitor to enter a house unawares, but he
announces his presence to a servant, and awaits the pleasure of the
master of the mansion. As soon as he is introduced in the reception-
560 THE ARAMJEAN s'roeK.’
hall, he makes the usual salutation which is returned by the gentle-
man who receives him; and if his visitor is his equal or superior,
he rises and yields to him the place of honour, which is the corner of
the divan. When the person who is thus admitted to share the‘
privilege of social intimacy is seated, slaves bring pipes and coffee
and afterwards sweetmeats and sherbert, while the air of the room is
impregnated with sweet odours exhaled from a brazier containing
burning aloewood‘and frankincense. At the close of the visit a slave
bearing a silver dish perfumes with odoriferous essences the beard,
and sprinkles with rosewater the head and hands, of the guest as he
is about to depart.
In Egypt marriage is considered an imperative moral obligation.
A yotmg man after he has attained the proper age is in honour
bound, according to the laws of Egyptian society, to take unto himself
a wife and become the head of a family. An old bachelor would be
treated as a disreputable rake ; he would be excluded from all social
intercourse; he would be avoided by his friends; he would be
contemptuously sneered at by his acquaintances and scorned by his.
enemies; and he would not even be permitted to reside within the
limits of respectable quarters, lest he might pervert the moral training
of the rising generation by his pernicious inﬂuence and example.
Nor are girls less inclined to assume the duties and responsibilities-
of married life at an early age. They are frequently mothers at
thirteen, and most of them would look upon themselves as super-
annuated damsels after they had passed the age of sixteen.
The Egyptians have preserved the ancient custom, still common
among the Bedouin Arabs, of marrying their cousins, and as this union
is based upon claims of consanguinity, it is of a far more sacred and
permanent character than an ordinary marriage. As personal court-
ships are not permitted in Mohamedan countries, if a young man
desires to marry, he calls on his mother, or some other female relative,
to direct him in his choice, and she generally proposes to him some
young lady of her acquaintance, describing to him her character and
personal qualiﬁcations. Or if he wishes to make his selection from a
wider circle of marriageable girls, he applies to a professional match-
maker (khatc'bch), and as she frequently combines with her regular
calling that of a broker for the sale of clothing, ornaments, and other
trinkets, she has an opportunity of gaining ready access to almost
every harem, and thus acquires extensive knowledge of the personal
attractions and the pecuniary expectations of numerous young ladies
who feel no disinclination of exchanging a state of single-blessedness
for the more exciting social position of married life. The khatz'beh
generally gives a glowing description, couched in the metaphorical
languagei of the East, of the young woman she is recommending as a
suitable partner to share the good things and the ills of this world
with an amiable and attentive husband. If her services are engaged
for the purpose of ascertaining whether the parties concerned give
their consent to the proposed alliance, two of the female relatives of
the young man frequently accompany her, by whom they are introduced
into the harem as ordinary visitors, and if they are satisﬁed that the
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 561
general appearance of the girl is pleasing and attractive, and that she
would be a valuable accession to their family circle, they at once
disclose the real object of their visit, and unless their proposal is uncon-
ditionally declined, they make inquiries with regard to the property
and ornaments the young lady may possess, either in her own right
or in expectancy. After matters have favourably progressed thus far,
they return home and make a report accordingly; and if the young
man is satisﬁed with the information, he sends back the khatz'beh to
the family, after having given her a suitable present, to make known
his serious intentions as the suitor for the heart and hand of the
young lady.. Her praises of the young gentleman are generally highly
coloured and tinctured with exaggeration. “My daughter,” she will
say, “the youth who wishes to marry you is young, elegant, graceful,
beardless, has plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is fond of delicacies,
but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone, he wants you as his companion,
he will give you everything money can procure, and will spend his
whole time with you, caressing and fondling you.”
Before an Egyptian girl has arrived at the age of puberty, her
parents or nearest relatives may make arrangements for her betrothal
and marriage without her previous knowledge or consent; but after
she has attained the legal age she is allowed to choose a husband, and
for this purpose she appoints her own guardian (wakeel), who is generally
her father or some other near relative, and who acts as her proxy to
settle the marriage contract with the intended bridegroom before the
kadz'. The dowry (molar), which the law requires to be no less than
ten direhms or twenty-ﬁve piasters,_is proportioned according to the
fortune and social position of the parties. Two-thirds ‘of the amount
of the dowry, which is immediately paid down, is generally expended,
with an additional sum furnished by the father or guardian, to ﬁt up
the establishment of the bride with divans, matting, carpets, bedding,
kitchen utensils, dresses, and many other articles, all of which be-
come the absolute property of the wife, of which she can never be
deprived. The remaining third is reserved and kept in trust, to be
paid over to the woman in case of divorce or on the death of her
husband.
The~ day after the legal document has been registered in the kadi’s'
ofﬁce, the young man, accompanied by a few friends, proceeds to the
house of the bride, where, after reciting the ﬁrst chapter of the Koran
(fatc'ha), the stipulated amount of the dowry is delivered, and the
ceremony of betrothal is performed with the assistance of the ﬁkee
(schoolmaster), in the presence of the father or guardian and several
witnesses. The bridegroom and the wakeel being seated on the ﬂoor
with their hands joined, over which a silk handkerchief is spread, the
ﬁltee introduces the ceremonial part of the preliminary marriage
celebration by pronouncing an exhortation with quotations from the
Koran and the traditions on the excellency of marriage, which he
closes with a short prayer. The wakeel is then requested to repeat
after him the following words addressed to the bridegroom :——“I
betroth and marry to thee my daughter (or the female who has
2 N
562 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
appointed me her wakcel) the virgin.” To which the bridegroom ‘is
prompted to rejoin, “ I accept from thee her betrothal or marriage to
myself, and take her under my care, and bind myself to afford her
my protection, and ye who are present bear witness of this.” This
formula is repeated three times, and in conclusion the sacramental
words are added, “And blessing be on the Prophet, and praise be to
God the lord of all creatures.” “Amen !” After the fatz'ha is again
recited the family of the bride present to each one of the invited
guests an embroidered handkerchief, and they'all sit down to a dinner
prepared for the occasion. The marriage festivities generally take
place eight or ten days after the contract has been concluded, on the
eve of Friday, which is the Moslem Sabbath, or on the eve of Monday,
the former being esteemed the more fortunate period. A few days
preceding the marriage the bridegroom gives evening entertainments
to his friends, enlivened by feasting, dancing, and singing, and his
residence and the street in which he lives are brilliantly illuminated.
On the day before the marriage celebration the bride is taken vin state
to the public bath, being borne along under a canopy of silk, preceded
by a band of music and accompanied by her relatives and friends. In _
the bridal procession of the lower orders, in place of music, the women
utter the well-known shrill cry of joy called the zygha'reet. As soon
as theablutions of the bride are completed, coffee, sweetmeats, cigarettes,
or pipes are served, and singing-girls amuse the company with a
concert. On the return of the bride to her home, she washes her
hands and feet and throws the water in the four corners of the room,
that a blessing may arise from it. She then holds up in her hand a
lump of henna, into which each one of her guests sticks a gold coin as
a contribution, which she scrapes off on the edge of a basin of water.
After her hands and feet have been painted with henna and her eye-
lids stained with kohl, refreshments are again handed round, which
closes the festival called the “ night of henna.”
On the wedding-day, a little after noontide, the bride, accompanied
by the invited guests, sets out in solemn procession bya circuitous
route, always turning to the right, which is considered a good omen,
and moving on slowly she reaches, in about three or four hours, the
bridegroom’s house, where a repast is served to the whole party. The
bride is wrapped in a cashmere shawl, which conceals the whole of her
attire except her fantastic head-dress, formed of a small pasteboard
cap or crown decorated with costly ornaments. This festival occasion
is called the “night of entrance.” After the departure of the guests
the bride is left to the care of her mother and sisters and a few other
friends, and she now occupies the apartment in the harem assigned to
her. Before sunset the bridegroom proceeds to the bath, and after
having supped with his friends, about the time of night-prayer, he
repairs to the mosque, and, if young, he is frequently honoured with
a procession attended by men carrying lighted torches (meshals) in one
hand and bouquets of ﬂowers in the other, accompanied by a troop of
musicians or singers called the “suns of night,” who chant lyric odes
in praise of the Prophet. After prayer he returns to his ‘home, where
portions of the Koran are read and the fatz'ha is recited. Leaving
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 563
his friends in the sclamlz'ch1 in the enjoyment of coffee, sherbet, and
pipes, he prbceeds to the interior of the harem to pay the ﬁrst visit to
the bride. On entering the apartment he gives presents to the
attendant females and they retire. To be allowed to approach his
betrothed he presents her with several purses, this being called the
“price of uncovering the face,” and after some show of modest reluc-
tance, or some slight effort of feigned resistance, she permits him to
remove herveil 3 and in doing this he exclaims: “In the name of
God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” and raising her hair over her
forehead he repeats the sacred words: “O Allah! bless me in my
wife, and bless my wife in me 3” to which she timidly replies, “ God
bless thee.”2 It is customary for a young husband to refrain from
the exercise of his conjugal rights for a week after the marriage, and
the termination of this period is considered a due cause of rejoicing.
But marriage engagements are often entered into by the contracting
parties without ceremonial formalities. Mutual consent is the only
essential condition requisite to give to the marriage legal validity; and
the simple expression, “ I give myself up to thee,” addressed by a woman
‘of proper age to a man who proposes to become her husband, renders
her his legal wife, and this even without the attestation of witnesses.
In the small towns and villages marriage celebrations are conducted
with great simplicity. Girls, whose personal attractions command a
considerable amount of money in the form of a dowry, are frequently
turned over to the bridegroom by a greedy father without the least
‘outﬁt 3 for the husband, as soon as he receives his bride, is bound to
furnish her with a new gown and a head veil. Ordinarily a camel or
.a buffalo, bearing a kind of platform covered with carpets, conveys the
young woman, mufﬂed up in a shawl, in company with a few of her
playmates, through the thoroughfares ‘and byways of the village, fol-
lowed on foot by a crowd of women who are singing in a shrill voice,
.and their pantomimic motions show the earnestness of their devotion.
The bridegroom in the meantime amuses himself by visiting the
mosque, and during his absence the bride and her party take posses-
sion of his house. He is conducted home in procession by his friends,
who carry lighted torches, amidst sham ﬁghting, singing, and instru-
mental music. When he reaches his dwelling the women are sum-
marily turned out, and he is ushered in as it were by main force.

1 The reception-room.
2 Often, but not always, a curious ceremony is performed. The bridegroom
takes off every article of the bride’s clothing except her shirt, sets her upon a
mattress or bed, the head of which is turned in the direction of Mecca, placing
her that her head is also turned in that direction, and draws forward and spreads
upon the bed the lower part and front of her shirt ; he stands then at a distance
of less than a yard before her and performs the prayer of two rihhats, laying his
hands and head in prostrate position upon the part of the shirt that is extended
upon her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer 3 having satisﬁed
his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women to raise the
cries of joy 3 he soon after descends to join his friends, and remains with them for
an hour, and then returns to his wife. It seldom happens that a husband, if dis-
appointed in his wife, immediately disgraces or divorces her, but he remains with
her a week or more. Lane’s Egypt, vol. i. p. 231
564 THE ARAMPEAN STOCK.
Here a lighted mud lamp reveals to him the face of his bride, which
he pretends never to have seen before, although she is well known to
him, for girls are seldom or never veiled in the villages. In front of'
the hut all is joy and merriment : here a great number of villagers are
assembled, the women being engaged in a slow dance, while the men
are singing; and this entertainment continues till'a late hour in the-
night.
Polygamy, although allowed by the Mohamedan law, is very
sparingly indulged in, even by the wealthy and higher classes, and it
is almost unknown among vthe fcllahs. The ﬁrst legally betrothed
wife has, however, the priority in the harem over the second and
third wife whom the husband may subsequently‘ marry, and she is
called the “great lady;” but she can claim no other privilege. But
even this nominal priority she cheerfully 'renou'nces in favour of her
husband’s mother (nina), who always maintains her supreme authority .
as mistress of the establishment ; and it is a‘remarkable fact that the-
married women in the East entertain the most unbounded respect for,
and yield ready compliance to, the wishes of their mother—in-law'.
Every wife has or can compel her husband to assign to her a separate-
home or a separate suite of apartments. But if a multiplicity of wives
is but an exceptional condition of the ordinary household, it is not
rare that one or several slaves of the husband become his concubines
without causing any jealous misgivings on the part of the legitimate
wife; and a frequent succession of wives, brought about by the-
abusive license of repudiation and divorce, is still more common.1
Although it is contrary to the usages of good society to turn off a
wife without adequate cause, yet the husband may pronounce the-
fatal words, “Thou art divorced,” whenever fancy or caprice prompts
him to do so; and the repudiated woman has no remedy, but must
return to the home of her parents or friends, where her repudiatingj
husband is bound to support her according to her station in life, until
she is fortunate enough to ﬁnd a more constant and more affectionate
husband. The divorced wife is entitled to one-third of her dowry‘
and to all the property she'possessedat the time of her marriage.
Formerly the inﬁdelity of the wife, after it was proved before the
lsadc' by the testimony of four eyewitnesses, was punished with death
by stoning; but the more humane law of modern times makes it,
simply a legitimate cause for divorce, giving the privilege to the
injured husband to proclaim the shame of his unfaithful wife to all
the world.
The harem, like every other domestic family circle, may prove to
the wife, notwithstanding all its restrictive regulations, a paradise of'
happiness and pleasure, if her husband is amiable, considerate, and
devoted to home life ; and she understands the art of making herself
agreeable, showing him marked attention, and convincing him of her-

1 The depraving effects and facility of divorce upon both sexes is very great.
There are many men in this country (Egypt) who in the course of ten years have
married as many as twenty, -’thirty, or more wives ; and women, not far advanced
in age, who have been wives to a dozen or more men successively. Lane’s
:Egypt, vol. i. p. 251.
_ EGYPTIAN ARABS. 565
affection and her constant solicitude to render him contented and
happy. It is here where she is surrounded by her children and enjoys
their society; it is here where‘ she receives her friends, and is fre-
quently favoured with intellectual amusements provided by the
kindness of her husband. Visitors are to her a great source of
pleasure. When they enter the harem she rises, takes their hand,
presses it to her bosom, kisses them, and invites them to sit down by
her side. They are entreated to feel at ease, to consider themselves
at home; if advanced in years they are addressed by the endearing
name of “mother ;” if young, they are called “ sister _; ” and if un-
married, “daughter of the house.” A profusion of compliments are
exchanged: “Why have you been so long absent ‘.1 ” “ 'We sighed to
see you ;. your presence is an honour to our house, it is the happiness
of our lives.” The servants bring coffee, sherbet, and sweetmeats; a
large dish is placed on the divan ﬁlled with oranges, pomegranates,
bananas, and luscious melons. In the meantime the guests and the
inmates of the harem are engaged in lively conversation, from which
the glee of good-humour, the laugh of innocent mirth, and the merry
peal of exquisite delight are not absent. The hall of reception is
perfumed with aloewood burning in a brazier. The amusement is
frequently varied by the dances of the slaves to the sounds of the
tamboolra. As the visitors depart the mistress of the house does not
fail in polite attentions, but expresses her good wishes in words no
less‘ charming than simple: “God keep you in health ;” “Heaven
grant you a numerous offspring ; ” “Heaven preserve your children,
the delight and glory of your family.” The Egyptian ladies not only
pay visits, receive visitors, and frequent the public baths, but, under
the care of eunuchs or slaves, they enjoy themselves in the open air
by taking a ride on donkeys, accompanied by their children in the
charge of servants ; or they sail along in pleasure-boats, richly embellished
and sumptuously ﬁtted up, on the waters of the Nile, quite exhilarated
by the charming prospects of its banks ; or they ascend the terrace
in the evening refreshed by the cooling breezes, and under a cloudless,
starry‘ sky inhale the odours of sweet-scented ﬂowers by which they
are surrounded.
The ‘women of the higher classes in Egypt are as happy and con-
tented as in any other country, for all social conditions of whatever
character or degree are attended with advantages and disadvantages ;
and custom and habit alone determine the relative import of what
shall be accepted as promotive of individual well-being and conduce
to the general welfare of society, or of what shall be discarded as
destructive of the ends and purposes of social ' union and social
.harmony.
To rear a numerous family is the object and end of an Egyptian
woman’s life, for the respect and conﬁdence she inspires is in exact
proportion to the measure of her fruitfulness as a mother. It is to
avoid the reproach and curse of barrenness that she sacriﬁces her.
personal charms, every gratiﬁcation of pleasure, and all else, except
the love and affection of her husband. If the means at her command
are ample, she treats her children with the greatest indulgence, she
566 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
literally fulﬁls the requirements of the Koran1 and nurses them for
two years, unless her state of health obliges her to engage a nurse,
who holds the position of a member of the family, and passes her-
days among the children she has suckled, and by whom she is cherished
and honoured as a second mother.
The young infant is the common property of the whole harem ;:
unencumbered by swaddling bands, with its limbs free and unrestrained,
it is constantly dandled and caressed, and all its wants are promptly
attended to. Children are not sent to school at a tender age, a master
is perhaps employed to teach them to read and write; and though
they do not always acquire much learning, they are healthy and well
formed, fear God, respect old age, are acquainted with the duty of
ﬁlial piety, are digniﬁed and self-possessed, and are instructed in the‘
etiquette and polite demeanour to be observed in the exercise of
generous hospitality, and the intimate relations of social intercourse.
Disobedience to parents is considered by the Moslem as a capital sin,
and is ranked in the same category as idolatry, falsely accusing-
modest women of unchastity, wasting the property of orphans, taking.‘
usury, and desertion in an expedition against inﬁdels. An undutiful
or rebellious child would be as much an exceptional, social monstrosity
among the Egyptian Arabs, as a parricide was among the Romans.
The wife of the feZZah is not quite so favourably situated as the
wealthy married lady of cities; but she is poor, and, like most poor
people of her class all over the world, she is ignorant, and is sufficiently
contented with her social condition, so that she willingly resigns:
herself to all the hardships imposed upon her for the general good of'
the family placed under her control. She is looked upon by her
husband as inferior to himself, and she readily complies with the
customs of the country, and never forgets her proper position. She-
always walks behind her lord, and while travelling, if he rides a
horse or a donkey, she does not feel herself neglected, or her dignity
insulted because she is obliged to follow on foot. She performs alf
the drudgeries of the household without murmur or complaint. She‘
knows that it comes within the sphere of her duty to attend to the-
cooking, to wash the clothes, to bring in the fuel, to fetch the daily
supply of water from the river or from a pond or canal in the
neighbourhood. The peasant women of Egypt are robust and healthy
and at the same time exceedingly proliﬁc. Pregnancy does not
interrupt their labours, nor does it offer much inconvenience. They
give birth to their children without the aid of a midwife, and are-
frequently delivered in the field or on the banks of the river. As-
soon as the child is born, the mother, or some matron who is present.
at the time, after performing some ridiculous ceremony, whispers the-
call of prayer into the ear of the new-born babe as a charm to prevent
the ingress of Sheidan. To bestow a suitable name upon the child
the father hails a boat and explains to the crew the object of his call,

1 “Let mothers suckle their children full two years, if the child does not quit.
the breast, but she shall be permitted to wean it with the permission of her
husband.” Koran.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 567
who shout out in reply, Isma'il, Hussein, or some other famous name,
and this decision is accepted, and the child thus named is considered
lucky. Infants are only weaned after they are sufficiently advanced
in age; and while, engaged in the ordinary labours of the day, the
mother takes care of the helpless babe by carrying it on her back
wrapped in a mantle, or by placing it astride on her left shoulder.
As soon as children are able to walk, they are almost always neglected;
naked and soiled with dirt, they play on the rubbish-heap before the
house among the poultry, the goats, and the dogs.
Under the present system of education, directed and controlled by
the government, boys and girls are sent to school at an early age, where
they are taught the elementary branches of reading, writing, and
arithmetic. As soon as their primary education is completed, they
are rendered useful, and thus become habituated to industry by
attending to the cattle ; or, armed with a sling, they keep watch in
the ﬁelds and prevent the birds from injuring the crops; or their
servicesv may be required to assist in some light agricultural labours.
When sufficiently advanced in age, they are frequently employed in
clearing away the rubbish from the canals, so as to keep them in good
repalr.
Domestic slavery has existed in Egypt from time immemorial.
Te slaves are mostly negroes and Abyssinians of the Gallas tribes.
It is not often that Circassian and Georgian women are introduced
to replenish the harems, unless they are purchased in Constantinople.
At present no public slave-market exists, and recently the external
slave-trade has been abolished, and all further supply from abroad has
been stopped. Even under the modiﬁed condition in which Egypt
has been placed by assimilating its civilisation to that of 'Western
Europe, no native family, whether Mohamedan or Christian, could
conveniently dispense with the services of one or more purchased
servants to perform the drudgeries of the household, go on errands,
and wait on the table. The slaves are most kindly treated, they
generally lead an easy life, free from all care and anxiety, and are
only responsible for the performance of some special task, which is
neither onerous nor laborious. They are far more favoured than the
free servants. They have all adopted the Mohamedan religion and
are‘ much more fanatical than their masters. The free servants are
principally Nubians, who are generally porters in the houses of the
wealthy, or grooms whose duty it is to run before or by the side of
their master whenever he takes a ride, to be ready to assist him when
their services may be needed. They receive but small wages, but this
deﬁciency is made up by presents in clothing as well as money.
The language spoken in Egypt is Arabic, and although it is not to
be compared in grammatical correctness and purity of pronunciation
with the language used by the Bedouin Arabs of the desert, yet it is
far superior in the softness and smooth intonation of its words, and I
the scientific features of its grammar, to the rude and corrupt dialect
of Syria or that of the Moors. Egypt has for many years been con-
sidered the best school of Arabic literature. Some of its libraries are
Well supplied with Arabic Works of considerable value. Religion and
568 V THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
the kindred subject of Mohamedan jurisprudence are the favourite
topics of Arabic authors. Their scientiﬁc expositions of grammar and
their treatises on philology and rhetoric are elaborate. Their poetical
compositions, and their works on Arabian history and geography
display much talent, if not genius. Chemistry, medicine, mathematics,
algebra, and astronomy—sciences for which the Saracens were so
famous—are but sparingly represented and are not much cultivated.
As the introduction of printing in Egypt on a large scale is but of
recent date, nearly all the old Arabian books exist only in manuscript
written in caligraphic style by professional scribes whose business it
is to multiply copies of books of general interest and of acknowledged
merit. The paper employed for this purpose is thick and glazed,‘ and
the characters are traced with thick and gummy ink by means of reeds
fashioned into pens. The Arab scribe carries his inkstand in his
girdle, and instead of using a table or desk for writing he places the
paper upon his knees or upon the palm of his left hand. 7
Education has assumed so much importance in Egypt that a separate
department of government has been created under the name and title
of “ ministry of public instruction.” Since the reform movement
inaugurated by Mehemed Ali has been prosecuted with so much‘ zeal
and good judgment by the administration of Ismail Pasha, a great
impulse has been given to primary as well as to the higher branches
of education. Voluntary schools for primary instruction, generally
attached to the mosques and public fountains, have existed from time
immemorial. But formerly parents took no great interest in the
education of their sons, and that of their daughters was almost entirely
neglected. Perhaps one in a thousand of the population availed
himself "of the advantages of the common schools, under the care of
the religious teachers. _ In these primary schools the mode of instruc-
tion was quite rudimentary. The schoolmaster (ﬁlsee), whose store of
knowledge was but scanty, was seated on the ground with his pupils
ranged around him. Those who were learning to read held in their
hand either a copy of the Koran or one of the thirty sections traced
on a kind of disk made of palmsticks. They all recited their lessons
together, continually rocking their bodies and moving their heads _
backwards and forwards. Others had their lessons written on white
painted wooden tablets, and after it was thoroughly memorised the
writing was effaced and the blank ‘space was ﬁlled up with additional
lines, which were generally quotations from the Koran. It was not
common for girls to be taught to read and write ; but there were and
are yet some special schools in which they could acquire proﬁciency
in embroidery and plain needlework. But recentlyrthe method of
teaching has been improved by the introduction of schoolbooks, and
the number of pupils has so rapidly increased that no less than sixty
thousand children receive instruction in the elementary branches of
education. ' '
Government schools have been established in the large towns, having
an aggregate of four thousand pupils, who receive not only gratuitous
instruction, but they are altogether supported at the public expense,
andin some of the higher schools they areallowed, in addition, a
EGYPTIAN ARABS. _ 569
monthly gratuity in money proportioned to the degree of advancement
in their studies. The initiatory course of these subsidiary schools
embraces reading and writing Arabic, arithmetic, drawing, and French,
or some other foreign language. In the preparatory school of the
secondary department a three years’ course is prescribed, which includes
the study of Arabic, Turkish, French, English, and German, mathe-
matics, drawing, history, and geography. After having successfully
mastered the subjects of study in this school, the pupil is admitted
into the Polytechnic School, where he is required to select as a choice
of professions either the civil or the military career; and during a
course of four years he either pursues his studies in the school of
administration and is subsequently enrolled into the service of the
state, or he enters the military academy of Abbasieh at Cairo, and
becomes attached to the army or engineer corps. A law school has
also been organised, where four years’ attendance is required, and the
subjects of study embrace, besides the Mohamedan law, Roman juris-
prudence and that of the Christian nations in general. In the
.philological and arithmetical schools mathematics, philology, rhetoric,
prosody, and drawing are taught as specialties. A school of arts and
industry, and a medical school, with which a school of midwifery is
connected, are well organised and conducted with some judgment.
The ﬂoating naval school is established at Alexandria. The students
who are educated to become naval oﬂicers pursue their studies on
vboard a frigate, and as the vessel makes periodical trips to various
parts of the Mediterranean, they are able to acquire a practical as well
as theoretical knowledge of their profession.1
In religion the Egyptian Arabs are strict Mohamedans, professing
the same sectarian tenets as the Soonites of Turkey; and although
they are exact in the performance of their religious duties, yet they
are free from fanaticism and a spirit of intolerance. Christians are
generally treated with civility, and prompted by politeness they often
-express liberal sentiments as regards their religious opinions when in

conversation with the’ inﬁdel.2
'- 1 The college connected with the mosque E1 Azhar may be considered as the
university of the East. It was once richly endowed, before Mehemed Ali had
seized the lands belonging to the religious establishments of Egypt. In its most
"flourishing condition it was sometimes attended by twenty thousand pupils. The
students came from all parts of the Mohamedan world—from Turkey, Asia
Minor, Arabia, various countries of Africa, and even from India and the Sunda
Islands. The number of students in the higher classes amounted in 1870 to ﬁve
"thousand, who attend the lectures of forty professors. The preparatory classes,
comprising many thousand pupils, are instructed by two hundred and sixty
‘teachers. About half of the scholars are maintained from the funds of the
mosque; food, consisting of bread and soup, being provided for them twice a day.
The softas or students are distinguished by a peculiar costume of a black serge
cloak or gown. As the Muderris deliver their lectures, the pupils, squatted in a
semicircle at their feet, repeat together in a loud voice the sentences distinctly
.-uttered by their instructors. Their studies comprise a thorough understanding of
the Koran, in a legal as well as religious point of view, a knowledge of medicine
of a quite primitive character, reading and writing Arabic grammatically, and a
' certain degree of rhetoric.
2 For the Mohamedan religion, see Turkey.
570 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
Like all other Arabs, the Egyptians are very superstitious, and this
trait ‘of character is most prominently brought into view among the--
ignorant and oppressed fellalzs. They are early impressed with the
belief that the earth, the air, and the water are peopled with good
and. evil spirits, who busy themselves about the affairs of man-~ and
hold constant communication with him in. all the walks of life.
Everywhere he is followed by them, and is exposed to the danger of
being ensnared by the contact with the mischief-loving sprites which
are supposed to predominate by their number. If a feZZah stumbles
over a clod, and if by accident he should happen to gape at the time,
his childish imagination instantly evokes a. demon ready to jump-
down his throat. He is so much awed by these fantastic spirits-
that he will not sit upon the grass, pour out water upon the ground,
throw down a load, or light a ﬁre, without condescendingly asking;
their permission. Every locality, every part of a house, is believed
to be inhabited by some particular genius. A beautiful nymph never
fails to haunt the well, moving through its waters, or hovering over-
its surface, and when the bucket descends the appropriate invocation,
“ By your leave,” is pronounced. Paper, on which legible characters-
are traced, is treated with the greatest respect; it is never desecrated
by the profane touch of the foot, lest the name of God, or the letters-
which compose his name, might be trampled in the dust. To sit upon
a book, no matter what its contents or-character may be, is an act of'
the grossest impiety; and if the offence has, been committed by
inadvertency, the offending party can only escape from being molested
by the evil genii by repeating a certain formula of. words which has
the effect of keeping the demons at a distance. Should ‘this pre—
caution be neglected, or if the proper invocation should have escaped
the memory of the unfortunate sinner, he becomes immediately
possessed. In this condition of mental aberration hev can only be:
relieved by the hakem (doctor), who recites some sentences of mystic
import from a book, and sometimes applies ﬁre to the mouth of the.-
patient. Frequently, the expedient of beating the demon spirit, in
the person of the sufferer, is adopted, until the chief of all miscreants
at last consents to leave his victim, and proposes to come forth by
the eyes, the ears, the mouth, or the nostrils, all of which are rejected
by the halce'm as too respectable places of exit; and when the demon
feels sufficiently humbled, he gladly agrees to open a passage for--
himself beneath the toenails, or some other ignoble part of the body.
All classes of Egyptians put implicit faith in the efficacy of written-
charms. They are generally worn in the form of amulets, and most.
of them are supposed to derive their supernatural power from magic.
It was once a common custom, not yet entirely abandoned, to suspend
by a silk cord, which passed over the left shoulder, a miniature copy’
of the Koran enclosed in a case of embroidered velvet or leather, or
sometimes in a casquet of gold or gilt silver. Certain ‘chapters of the-
Koran, the ninety-nine names of the Deity, and the titles of the-
Prophet are held in equally high estimation. To protect children
against the pernicious influence of the evil eye, a triangular case,
containing a speciﬁc charm, is ﬁxed in an ornamental style to the
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 571:
top of their cap. To drink the water with which certain passages of
the. Koran written on the inner surface of an earthenware cup or
bowl have been washed out, is looked upon as the most potent panacea
in all kinds of diseases. Dust taken from the tomb of the Prophet,
Zemzen Water, or a fragment of the black silk ceveringi of the
Kaaba are preserved as precious relics, and are supposed to exercise
a protecting inﬂuence. The occupant of a new house suspends an
aloe-plant over the door to insure a long and prosperous life to its
inmates and long-continued existence to the house. When a person
is' suspected of some evil designs, his intentions are believed to be-
frustrated by breaking a piece of pottery behind his back. Childless
women, whose most ardent wish it is to become pregnant, trust to the
frail expedient of stepping seven times over the corpse of a decapi-
tated criminal. ‘
The Egyptians, as. in days of old, ascribe supernatural agency to
the origin of dreams ,' and they are frequently so much inﬂuenced by
these nocturnal ebullitions of wild fancy that they are accepted as
premonitions, and sometimes give direction to the most important
actions in life. They also practise various modes of casting lots, for
which a system of interpretation, by means of the Koran, has been
invented; and they often resort to this expedient to conﬁrm their
resolution, resolve their doubts, or determine the choice of measures
which it would be most advantageous to adopt. Another rather
common superstition prevalent in Egypt is that of lucky and unlucky
days. The unfortunate days are Sunday and Tuesday. The last
is called the day of blood, for it is said that on this day several
eminent martyrs were put to death. Thursday and Friday are called
blessed days, and ‘Wednesday, Monday, and Saturday are considered
indifferent.
Although death among the Egyptian Arabs produces the distressing
consequences of blighted hope, yet their habitual resignation to the
will of a Higher Power never forsakes them, and after the ceremonial
honours are paid gto the dead, their memory is still cherished for a
long time, but the outward signs of mourning are simple and
unostentatious.
When the last agonies of death are approaching, the head of the
dying person is turned towards Mecca, and at the same time the male
attendants of the dying man generally exclaim: “Allah, there is no
strength nor power but in God. To God we belong and to God we
must return. God have mercy on him.” As soon as he'has ceased
to breathe, the women who are present raise the cry of lamentation
(wc'lwal), and utter in a loud and shrill voice the most heart-rending
shrieks that can be heard at a great distance ; and they shout out the
name of the deceased as if they intended to call him to life again.
At the death of the master of the house, his wife and children ‘give
expression to their grief by addressing him in words of love and
affection: “0 my dear one! 0 my only one! 0 my father! 0 lion!
0 camel of the house! 0 my camel! it is thou who didst bring my
provisions and didst carry my burdens.” Professional mourners
‘(nedabchs) are frequently hired by the rich who, while beating the
572 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
tambourine exclaim, “Alas! for him; alas! for him ; ” and then
pronounce a eulogy on his turban, his handsome person, or his
distinguished life; while the female friends, with dishevelled hair,
and sometimes with rent clothes, beat their faces and join in the cry,
“Alas! for him.” After this exhibition of outward grief has con-
tinued for one hour, the imam or ﬁlcee recites a chapter from the
Koran. The body is then washed with water and soap by profes-
sional washers, and is sprinkled with liquid camphor mixed with
pounded leaves of the nebek and rosewater. The ankles are tied
together, the hands are placed on the breast, the jaws are bound
up, and the eyes are closed. The corpse is wrapped in a shroud,
which varies according to the wealth of the deceased ; it maybe white
or green, or any other colour except blue. In the meantime imams,
who are invited to attend the funeral, chant the sixth chapter of the
Koran, or, in place of it, the boorleh, which is a poem in praise of the
Prophet. Six poor men, who are generally blind, walk at the head
of the funeral procession ; they are followed by the male relatives, the
imams, dervishes, and schoolboys ; next comes the bier, borne by three
or four friends, who are relieved by others at regular intervals- The
female mourners, with dishevelled hair, crying and shrieking, and
accompanied by the domestics, close up the funeral escort. The bier
is for a short time deposited in the mosque, where ‘an imam reads the
prayer of the dead over it, but this is not a universal practice. The
funeral procession of the wealthy and the middle classes is sometimes
preceded by three or four camels loaded with bread and water to be
distributed to the poor at the tomb.
At the cemetery the corpse is taken from the bier and deposited in
the vault by the sexton and his assistants ; the bandages are untied,
and the head is turned towards Mecca. A little earth is gently
placed upon the corpse, and the vault is closed. It is believed that
the soul remains with the body during the ﬁrst night, when it is to
be visited by the examining angels that it may be judged. To
prepare the deceased for this examination, upon which his eternal
happiness depends, an imam or ﬁkee sits before the tomb and performs
the office of instructor, and recites all the answers necessary to secure
an entrance into Paradise.
An upright stone (stcla) marks the head and foot of the tomb
inscribed with the ‘=name of the deceased, the date of his death, and
.an appropriate text from the Koran. _As a sign of mourning, women
‘dye their shirts, head and face veils, and handkerchiefs of a dark
blue colour with indigo; and the carpets, mats, cushions, and divan
covers,are turned upside down when the master of the house is dead.
The government of Egypt has always been and is even now,
although in a more limited sense, an absolute despotism ; for the will
and power of a single man controls the destiny of the nation for good
or evil, and exacts unconditional obedience from his subjects. It is a
remarkable fact that the people of Egypt have never made a sponta—
neous attempt to disenthral themselves from the oppressive nightmare
of arbitrary power and wanton tyranny which has weighed upon them
from the earliest dawn of their national existence under the Pharaohs
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 573
up to the present time, which embraces a period of more than ﬁve
thousand years. It is a question of the highest philosophical interest
whether this passive submission of Eastern nations to usurpation of
power originates in the peculiarities of climate and soil, or constitutes
the inherent characteristic feature of the races thus held in subjection.
The latter alternative would be the more plausible supposition, were
it not that the Sclavonic and Mongolian nations are equally persistent
in yielding ready and unconditional obedience to the despotic autho-
rity that controls their destiny. But be this as it may, the Egyptian
Arabs, no less than the Egypto-Libyans of old, have been subjected
to the domineering exactions of arrogant rulers and insolent masters.
After the Mamelooks had usurped the sceptre of power, the security
of life and the rights of property were forfeited at’the nod and plea-
sure of the tyrants who administered the affairs of the government.
The blood of men was shed without scruple or hesitation, if prompted
to the commission of the atrocious deed by interest, vindictiveness, or
suspicion. “ The officer of the night in his rounds, and the officer of
the day in his circuit, judged, condemned, and executed in the twink-
ling of an eye without appeal.” -The executioner, who was in con-
stant attendance, performed his duty at a given signal, and struck off
the head of the unhappy victim, which was received in the leathern
bag which he carried. If information was given to some powerful
chief by a malicious enemy that a man was in possession of an undue
share of money, or if he was suspected of having accumulated a for-
tune by a certain turn of events, he was immediately summoned before
one of the boys, and on denial of the facts, or on his refusal to deliver
over the sum demanded of him, the bastinado was resorted to as a
gentle‘ means of coercion, and two or three hundred blows inﬂicted
upon the soles of the feet frequently endangered, if it did not put an
end to, the life of the stubborn, recalcitrant dissembler. After the
destruction of the Mamelooks by Mehemed Ali, who thus made him-
self undisputed master of Egypt under the nominal supremacy of the
Turkish sultan, the government, though less bloody and cruel, was no
less arbitrary and oppressive. It was still one of the sovereign prero-
gatives ‘of the Egyptian despot to cause any of his subjects to be put
to death without formality of trial ; a simple horizontal motion of his
hand was equivalent to a sentence of decapitation, and as soon as his
pleasure was made known it was instantly carried into execution with-
out further orders. Nor was the property of his people more sacred ;
he assumed the proprietorship of all the lands, treated the fellahs as
slaves, and made requisition of their labour and service whenever it
suited his interest or convenience. He created at an enormous outlay
a navy such as the East had never before seen; but he ground his
people to‘ powder by his exactions and extortions, and with greedy
‘avarice he swallowed up the marrow and substance of the land. He
organised an army upon European principles, and introduced modern
tactics and strict discipline as well as military science; but he laid
his iron hand upon the young conscripts, bound them in chains, tore
them away by brute force from the endearments of home, destroyed
the peace and happiness of families, and thus deprived agriculture of
574 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
its resources of labour, while the soldiers were employed in proﬁtless
works—the planting of pleasure—gardens, the creation of ornamental
palaces, or the construction of fortiﬁcations. He increased the pro-
ductiveness of the Nile valley by intersecting ‘the country in- every
direction with numerous canals, and brought under control the proper
distribution of the Nile water by vfloodgates, so as to admit it or cut it
‘off at pleasure ; but he reduced the peasantry to the level of slaves by
pressing them into service, forcing them to dig canals with no other
instruments but their bare hands, in return for the most triﬂing com-
pensation, which was never paid, but only deducted from their taxes.
He gave a new impulse to the cultivation of indigo, cotton, and sugar-
cane ; but the proﬁts derived from these agricultural enterprises were
altogether appropriated by the tyrant master Whose insatiate avidity
could hardly spare the scantiest subsistence to his wretched and
degraded labourers. He erected numerous factories, founded a multi-
tude of schools for the arts of peace as well as war, established hos-
- pitals for the sick, embellished his private domains with magniﬁcent
pleasure-grounds and splendid buildings, and even convoked an assem-
bly of landholders as an advisory body in the framing of appropriate
laws; but these were merely the means of satisfying his inordinate
ambition, to ﬂatter the Western powers by adopting the showy para-
phernalia of European civilisation, that he might thus reach, with
greater probability of success, his ultimate aim ‘and purpose of making
himself independent of the Ottoman empire.
In 1849 Mehemed Ali died, and he was succeeded by Abbas Pasha,
his grandson, whose depravity and debauched habits were not set ‘off
by a single redeeming virtue. His private life was stained with every
vice, and in his public career he was only distinguished for his
remorseless cruelty, coarse brutality, and overbearing insolence. He
was prodigal in his expenditures, and his passion for building palaces
was not even stimulated by classic reﬁnement or cultivated taste. The
immense proﬁts realised from his farms and plantations were the
tribute exacted from the sweat and labour of the poor, who were illy
paid and were subjected to compulsory service. He was an enemy to
all reform, and under his guidance the advancement in civilisation,
initiated by his grandfather, would have gradually‘disappeared from
want of fostering care. He abolished the land monopoly, revived the
‘old tithing system, so that‘ the taxes were collected in kind. This
ill-timed administrative measure led to the most startling abuses, and
was a cause of great vexation among the agricultural population, and
he was so much execrated and despised that the excessive heat at the
"time of his death gave rise to a saying among the fellahs “that the
gates of hell were opening to receive his soul.” Mahomed Sa'i'd, his
uncle, succeeded to the government of Egypt. Having received a
European education, and being endowed by nature with a kind dis-
position, he did not adopt the retrogressive policy of his predecessor,
nor did he imitate the harsh and arbitrary measures of his father. He
proportioned the taxes annually according to the produce of the land,
and gave the highest proof of his sense of justice by subjecting his
own property and that of his family to the same burdens which he
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 575
‘imposed upon others. While he carried into execution the existing
law by which the property of the feZZa-hs was conﬁscated on absenting
themselves from their villages for a month, he remitted to them all
‘the arrears due to the state, and conferred upon them the privilege of
selling their own produce to the best advantage after the payment of
their assessed taxes. It is under his enlightened administration that
the project for the construction of the Suez canal was initiated, and
a company was formed under his auspices and armed with his authority.
He was succeeded by Ismail, who is the second son ‘of Ibrahim Pasha
and the reputed adopted son of Mehemed Ali. He bore the official
‘title of Khedive-el-Masr, “ Ruler of Egypt,” the succession having been
made hereditary in his family, in the direct line of primogeniture, in
'the year 1866.1 In the administration of public affairs the new
viceroy displayed much energy, prudence, and ﬁrmness of purpose.
During the ﬁrst years of his reign he courageously pushed forward
every measure of reform, the adoption of which was safe in the actual
condition of the country. He abolished the odious edict of conﬁsca—
‘tion, and restored to the peasants a part at least of the property of
which they had been arbitrarily deprived, and advanced money to
‘those whose lands had been sold, which rendered a gratuitous restitu-
tion impossible. The Bedouins on the border of the desert who, under
some plausible pretext, had been unjustly dealt with and plundered,
were compensated for their losses, and their settlements having thus
become permanent, they now constitute an effective defensive force for
the protection of the frontier. The personal tax, as well as the tax
on cotton, linen, wool, silk, and articles of home manufacture, was also
abolished, reserving, however, to the Viceroy the exclusive monopoly
of growing and reﬁning sugar. The land-tax was regulated upon an
‘equitable basis, and can only be collected after the crops had been
gathered. But while the business capacity and administrative talent
of Ismail Pasha are of a high order, his close attention to his private
affairs and his undisguised passion for amassing wealth were derogatory
‘to his public character as a ruler of a nation still struggling against
the abuses of centuries of tyranny and oppression. ‘Vhile he was
fully impressed with the importance of the position which he held,
.and the high responsibility it involved, he was possessed of that
intense trading spirit which prompted him to examine daily the minor
details of price currents, the state of the money-market, and the
quotations of the stock exchange. He gave audience to his ministers
every morning on board of his pleasure yacht, disposed of state affairs
with promptness and dispatch, and then steamed up the Nile, lunched
in one of hispalaces on the banks, and visited his cotton and sugar
‘plantations to give the necessary orders for their judicious management.
His estates, which at his accession consisted of twenty-ﬁve thousand
jedha'ns, amounted at his abdication to at least one million two
hundred thousand fcdhcms. which made up one-fourth of all the arable

_ 1 By the hatti-sherif of February 17, 184i, the dignity of ruler over the Pashalic
of Egypt was made hereditary in the family of Mehemed Ali, the oldest living
male member being entitled to the succession.
576 THE ARAMJEAN. STOCK.
land of Egypt, thus possessing an immense fortune representing the
enormous sum of forty or ﬁfty millions of pounds sterling. This
more than princely property was acquired with the funds of the state,
partly derived from foreign loans, to the prejudice of the public
creditors. In addition to all this the ex-khedive possesses no less
than ten or twelve palaces, and two of them are on the banks of the
Bosphorus. It cannot be surprising that under such a wholesale
system of spoliation the ﬁnancial condition of the country should
become deranged; the interest of the foreign debt could no longer be
covered by the annual revenues of the government. England and
France, who were guarantee powers of a part of the public debt,
insisted that a supervisory control should be established, to be exercised
by .men of' their appointment, with the object of regulating the-
Egyptian ﬁnances. The khedive was thus forced to admit as members
of his government two ﬁnancial agents, who soon discovered that the
greatest part of the property claimed by the viceroy was really paid
with money taken from the public exchequer, and consequently
belonged to the state. On account of a palace intrigue, instigated by
the khedive himself, the European ﬁnancial commissioners, as well as
the Liberal ministry that supported it, were bound to resign. From
this moment the fate of Ismail was sealed. The European powers
prevailed upon the sultan of Turkey to require the khedive to abdicate
in favour of his son Tevﬁk, who is now the’ ruling khedive of Egypt,
under the ﬁnancial tutelage of France and England.
Egypt is still a tributary dependency of Turkey, and pays an annual
_ tribute of a hundred and ﬁfty thousand purses1 into the imperial
treasury. The viceroy is almost invested with absolute power, but.
he is, notwithstanding, under obligation to respect the fundamental
laws of the Koran and the traditions. He has unlimited control of‘
the internal affairs of the government, manages the ﬁnances, and has
the privilege of contracting loans. He possesses even the sovereign
power of entering into treaty stipulations with foreign states, provided
they are not contrary to the policy and the material interests of the-
Ottoman empire. He may increase the army as far as the protection
and the defence of the country may require it, and assume the supreme
command, but he can make no appointment to any higher grade than
that of colonel, and heis bound to recognise the Turkish ﬂag as the
national banner. He may determine the number of war vessels his
ﬁnancial condition may enable him to equip and maintain, but he is
not allowed to construct ironclad war steamers without the permission
of the sultan. He possesses the sovereign right of coining money,
but it must bear the impression of the imperial cypher. The details
of the administration are intrusted to a council of state, which is
simply composed of the members of the cabinet who, at the head of
their respective departments, preside over the ministry of justice, of
foreign affairs, of ﬁnance, of the interior, of public instruction and
public works, of war and of the navy. A council of representatives
has been established in 1863, whose functions are not legislative but

1 I 50,000 purses are equal to ,6 7 50,000.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 577
simply consultative. It is their duty to deliberate on matters which
relate to the general interests of the country, and express their opinion
on subjects which the government may deem proper to submit to
their deliberation; and while the conclusions reached by them are not
law, they may form the basis of legislative measures, which must be
approved by the viceroy and are then promulgated in the form of an
edict. In addition to this the viceroy reserves to himself the right
of assembling, proroguing, adjourning, or dissolving the assembly at
pleasure. All natives of Egypt who have reached the age of twenty-
ﬁve years, who are neither paupers nor bankrupts, are eligible to this
assembly on the condition that they be honest and capable. But in
the cities and towns all the inhabitants who are not bankrupts, have
never been convicted of a crime, and have never been dismissed from
office, are entitled to vote for electors, who in their turn choose the
representatives. The country is divided into electoral districts
apportioned according to the number of inhabitants. In the villages
the sheikhs act as electors, and vote by ballot for the representative to
be chosen by the district. The vote is counted in the mudz'r’s ofﬁce
in the presence of the chief of police and the Audi, and the election
of members is veriﬁed by the committee appointed by the assembly,
two-thirds of its whole number constituting a quorum.
Egypt is politically divided into provinces, each of which is governed
by a muclz'r (provincial governor). He is at the head of the adminis-
tration of the provincial government, and acting in the districts
through the nazz'r (deputy) and in the villages through the sheikh
(elder), it is his duty to see that the taxes are properly levied and
collected; that the police regulations are strictly enforced; that the
law of conscription is judiciously and impartially applied, and that
the peasants are not dispossessed of the distributive share of land to
which they are entitled.
The sheikh el beled, or the sheikh of the village, is elected by the
peasants of the rural community, and is generally the most inﬂuential
man of the village and the most respectable type of his race. If his
mind is enlightened and he takes an interest in the prosperity and
welfare of his people, he is treated by the feZZahs with submissive con-
descension, of which he shows a proper appreciation by a strictly
honourable conduct, and by an impartial and just management of
public affairs. The oldest and best men of the village community
meet him on terms of respectful familiarity, and in the evening they
assemble in the divan or public reception-room, and there discuss, while
enjoying the luxury of smoking and drinking coffee, topics of general
interest, but more especially the news of the day. In collecting the
taxes on behalf of the government, or in his endeavour to preserve the
peace among the villagers, the duties of the sheikh are sometimes
unpleasant and disagreeable, for he is occasionally compelled to have
recourse to corporal punishment in order to induce some stubborn
peasant to listen to reason; but blows inﬂicted under circumstances
of imperative necessity leave no rankling ill-will in the heart of the
ever—cheerful fcllah, and after having given evidence of patient endu-
rance, he shows his readiness to comply with the requirements of the
2 O
578 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
law, and in a short time his former equanimity is entirely restored.
The sheikh is held to strict account for his administration and the
faithful performance of his ofﬁcial functions, otherwise-he may have
occasion to do penance for his shortcomings by working in chains‘ in
the dockyard in Alexandria, or in the forts of Aboukir. If, on, the
other hand, a sheikh is actuated by selﬁsh avarice and cupidity, he
possesses great power to injure and oppress the peasantry, and make
himself feared, if not respected, by giving free course to his spirit of
revenge. The sheikh is responsible to the mudz'r for the amount of
taxes assessed upon the village, which he collects from the heads of
families in proportion to the land they cultivate. He is thus enabled
to make undue exactions, and enrich himself at the expense of the
agricultural population. It is his province to .designate the young
men who have attained the legal age, and are liable to military service,
as ﬁt subjects to be enrolled in the army 3 and as his decision is with—
out appeal, his selection may be prompted by the ﬂattering suggestions
of favour or the deceptive insinuations of hatred. .
The courts of justice of Egypt are equally as inefficient as those of
all Eastern countries, which is necessarily the case, because here, like
in all other Mohamedan states, the civil and religious laws are con-
founded, and both derive their legal authority from a common source
which is considered as infallible as it is unchangeable. Violations of
police regulations are summarily dealt with by the bash agha (chief of
police), who is never hampered in the prompt despatch of business by
legal technicalities. He examines the facts of the case and makes his
decisions accordingly. The mahkemeh, which is presided over by ‘the
horde’, is the principal judicial tribunal, where all questions concerning
property, contracts, family disputes, and other important cases are
decided. Lawsuits, in which great values are at stake or vital inte-
rests are involved, are tried and adjudicated by the kadz' himself, but
cases of minor importance are referred to the eﬁ'endee, whose decision is
equally binding on being conﬁrmed by the seal of the laadz'. The
quarrels and differences of parties about matters of little consequence
are often arranged and amicably settled by the kateb (clerk or scribe),
for which he is entitled to a small fee for the friendly service he has
rendered. If the parties cannot be reconciled and the matter cannot
be adjusted by the intervention of the scribe, it passes to the ofﬁce of
the eﬁ'endee, where it is entered as a regular judicial proceeding.
Trials in criminal cases, such as murder, robbery, maiming, and wound-
ing, are conducted by the kadz' in person, and he alone is competent
to pronounce sentence against the accused, after the witnesses have
been heard and the evidence has been weighed and duly considered.
The judicial ofﬁcers of the Egyptian courts either receive no salary
from the government, or their salary is entirely insuﬁicient. Their
pay is principally derived from fees, which fall to the charge of the
party that gains the suit.1 This injudicious practice, which is preva-

1 The chief lead-i, who is now appointed by the khedive, makes exception to
this rule, for he receives a ﬁxed salary of four thousand napoleons each year. The
new code of the international courts has been as far as possible introduced, and
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 579
lent‘in almost all despotic governments, has produced, as a natural
consequence, the counter-practice of receiving bribes both from the
plaintiff and defendant, which are looked upon in the light of pre-
sents, as a means of obtaining certain advantages agreed upon by the
donor and the receiver. It is but rarely that a poor man can obtain
speedy justice in the courts of Egypt. Unless he has a sufﬁcient
amount of money to spare to stimulate the torpid temperament of the
bash Irate?) (chief clerk) and other subordinate oﬂicials, his complaint
will be treated with neglect. He will be put off from day to day, he
will be required to make the round of all the functionaries in the ser-
vice without making the least progress, and it is even probable that
his case will receive no attention whatever ; but as soon as the propi-
tiatory offering is tendered in proper form, the portals of the court are
thrown wide open to the importunate complainant, and judgment is
rendered without delay. The icadzl is entitled to four-ﬁfths of all the
fees received in adjudicated cases 3 the remaining one-ﬁfth goes to the
bash hatch and the other scribes who serve under him. These perqui-
sites thus accumulated for a week are distributed to the respective
parties every Thursday.
Recently an international court has been established in Cairo and
Alexandria, whose personnel is composed of a judicial representative
from England, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia, Denmark, and
the United States, with whom a minority of native judges are associated,
who possess plenary powers to decide all legal questions and adjust all
differences that may arise between the subjects of foreign countries
residing in Egypt, or between foreigners and Egyptians—a jurisdiction
which has formerly been exercised in accordance with treaty stipulations
by the respective consuls of those nations.
The revenues of the government of Egypt are principally derived
from the land tax and the import duty of foreign merchandise.
The total receipts for the year ending April 2, 1870, amounted to
1,458,729 purses, and the total expenditure during the same year to
1,283,830 purses.1 In January 1871 the public debt amounted to
40,550,000 pounds sterling, an enormous sum for a young nation just
starting out in her career of independence and modern improvement.
But against this heavy indebtedness Egypt has an offset of six hundred
and forty-nine miles of railroads in operation, and eleven thousand ﬁve
' hundred and seventy-ﬁve miles of telegraph wire, comprising ﬁve
thousand three hundred and ninety~four lines in good working order.
In addition to this her numerous canals, her eﬂicient navy, her well-
stocked arsenals, her fortiﬁcations and military establishment are the
surest guarantee of her future prosperity and greatness, and under
a free and constitutional government she could not fail to recover
her ancient renown, and her people would become the object both of
pride and envy among the Mohamedan nations of the East.

under the ﬁrm and liberal control of the minister of justice the worst scandals of
the old system have been in great part weeded out. M‘Coan’s Egypt as It is,
P- 293-
1 One purse is equal to ﬁve hundred piasters, twenty piasters are equal to one
dollar.
580 THE ARAMjEAN sToox.
Cairo, whose name is derived from Kahereh, the “Victorious,” dates
its origin from the Arabian conquest of Egypt by Amrou, who was
the founder of Fostat or old Cairo, and who erected there the mosque
of Omar, the oldest Mohamedan place of worship in the country,
whichlis still in a good state of preservation. \Vhen Tooloon renounced
his allegiance to the kaliph under whose authority he acted as governor
of Egypt, and made himself master of the country, he extended the
city in an eastern direction, where he built a palace and a mosque,
which exhibits the earliest specimen of the pointed arch so charac-
teristic of Saracenic architecture. Goher, the general of Elv Moez, the
Fatimite chief of the western Arabs of the coast of Africa, invaded
and conquered Egypt, and laid the foundation of Misr or modern
Cairo in the year 923 A.D., on the site on which the city now stands.
It became the favourite residence of El Moez, who took great delight
in embellishing his new capital, and projected the magniﬁcent mosque ''
of El Azhar, with its once richly endowed collegiate establishment.
The great Saladin who, under N ooredin the Abbaside kaliph, over-
threw the Fatimites, obtained a permanent foothold in the country
and proclaimed himself sultan of Egypt and Syria, surrounded Cairo
with a stronger wall, and enclosed the spur of rock on Moimt Mokat-
tam, where he constructed the once famous citadel. Cairo passed with
the rest of Egypt to the Baharite Mamelooks, who, in turn, were sup-
planted by the Turks under Selim I. From the accession of Mehemed
Ali to the viceroyalty to Tevﬁk Pasha, the reigning khedive, the city
has been much improved, and its purely Oriental character has been
greatly modiﬁed by the partial introduction of European civilisation
and European architecture.
Cairo is situated not far from the site where Memphis and where,
later, Heliopolis stood, in the alluvial plain of the Nile, with which it
is connected by a canal that divides the city into‘ two distinct sections,
with its eastern portion resting on the gentle declivity of Mount
Mokattam—a part of the eastern mountain range which separates
Egypt from the desert and the Red Sea. The scenery around Cairo
is quite picturesque and attractive. On one side high and precipitous
mountains rise in lofty grandeur, hiding their summits in the azure
blue of the distant horizon. Elegant gardens, beautifully laid out and
carefully cultivated, intersected by the rippling currents of innumerable
rivulets, cover this part of the Nile basin in every direction. Their
luxuriant vegetation is decked with evergreen foliage, and the air is
embalmed with the spicy exhalations of the intertwining branches
forming shady arcades thickly sown with various coloured blossoms,
which are redolent with the choicest perfumes. Here stately palm-
trees with their fanlike branches, and mimosas with their tiny leaﬂets
and their purple silk-fringed ﬂowers, oranges and lemons, sycamores
and pomegranates, pineapples and bananas, all wear the stamp of
natural beauty in the profuse and characteristic development of leaf,
fruit,‘ and ﬂower. Extensive ﬁelds of wheat and barley, intermingled
with patches of lupines, beans, lentils, chickpeas, bamc'ah,1 and other

'1 Hibiscus esculentus.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 581
mucilaginous vegetables, stretch along in almost endless succession,
‘being interrupted only by sugar and cotton plantations which furnish
the most valuable staple products of Egyptian agriculture. Here and
there a lonely cypress, arrayed in funereal colours, looks down upon
lowlier plants decked in brightest green, and mulberry groves form
shady walks where the lounger of pleasure may while away an hour
in the heat of summer.
The population of Cairo, according to a well-authenticated statis-
tical statement, is estimated at three hundred ﬁfty-three thousand
eight hundred and ﬁfty-one souls; 1 two-thirds of which belong to
the Arab race, one-fourth are Copts, and the remainder are Turks,
Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and Franks.
The unpaved streets are exceedingly narrow, hardly permitting a
carriage to passiwithout inconvenience. The latticed windows pro-
jecting fromtthe houses on opposite sides of the streets form almost
an arcade, and afford protection against the intrusion of the hot sun-
beams during the summer months; but they present a very dismal
and gloomy aspect, unless the line of delapidated and half-decayed
antique dwellings, with their gables and rafters fantastically ornamented,
is, from time to time, interrupted by an old Mamelook palace, or the
embellished facade and elegant lattices which distinguish the mansions
of the wealthy. The crowd, which is constantly moving through some
of these contracted thoroughfares, imparts to them a highly picturesque
appearance, not only by the contrast of the various costumes which
are here met with, but by the never-ceasing hum and buzz, and the air
of busy life and activity that pervades the whole scene. Men riding
.on little donkeys,2 which can be hired at a small expense, gently
push their way onward, followed on foot by the driver (said) who
goads the animal into a gallop, shouting at the top of his voice, “Take
care, take care” (00a, 00a), “Thy right, thy left, thy side ” (Yemeenelz,
shimalals, rcglalv), and thus opens a passage to the impatient rider.
Camels glide quietly and slowly along in stately walk loaded with
huge packages of rice or cotton, heedless of the hustle and noise that
are going on around them. Water vendors, with their waterskins
resting on their shoulders, and their chinking metal cups in their hand,
offering refreshing draughts to the public for a mere triﬂe, announce
their presence by their characteristic cry, “O may God compensate
me ” (Y a o'wwucl, Allah). The seller of lupines ejaculates in boisterous
rattle, “The lupine surpasses the almond,” or, “How sweet the little
offspring of the, river 1” The melon huckster solicits patronage by
bawling out in a more modest strain, “Oh ! consoler of the afflicted ;
O melons.” Henna is offered for sale under the symbolism of poetic

1 This was the population of Cairo in 1871, as given in De Regny’s Book of
Statistics.
2 “ Ici les anes sont employés pour toutes les courses dans la ville. A la porte
de chaque h6tel quarante :iniers se précipitent sur les Voyageurs, tira-nt apres eux
leurs bétes par la bride. Ces anes sont de petites bétes aux jambes ﬁnes,
.élégantes, aux formes gracieuses, elles gallopent facilement et soutiennent up trot
rapide au millieu des ruelles les plus étroites et les plus encombreés.” L’Egypte
d’Alexandrie a la Seconde Oataracte, par Raoul Lacour, p. 124.
582 THE ARAB-[JEAN STOCK.
effusion, “ Odours of paradise ; O ﬂowers of ,henna.” Numerous
beggars of both sexes are clamor'ous for a trifling contribution, accosting
the charitable and tender-hearted in a plaintive voice with set phrases,
“Exciter of compassion, O Lord I” “ For the sake of God, O ye
charitable!” “ I am taking from my Lord a loaf of bread 3” “ Oh, how
beautiful thou art, O _ Lord 1 ” Towards sunset they vary "their
expressions 2 “ I am the guest of God and the Prophet 3” “My supper‘
must be the gift of God.” Pedestrians, ever on the alert, are pushed
from side to side to make room for their betters—some four-footed
beasts of burden marching under orders. The motley assemblage is
thrown together in kaleidoscopic fashion, constantly changing its
connecting unities, yet remaining ever the same in mass and character.
The great square of the Esbekieh, which is surrounded by stately‘
houses and elegant gardens, presents the most characteristic exhibitions
of the public amusements of Eastern cities. Here the, Arab story--
teller or itinerant poet keeps his enthusiastic audience enchained in
almost breathless attention while he is reciting the heroic exploits of l
the Mamelook warriors, or the daring deeds of Antar, or the wonderful
tales of enchantment of the Thousand and One Nights. Here is the
scribe with his inkstand in his girdle, his paper resting on his knee,
and his reed pen in his hand ready to write a letter, copy a document,
or interpret a dream. Here are buffoons in the most grotesque habili~
ments, always prepared to force a smile or a loud laugh from the
mirth-loving spectators by his humorous thrusts and burlesque enter-
tainments. Jugglers of every class and variety are found here.
Snake-charmers who carry their pets in their bosom, or coil them
round their neck and arms with fearless indifference; sleightof-hand
performers, who swallow knives and pass them through their limbs
and noses; gymnasts with their balancing tools and their cups and
balls; and showmen exhibiting goats which are trained to stand on.
piles of little blocks of wood. Sherbert sellers are mingled with the
motley groups to regale the thirsty crowd. The sweetmeat dealer is
in search of customers for his “lumps of delight” and other tempting
titbits, which are neatly arranged in the wooden tray which he bears
on his head.
Most of the houses in Cairo are two or three stories high, and are
constructed with the foundation of a yellowish limestone of the neigh-
bouring mountains, and the superstructure of brick, the front being;
often plastered and painted in alternate stripes of white and red,
while the roof is always flat and terraced. The windows of the
ground-ﬂoor facing the ‘street are placed sufficiently high so as to‘
be above the line of vision. The projecting latticed easements of'
the upper stories are so contrived to enable those within to see all that
is passing in the street, and at the same time escape the most prying-
scrutiny 5 and while the light admitted is rather dim, the air circulates-
freely. They are generally shaded by a cornice of carved woodwork
of a graceful and ornamental pattern. The entrance-door, which is
frequently ornamented with some pious inscription, leads through a
winding passage, provided with a stone seat for the accommodation of'
porters and servants, to an unpaved court with a well in the centre,
. EGYPTIAN ARABS. 583
and on its most shady side two stone jars which are daily ﬁlled with‘
Nile water brought from the river in water-vessels made of goatskins.
The ground-ﬂoor contains the reception'hall, where male visitors and
strangers are entertained by the master of the house. The apartments
in the upper stories constitute the harem, which is exclusively devoted
to family use and the reception of female friends. '
The dwellings of the rich present in the interior a far more tasteful
arrangement and embellishments of much higher order. The principal
apartment on the lower ﬂoor is called the ma-nddrah. It often has a
facade of‘ two arches supported by a single column, is covered with a
tesselated pavement of marble of different colours, and a magniﬁcent
marble fountain is playing in the centre. The walls are set off with
cabinets richly inlaid with pearl, with mazy arabesque tracings,
fanciful and grotesque paintings, and ornamental windows of stained
glass representing ﬂowers, fruits, and fanciful objects. The front
part of this hall is raised above the level of the central area (du-rkaah)
and is called the Zeewcm. It is paved with common ﬂagstones, and is
covered in summer with a mat, and in winter with rich carpets, and a
divan is arranged on each side of the walls. Its rooﬁng is supported
by wooden pillars elaborately carved and decorated with gilt fretwork
which extends to the intervening spaces of the ceiling. The most
striking Oriental feature of this enchanting spot is the beautifully
ornamented lantern above the fountain designed for the free admission
of air, which can be opened and shut at pleasure by means of a cord
attached to a hinged valve.
I As in other Eastern cities, the retail trade of Cairo is concentrated in
~ certain streets, displaying to the inspection of customers an abundant
supply of some particular kind of merchandise or articles of manufacture.
The bazaars or soaks are simply a row of small stalls on both sides of
the street, open in front during the day and closed by folding-doors
at night. Here the shopman sits on a raised seat of stone or brick,
smoking his pipe, sipping his coffee, or regaling himself with a lunch
with the most philosophical indifference; for he never invites a
customer to enter his shop, but readily shares with his purchasers that
favour him with a call all the good things at his command. Fair
and honest dealing is unknown in the East 5 it is not one of the
essential virtues of the merchant, but every dealer sells at the highest
possible price he can induce the unwary buyer to offer for his wares ;‘
and not to be a loser in this game of mutual mistrust, he never fails
to ask double the real value for the article exposed for sale. Cotton
stuffs, silks, fez caps, and some fancy wares are chieﬂy sold in the
Goreeh bazaar. But the most valuable collection and best assortment
of merchandise is found ' at Khan Kaleel ; for here cloth, dresses,
swords, silks, slippers, \ and embroidered tissues of the best quality
and ﬁnest materials can be procured. Many articles are sold by
perambulating auctioneers, who act at the same time as appraisers
(deZ'ZaZs), and who carry the goods through the public market, calling
out the price that has been bid. The commercial street of Cairo,
where Europeans offer their goods for sale, is the Mouski, which now
extends throughout the whole length of the city, but is still an Arabic
584 THE ARAll/IJEAN STOCK.
bazaar street. Here are found the photographic establishments, the
booksellers, the Paris and London tailors, the provision dealers, the
apothecaries, and other no less interesting displays of European
industry and commercial activity. Even European high life has
selected for itself a fashionable promenade in this Eastern city. The
avenue of the Shubrah, planted with sycamores and mimosas, is
crowded every evening with elegant carriages, and spurred and booted
horsemen meet their lady acquaintances, dressed in fashionable toilet,
to throw a casual glance at them or salute them in passing.
The number of coffee-shops in Cairo exceeds one thousand. They
form but one small apartment, with the front towards the street,
which is provided with seats, and is covered with matting. Here
coﬂee is served out in tiny cups at a very moderate charge, and
visitors, bringing their own pipes and tobacco, pass a pleasant hour
in smoking and conversing with their friends. In- some of these
establishments story-tellers and musicians are introduced in the evening
for the entertainment of the guests. The coffeehouses of the
Mohamedan East have a far higher social and humanising character
than the gin palaces and liquor saloons of Christian Europe. They
are places of innocent diversion, where sociability is cultivated, and
men are drawn towards each other by the intimate relation of
neighbourhood and good fellowship.
The public baths (hammams), of which there are sixty or seventy
in Cairo, are open to both sexes and to all classes, where any one,
however poor and ragged, may enjoy the comfortable feelings, which
cleanly habits engender, at an exceedingly triﬂing expense. The pro-
cess of abstersion is so thorough and peculiar that one might imagine
that the outer man had thrown off his old habiliments and his consti-
tution had been renovated; but these symptoms, ﬁrst of fatigue and
depression, which are followed by the most delightful sensations of
relief and consequent reaction, pass away, and the whole system
relapses into the ordinary routine of its habitual course of everyday
life. Although the wealthy have conveniences for bathing at home,
yet ladies as well as gentlemen often visit the public establishments,
where they indulge not only in the luxuries peculiar to the place, but
they enjoy the additional pleasure of meeting their friends ; and here
they pass the stray hours of a monotonous life in mirth and festi-
vities, of which smoking, coffee, and sweetmeats form a conspicuous
art.
p Arabian art is displayed in Cairo with all the graceful outlines of
its elegant forms and charming perspective. Its curve lines, in all
their artistic variety, give character and distinctive names to the semi—
circular and pointed arch, to the vaulted ceiling and the still more
noble cupola. Nor are its internal decorations less elaborate and
attractive in their multiplicity of detail and their inﬁnite shades of
colouring. Their inimitable mosaic pavements and variegated marble
halls charm {,the eye and delight the imagination. As Cairo is sur-
rounded by a wall, its gates, in addition to its four hundred mosques,
its splendid tombs, and luxuriantly ornamented public fountains
(settles) exhibit noble specimens'of Arabian architecture. The mosque
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 585
of Tooloon, better known as the Jamma, is surrounded by colonnades
of three rows of columns, which on the eastern side are increased to
ﬁve rows, all supporting lofty and graceful pointed arches surmounted
by wooden cornices which are inscribed with Cuﬁc characters. This is
the oldest mosque in Cairo, having been constructed by Tooloon, the
ﬁrst independent Mohamedan governor of Egypt, in the year A.]). 819.
The Azhar (splendid mosque), which was originally founded by Goher
in A.D. 970, was subsequently rebuilt and much enlarged. It is
situated in the heart of the city, in the midst of a labyrinth of narrow
streets. It has ﬁve portals, of which the principal one leads into a
large court paved with marble, that forms the lecture hall of the large
‘establishment of the Arabic university. Its numerous columns impart
lightness and grace to the interior. But the most remarkable of the
'four hundred mosques of Cairo is that of Sultan Has'san. Its magni-
ﬁcent porch, with its honeycomb tracery exquisite and beautiful in
design, its lofty walls crowned with a rich and elaborate cornice, its
minarets towering to an amazing height, its splendid arches and
spacious courts assign to it a high rank as a noble monument of
Arabic architecture. A vestibule leads to an open court, which is
embellished with a sparkling fountain, having a square recess on each
side covered by a majestic arch, the much deeper recess on the east
being surmounted by a dome. From the side walls of the interior are
suspended two rows of handsome vases of coloured glass bearing the
name of the sultan who was the founder of the mosque, and whose
tomb forms a part of the building, and is no less beautiful in struc-
ture and design. The descendants of Mehemed Ali have numerous
palaces in the city and the surrounding country, but they are not
distinguished by any particular style of architecture, and are not
remarkable as works of art. The mosque of Mehemed Ali, the place
where his ashes repose, is situated within the precincts of the citadel
on Mount Mokattam, where it forms a part of a conglomeration of
public buildings—arsenals, courts of justice, and official palaces of
several ministries. This modern Mohamedan temple is built of white
alabaster, and is surrounded by a single row of columns. It has two
stately minarets, and is surmounted by a large dome with two side
cupolas. The interior walls are lined to a certain height with Oriental
alabaster, and are adorned with a profusion of gildings and specimens
of indifferent painting. Numerous lamps and ostrich eggs are sus-
pended from its ceiling.
Yet amidst all the remnants of Saracenic civilisation Cairo has been
slightly touched by the wizard’s wand of transformation, and improve-
ments have been introduced from foreign countries, brought from the
land of the inﬁdel far away in the distant I/Vest. Under the Mame-
look government Christians were not permitted to ride on horseback
through the streets of Grand Cairo ; the ass, the symbol of meekness
and humility, was the only animal he might bestride in his weary
rounds through the mazes of interminable alleys and the long stretches
of crowded bazaars; but Christians, whether native or foreign, are not
now recognised by humiliating badges of distinction, and foreigners
are protected by law in the free exercise of their religious worship.
586 THE ABAMi/EAN STOCK.
The better class of Europeans in Cairo form a select society of their-
own, and have partially introduced a European style of living. They
have established a French theatre, which is entirely supported by
private subscription ; the manager alone is a regular adopt in the
histrionic profession, while the other actors, who lend a helping hand
to supply the public with intellectual amusement, are merely amateurs.
- N 0 one is admitted to witness the performances unless he is invited,
or procures a ticket from one of the subscribing members. An
Egyptian Society is organised upon a permanent footing, and its
library contains many valuable books useful to the traveller and the
antiquary. A railroad brings Cairo in daily connection with Alexan-
dria, and thus affords facilities, not only for speedy travelling, but for-
the regular distribution of the foreign mail.- The Oriental Hotel is in
every sense a European innovation in the East. It is considered the‘
headquarters of the military officers in the East India service on leave
of absence whose means are too limited to make an excursion to
England or to the Continent. The hospital, the factories, and the
high schools, as well as the military and medical colleges, owe their
origin to the inﬂuence of Western civilisation, and are conducted
upon a plan altogether European. Thus Cairo has in a measure
discarded its spirit of Oriental exclusiveness, and has by this means
received new accession of strength, and an eﬂiciency of organisation
that will increase its prosperity and render it one of the ﬁrst cities of
the Eastern world.
Alexandria (Scandria) is the second city of Egypt, and is the only
seaport of importance on the Mediterranean which assigns to it the-
rank of a commercial metropolis. It owes its existence to Alexander-
the Great, from whom it derives its name, and stood not only at the
head of all ancient cities in the ﬂourishing condition of its commerce,
but in all the arts of reﬁnement and the classic learning of antiquity.
When the Saracens conquered Egypt, and concentrated all power and
wealth in Cairo, Alexandria lost its former splendour and rapidly
declined. It dwindled down to utter insigniﬁcance, and the old city
was reduced to a pile of ruins. Nothing was left of its ancient
grandeur but the two obelisks called Cleopatra’s N eedles,1 sculptured
of single blocks of red granite and richly adorned with hieroglyphics,
and the famous column of Pompey, also of Egyptian syenite,
surmounted by a Corinthian capital. It is but half a century ago
that the modern town, besides the pasha’s palace, the houses belonging
to foreign consuls, and a limited number of private dwellings, was
principally a conglomeration of mud hovels, and its general appearance
was extremely wretched and mean. The inhabitants, whose number
did not exceed six thousand, were, with the exception of a small
merchant class and a few Turks and some respectable natives, poor,
lazy, and indolent, without energy, and with but scanty means of
support. But Alexandria, like the Phoenix of old, has recently been

1 One of Cleopatra’s Needles has been removed to England, and now stands
on the Thames Embankment, London, a grand memorial of its muniﬁcent donor,.
Dr. Erasmus W'ilson.
EGYPTIAN ARABS. 587
resuscitated from its ruins, and for this, at least, Egypt owes a debt
of gratitude to Mehemed Ali, who is its modern founder. The city
is built on a narrow strip of land having the Mediterranean on the
north and lake Mareotis on the south. The uniformity of its shore-
line is broken by the Cape of Figs, which stretches out towards the-
sea in an oval-shaped projection 3 and bending round to the west, it
terminates in a modern lighthouse and forms two commodious harbours,
one at its eastern and one at its western end. It is inaccessible to the
north on account of the heavy breakers which wash its sandy beach.
The western harbour is by far the safest, but both must be approached
with much caution, even by the most skilful pilots, to avoid the
dangerous cliffs which are hidden beneath the water. The beach is.
dotted with numerous forts, and an almost uninterrupted succession of
public buildings, including the palace of Ras-el-tin, line its sea margin
on the east. The city proper, with its numerous mosques, bazaars,
and private residences, branches out from its base. Its population
now numbers over two hundred and twenty thousand souls, of which
about ﬁfty-four thousand are foreigners.1 The resident Mohamedans
occupy reserved and exclusive sections, called the Turkish town and
the Arab quarters, which consist principally of a collection of white
one-story buildings with carefully latticed windows, and having mostly
small gardens attached to them. The Strada F ranca, or European
street, skirts the new harbour and terminates at an angle of an oblong
square called the Minshiyeh (plain), or Great Square, which is sheltered
by avenues of tall and shady trees, and two large fountains pour forth
refreshing streams of water into vast and capacious marble basins.
Here are found some of the most tastefully constructed ediﬁces of
modern architecture, which are occupied by the European consuls.
Among these the stately pile of buildings of the British Consulate,
partly surrounded by gardens, and the palatial consular ediﬁce of the
French Government, are the most conspicuous. At the corner of the
Rue des Consuls the English Government has established a post-ofﬁce,
where all foreign letters mailed on English ships are distributed.
The noble ediﬁce of the Bank of Egypt2 stands upon an elevated
terrace, which is ascended by means of a ﬂight of broad stone steps.
The large European population settled in Alexandria have not only
introduced valuable improvements, but they have not entirely renounced
the enjoyments of social pleasure and public amusements which in
their native land afforded them means of recreation as well as of
sensual indulgence. The Italian theatre, with its amateur performers,
the Italian clubhouse, with its elegant balls and select soirees, and the
reading-room, with its respectable library, all contribute to render
Alexandria the most pleasant place of residence in Egypt to the
business man as well as the pleasure-seeking traveller. In addition
to this an opera-house has been constructed, which is the ﬁnest model
of modern architecture and decorative art in the city.
The avenue of the canal of Mahmudieh serves as a public promenade

1 M. Raoul Lacour estimated the population in 1870 at 90,000 souls only.
2 Société Financiere d’Egypte.
588, THE AEAH/EAN sTooK.
to the European aristocracy of Alexandria, where rich carriages are
constantly passing to and fro occupied by ladies of fashion, who have
transplanted upon the soil of Egypt all the luxurious extravagances bf
London and Paris toilets. Here are seen stately villas surrounded
by magniﬁcent gardens, two of which belong to the khedive and are
open to the public at stated. periods. Here are displayed in all the
luxuriance of a tropical climate the coquettish form of the broad-
leaved banana, and the orange-coloured ﬂower bunches of cannas with
leaves less broadly expanded ; daturas, elsewhere of ordinary appearance,
are here ennobled by their large bell-like white ﬂowers; blue and violet
bougainvilliers and red-bracted poinsettias give to the rectangular
parterres their brilliancy of colouring and the inimitable beauty of an
enchanting panorama of nature’s own painting.
Amidst the turmoil of business and pleasure the cause of Christianity
has also received its share of attention. The English Episcopal
church is a chaste building surrounded by well-shaded gardens,
intersected in every direction, for the purposes of irrigation, by small
rivulets ﬂowing in shallow stone channels. This is the favourite
resort of children, who are brought there by their European, Levantine,
and Arab nurses. The Scotch Presbyterians have also a neat church
ediﬁce, to which a school for primary education is attached. The
Roman Catholics have a regular church establishment, with all the
auxiliary appliances of schools and convents. The American Missionary
Society has no regular church building, but its school is in a ﬂourishing
condition.
The ordinary retail business of Alexandria is carried on in bazaars,
of which the l/Iugrebbin bazaar is the most interesting, being the most
strikingly Oriental. It is a long narrow gallery covered by a wooden
roof, and closed up at night by massive doors. This is the principal
market for the sale of blankets, bw'nooses, and tarbooshes (fez caps).
But the rapid growth and prosperity of Alexandria is chieﬂy due to
its commercial importance as a dep6t of imports and exports. Ships
of all maritime countries in the world ﬁnd shelter in its capacious
harbour, and Egyptian war steamers, with all their modern equipments,
under the control of well-educated naval ofﬁcers, are anchored in the
roadstead or are cruising in the neighbouring waters. Cotton is the
most valuable article which is shipped from this port to foreign
countries, and which has only in recent times become the greatest
staple product of the country, and has made Alexandria a cotton
market only second in rank to New Orleans. The annual imports of
Alexandria exceeded in 1871 twenty-eight millions of dollars, and its
exports reached nearly double the amount, being over forty-nine
millions of dollars.
Nor are the industrial pursuits of Alexandria exclusively commercial.
Cotton-cleaning machines of improved patterns have been introduced,
steam-mills have been erected, oil-soap manufactories and sugar-
reﬁneries are in successful operation. Besides a short line of railroad
to Ramleh, Alexandria has daily railroad connections with Cairo and
Suez.
The periodical press of Egypt is almost exclusively conﬁned to
‘ EGYPTIAN ARABS , 589
I810.
Alexandria.1 The semi-official journal is published daily in the
French language, and contains political articles as well as literary
matter. There are eight additional papers issued at regular intervals,
three in French and three in Italian, and one Greek journal, which
are almost entirely supported by foreign residents. But the “Egyptian,”
an English newspaper, which appears twice a week, exercises the-
most marked inﬂuence, and is ably conducted.
AUTHORITIES.
Account of the Manners and. Customs of the Modern Egyptians. By
William E. Lane. 1836.
Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land. By William R. Wilson. 1823.
Letters from Abroad. By Bullard.
Notes of Travel in Egypt, &c. By Dorr. 1856.
Travels in the East. By Tischendorﬂ. 1847.
Travels in Turkey, Holy Land, Arabia, and Egypt. By Ch. Thompson.
A Year and a Day in the East. By M. Montauban. 18 50.
Two Years’ Residence in a Levantine Family. By St. John. 1850.
Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt and Nubia. By Mrs.
Roemer. 1846.
Nile Boat, or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt. By William H. Bartlett.
18 2. ,
Ilettres sur l’Egypte. Par Barthe'lemy St. Hilaire. 1857.
Handbook for Travellers in Egypt. By Gardiner Wilkinson. 1847.
Egypt as It is. By J. C. M‘Coan. 1877.
Village Life in Egypt. By St. John. 1852.
Nights in the Harem. By Miss Lott.
The English Woman in Egypt. By Mrs. Poole. 1844.
Travels in Syria and Egypt. By F. C. F. de Volney. I799.
Travels in Egypt and Nubia. By Captain J. Mangel. 1826.
Recollections ,of Italy and the East. By Beldam.
Lettres sur 1’Egypte. Par Claude Savary. 1798. .
l’Egypte d’Alexandrie a la Seconde Oataracte. Par Raoul Lacour. 1 87 1..
Appleton’s Annual Cyclopzedia. 1871 and 1872.
Aegypten. Von Alfred von Kremer. 1863.
Das Heutige Aegypten. Von Heinrich Stephan. 1872.

1 The only Arabic paper published in Egypt is the “ Wadi e1 Nil,” which makes
its appearance every Friday in Cairo, and is read with considerable interest by
the Mohamedans who visit the mosques.
.590 THE ARA MEAN STOCK.
A B YS~SLN~I~A N S.
‘THE ancient Abyssinians ‘were closely related to the Arabs; they
sprang from the same original stock, and the south-eastern coast of
Arabia was their common primitive home.1 Here they were engaged
‘in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and the breeding of cattle until
they were displaced by the younger and more energetic Arab branch,
who took possession of their lands and drove them across the narrow
strait of Babel Mandeb into Africa, where they planted their new
nationality, which had been a passive witness to the rise and fall of
mighty empires and ﬂourishing kingdoms ; and here they still maintain
the integrity of their country and the independence of their govern-
ment after the lapse of thousands of years. They were already divided
into clans and tribes, but as they were met here by scattered bands of
N igritians who partially occupied these tropical regions, they succeeded
only to make themselves absolute masters of the invaded territory by
united efforts, and by reviving the martial spirit which they had
inherited from the aboriginal ancestors of the parent stock. Being
surrounded by enemies less compact in organisation, but far superior
in numbers, they were compelled, from the necessity of the circum-
stances, to be constantly under arms, that they might, at all times, be
ready for attack as well as defence, and for this reason the military
profession became the most honourable pursuit. Each tribal community
‘formed a distinct military organisation, yielding implicit obedience to
their chiefs, who were distinguished for their bravery in the ﬁeld and
‘their wisdom in the councils of peace. It is only in extraordinary
emergencies, when their common country was in danger of being ‘
overrun by lawless enemies, that they acted in concert and recognised
a central authority. They still cultivated. the soil as a means of
gaining their subsistence, but as the country was fertile, and the
climate favourable to rapid and vigorous growth, agricultural labours
were light, and they were performed by the old, the weak, and
partially also by the women. The warriors passed their time in the
manly exercise of hunting, and from the products of the chase they
supplied the meat dishes that were served up at their table.
Although Abyssinia had suffered but little from external enemies,

1 It was supposed by Ludolf and Professor Murray that the kingdom of
Abyssinia was founded by a colony of Arabians. The opinion receives support
from a passage of Uranius, an ancient writer on the geography of Arabia, who
placed it on the coast of Arabia next to the Sabaeans, and reported that in the
‘country myrrh and frankincense were produced. Pritchard’s History of Mankind,
v01. p. I 50.
ABYSSlNlANS. 591
its internal commotions were extremely frequent, which retarded its
progress and almost crushed its civilisation. One of the most
remarkable invasions to which it had been subjected was that of
Mohamed Gryne, who exercised military power over it for several
years, until Claudius, the son of the emperor Atna Dingel, calling the
Portuguese to his aid, defeated and slew the usurper, and restored the
(country to its legitimate sovereigns.
Abyssinia is bounded on the north by Nubia; the Red Sea and the
Strait of Babel Mandeb form its eastern boundary; the Gallas occupy
the southern borders, and the tract of country which lies west of it is
inhabited by negro tribes. It is divided into three principalities or
provinces, of which Amhara is the most populous and most civilised,
being situated west of the Tacazzy, and extending to the frontiers of
the independent Shangalla tribes. East of it lies Tigré, from which
it is divided by the river, with the Red Sea as its eastern boundary.
Independent tribes separate it in the north from Nubia and Senaar,
and the Azobo Gallas occupy the country to the south. Shoah, which
constitutes the third province, is entirely detached from Abyssinia
proper by a strip of territory inhabited by Mohamedan Gallas, being
surrounded on every side by independent tribes.
Abyssinia is situated between the eighth and the fourteenth degrees
‘of north latitude, and is tropical in its climate as well as the character
of its vegetation. The ordinary temperature varies from 50° to 80° F. ,
but is by no means uniform ; for within short distances may be
reached the burning valleys of the Tacazzy, the genial heat of Kwol-
aggeria, the parched and wind-swept plains of VVaggera, and the snow-
cl'adpeaks of the Semien. The tropical rains, which are not exceed-
ingly violent, commence in July and continue throughout August and
September.
The Abyssinian sky is of the purest azure blue, undimmed by the
shadow of a cloud, and the hills and valleys are decked in perennial
,green. The aloe, with its rigid leaves, its lank and slender stem, and
its scarlet-tinted ﬂowers, covers the grassy plain and the distant moun-
"ta-in slope in unbroken profusion. Everywhere mimosas add beauty
to the panorama of nature’s enchanted scene, their glossy, thick-set
foliage being elegantly dotted with fringed blossoms of white, yellow,
and pink. J essamines, wild roses, and honeysuckles perfume the air
with the most delightful fragrance. The beautiful euphorbia (Irolg'uol),
with its stifﬂy curved branches and its bright yellow ﬂowers, covers
.the sandy plain. The aeschynanthus, with ﬂeshy leaves and brilliant
lblossoms, stealthily creeps up to other plants and claims support for
its frail stemlets. The sycamore and the cedar are the common trees
‘of the forest, and the ebony abounds in the valleys.
The jungles and the forests are made vocal by the varied notes of a
numerous tribe of birds, many of which are of brilliant plumage. In
these vast solitudes are roaming in wild independence lions, tigers,
leopards, hyenas, jackals, and wild boars. Among the great variety
of monkeys and apes the cynocephali 1 are the most remarkable

1 Hamadryadus cynocephalus.
592 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
They form confederate bands, recognise one of their number as leader,
who directs their movements, and whom they implicitly obey. They
are trained in regular tactics, and when starting out on a pillaging‘
expedition they abandon for a time their camping ground in the depth
of the mountain, accompanied by the females with the young ones
hanging to their shoulders. As they descend the precipitous heights--
which render their stronghold almost inaccessible, the most experienced
of the troop march in advance and climb every jutting rock to gain a
wider view of the country that is opening before them, while others-
guard the ﬂanks or act as scouts in the rear. The giraffe, with its tall,
lank ﬁgure, and the rhinoceros, with its coarse, clumsy shape, frequent.
the plains in the north; the hippopotamus sports in the waters;
white-striped dun antelopes, with spiral horns, graze in the natural
meadows, and conies and hares timidly ﬂy in bounding leaps to escape
the pursuit of their enemies. The ostrich and bustards are found in
the northern borders. J etblack eagles, vultures, hawks, and falcons
exist in great numbers. The stork, the ibis, the crane, and the heron».
are the long-beaked, the long-necked, and long-legged waders of these
regions. The hornbill,1 with its red and blue Wattles, is the charac-
teristic bird of this tropical climate. The grouse, the partridge, pigeons,
and brilliantly-coloured sunbirds present much variety’ of form and
plumage. Crocodiles inhabit all the calm and quiet waters, and the
iguano is the most notable of the lizard tribe. The horned viper, the-
asp, and puff-adder are the most venomous of the serpent species.
The Abyssinians are of medium stature, about ﬁve feet seven inches
in height. They are erect and slender, yet they are not devoid of'
muscular strength; and their ﬁne features and elegance of form are-
so remarkable that they might serve as models to the statuary. In.
complexion they present the most striking contrasts, from light browm
to a deep black, but the great majority are of an olive or nut-brown
colour. Some of the Abyssinian women, while the ﬂush of youth is.
still mantling their cheeks, are exceedingly beautiful; their cast of-
countenance is nearly European, their features are. regular, and their‘
pretty small feet, and their large brilliant, black eyes, softened by a’
bewitching, dreamy expression, render them irresistibly attractive?
Their ﬁgure is symmetric and well-proportioned ; they are favoured
with a broad, high forehead, aquiline nose, even, white teeth, the
whole being advantageously set off by luxuriant black' hair. The-
great mass of Abyssinian women, however, are neither beautiful nor-
attractive in outward appearance, and many are absolutely disagreeable:
in face and ﬁgure. '
In disposition the Abyssinians are generally kind and well-disposed,
though vindictive and cruel towards an enemy whom they have
conquered in battle. Although the ties of marriage are but loosely
knit, yet they are faithful and much attached to their wives. While

1 Busara Abyssinica. _
2 The women that are sold in the slave-markets of the East as Abyssinians are.
procured from the Gallas, a race of N igritians much inferior in physical appear--
ance as well as civilisation. .
ABYSSINIANS. 593
they are inclined to servility towards superiors, they treat inferiors
with an air of condescension and a feeling of self-conscious superiority.
They are polite and ceremonious in their social intercourse and
profuse in complimentary phrases which do not obtain for them much
credit for sincerity, while they evince an earnest desire of gaining the
good-will of others. The contrast of character that prevails among
the Abyssinians is truly remarkable. Their spirit of compassion is
almost instinctive. The most atrocious criminal when led bound
through the streets is looked upon with pity, and the passer-by never
fails to express the pious wish that “God may loosen him.” They
will shed tears when witnessing an execution, and assist a sick stranger
with all the means at their command. Their fortitude knows no
bounds. They bear the heaviest strokes of misfortune and encounter
the agonies of death itself with quiet resignation. On the other
hand, they feel no scruples of conscience to sacriﬁce the life of their
fellow-man for a loaf of bread or a pair of trousers. Many who do
not belong to the class of professional criminals steal, rob, commit
arson, and other heinous crimes as a holiday diversion,‘ and boast of
their exploits with reckless indifference as a capital joke. They are
easily excited to engage in bootless quarrels and endless disputes, and
their proneness to litigation almost degenerates into a passion. '
The habitations of the better classes, although constructed of
common building materials and displaying neither taste nor artistic
decoration, are somewhat complicated in their internal arrangements.
In form they are generally square and ﬂat—roofed. The side walls are
lined with ﬂagstones, as a protection against the droppings of the roof
during the rainy season. The roof is but a temporary structure
which has to be renewed every year; it is composed of beams of
date-palm or thick stems of bamboo (aﬂoat), which extend from wall
to wall, the crevices being ﬁlled up with small branches and leaves ,-
and the ﬂat surface being covered with a layer of earth and pebbles,
sometimes mixed with wood ashes to render it watertight, it is tightly
trodden down to give it solidity. The principal apartment is the
sleeping, eating, and reception hall, which is connected with the
private room of the women, called the meclele, by an opening in the
partition wall, ordinarily closed by a curtain. The meclele is raised
one step above the outer-ﬂoor, and is a kind of platform made of
stone plastered over with mud and covered with a piece of red
leather or a carpet. The entrance to this family dwelling is gained
through a lofty gate generally surmounted by one or two rooms,
occupied by the porter, which leads to a spacious courtyard containing
several rude and insigniﬁcant establishments. There are the straw
huts (gojojas) for the accommodation of waiting-servants and
strangers; in one corner is a small building which serves as a store-
house and as residence of the steward ; in the rear of the house and
connected with it are the stables where horses and mules are kept,
a hut-like structure used as a kitchen, and separate lodging-places for
each one of the troop of domestics who attend to cooking, brewing,
and other menial services.
Nor does the interior present a more attractive appearance. The
2 P
594 THE ARAMEEAN s'roox.
ﬂoor of the dining and guest room is carpeted with dry grass, about
half a foot deep, and a thin layer of fresh grass is added at the reception
of every new visitor. This soft matting is suffered to accumulate
until it is impregnated with every species of ﬁlth and moisture, and
becomes, in the highest degree, offensive and repugnant to every sense
of decency and propriety. The ornamental appendages of the house
are equally as primitive. Cows’ horns are ﬁxed to the walls, from
which are suspended guns, sabres, lances, shields, horse-trappings,
skins of wild animals, and drinking-horns (wancha) encased in a leather
covering. In the medele lie scattered, in wild confusion, articles of
toilet, such as oil-bottles of glass, perfume-boxes, and metal ﬂasks
containing kohl or a composition of antimony. The-couch (amt)
of the master of the house is placed in a recess which communicates
by a door with the 'medele and the backyard. It is simply a low
wooden frame supported by four legs and stretched over with trans-
verse strips of ox-hide. On this rude bedstead the wealthy Abys-
sinian spreads a soft sheet of tanned leather, and, stripped entirely
naked, here he reposes his weary limbs covered with the cotton mantle
he wears during the day, while his head is resting on a wooden
pillow with its upper surface curved in crescent form. During the
hot summer months he abandons this luxurious resting-place and
sleeps in the open air, with the soft herbage as his bed and the canopy
of heaven as his shelter.
The kitchen is unprovided with a chimney; the smoke escapes, as
best it can, through a small window or a hole left open in the roof.
The cooking apparatus is in the form of an oblong oven, three or
four feet long and one foot high, constructed of stones cemented with
clay, having an interior space for kindling the ﬁre, and being covered .
with a circular slightly concave slab of nicely polished pottery. Upon
this the liquid dough, prepared in wide-mouthed jars, is evenly spread,
and if sufficiently heated the cakelike bread is expeditiously baked.
The kitchen outﬁt consists of earthen pots, waterajars, dishes, saucers,
and trays used in various culinary operations and for ordinary table
service.
The houses of the poor and of the peasantry are circular in form, with a
conical roof thatched with straw. They contain but a single room, where
the family are huddled together at night stretched on an ox-hide which
is spread over the rush-strewn ﬂoor. This humble dwelling is but
indifferently furnished. A few pots, water and hydromel jars, wicker-
baskets, which also serve the purpose of tables, large drinking-horns,
bottle-shaped gourds ﬁlled with pomatum, are articles of daily use;
and spears, swords, and shields are hung up to decorate the bare walls.
The costume of the Abyssinians has several national peculiarities,
and is quite select and tasteful. The trousers, of a soft but coarse
cotton stuff, are tight, and either terminate above the knee or extend
halfway down the leg. The belt, which varies according to the wealth
of the wearer, is from ﬁfteen to sixty yards long and one yard wide,
and answers the purpose of defensive armour. But the principal
article of dress is the ample mantle (quarry or shama) of a soft
cotton texture with a red-striped border, which is gracefully thrown
ABYSSINIANS. 5.95
over the shoulder, leaving the hands and arms free to grasp
the buckler and spear. As the red border and the quality of the
cloth indicate the rank and social position of the wearer, the shama
of the inferior classes and of servants is of plain coarse material, and
they are interdicted by stringent regulations to ape the fashions of
their superiors. A few of the aristocratic class, as well as the
ladies, wear, as a substitute for the shama, a cloak (mergelf ) of the
ﬁnest cotton stuff and of ample dimensions arranged in quadruple
folds with a neatly worked border of red, yellow, and blue silk. When
engaged in battle or on occasions of reviews the shama is exchanged
for the dino, which is composed of a piece of velvet or scarlet cloth,
but more often of the skin of the lion, the leopard, or black panther,
commonly lined with red cotton stuff, and kept in place by a strip of
leather tied round the neck. This becoming Abyssinian dress is not
set off by any ornamental accessories, unless it be a string of amulets
composed of alternate perforated disks, of rings of silver, and pieces
of red morocco strung around the neck. Sometimes a silver chain is
worn as a mark of distinction for having killed an elephant, or a
silver armlet enclasps the wrist as a badge of honour for having
exhibited remarkable prowess on the ﬁeld of battle.
The dress of the women is neat and appropriate. The lower classes
wear in the house a loose shirt with sleeves (kamccs) gradually
narrowing so as to be quite tight at the wrist ; and it is sufficiently long
to descend to the ankles. When they walk abroad they wrap them-
selves in'a shama, while they hold a parasol in their hand, which
completes the outdoor suit. The shirtlike gown of ladies of quality
is of the ﬁnest cotton stuff, and is embroidered with various-coloured
silk, displaying tasteful patterns at the border of the neck, around the
cuffs, and down the front. The richly silk-embroidered or gorgeously
coloured cloth-cloak (mergelf) constitutes their walking costume.
Trousers, with an embroidered border round the ankles, are some-
times worn. In some parts of Abyssinia girls wrap a piece of cotton
stuff round their waist not quite covering the knee, while the longer
end is thrown over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm and
breast exposed. The covering for the shoulder is frequently a
separate piece of the same material, or a black goatskin ornamented
with cowries.
The women of Abyssinia are no less fond of ornaments than their
sisters of other climes. A lady dressed in aristocratic style encircles
‘ her neck with a blue cord or a number of silver chains, in addition to
three or four sets of amulets ; the most conspicuous jewel being a ﬂat
silver case containing a talisman or some scented cotton, from the edge
of which little bells are suspended by silver chains. Three pairs of
massive silver-gilt bracelets enclasp her wrist, and an equal number
‘of bangles surround her ankles; strings of silver beads hang down
from the instep to the heel, and her ﬁngers are stiff with silver and
gilt-silver rings, and are stained with the juice of the i'nsoosz'lla root,
which imparts to them a rosy tinge not unlike that of henna. Their
hair is braided in numerous fanciful plaits elaborately woven, with
loose ringlets hanging down the neck ornamented with a silver pin
596 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
and rendered glossy by anointing them with perfumed butter. Servants
and peasant girls twist their hair in a mass of entangled curls, and
wear as ornament a hair-pin of ivory or wood stained red. The
young girls shave the crown of the head in tonsure form, while men
and women of mature age wear no other head-dress than their thickly-
plaited hair. Very few women only wear clumsy leather shoes, but
all without distinction blacken their eyelids with antimony and stain
the toes of their feet with the insoosz'lla root. In some provinces
the women practise tattooing, and thus tastefully ornament every part
of their body with stars, lines, and crosses. A few men only bear
this distinctive mark of beauty, which is conﬁned to a single spot in-
the upper arm near the elbow.
Bread and meat constitute the principal food of the Abyssinians.
To prepare the ordinary bread (tabz'ta), the ﬂour used for this purpose
is obtained from a kind of millet called teff.1 It is previously dried
on the magogo or oven, and mixed with water it is converted into a
liquid paste; it is then left undisturbed for a day or a night until
slight fermentation sets in. The concave slab of the magogo having
been rubbed over with an oily seed (acldm), the paste is ladled out by
means of a gourd and spread out evenly in sufficient quantity for one
cake, about eighteen inches in diameter and one line in thickness, and
after baking for two or three minutes it is ready for use. The bread
is of a sour taste and is tough and leathery. A crisp and dry kind of
cake, of the thickness of a wafer, is made of teff or wheat ﬂour.
Ordinary wheat bread (hambasha) is prepared from a stiff dough
leavened by the addition of a little honey, wine, or beer, which is left
to stand in the sun for two days, and is then baked on the magogo in
the form of ﬂat loaves nine inches in diameter and one and a half
inches thick. A kind of fancy bread, which is frequently given by
the peasants as a present to their neighbours, is called hcmza, which is
made of two recently baked tabz'ta cakes spread over with a coating
of red-pepper paste, joined together by an intervening layer of dough
and subjected to a second baking.
The ﬂesh of cows, goats, and sheep is most highly esteemed. A
certain ceremonial form is observed in slaughtering animals for table
use. After the victim is thrown down with its head turned towards
the east, the knife is passed across its throat while the butcher pro-
nounces the sacramental formula: “ In the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost.” The ﬂaying operation is commenced
before the death-struggle is ended, and the choicest parts of the cow
are cut off before life has entirely ebbed away, and in this state it is
eaten with cannibal voracity as the most delicate morsel eagerly
coveted to satisfy the cravings of a morbid appetite. After the-
favourite pieces of raw beef are distributed, the remaining parts of the
cow are ﬁnely cut up and are cooked with butter and red-pepper paste-

1 Teff looks like grass run to seed. It stands about one foot high, and yields a
small round grain not larger than a pin’s head. It makes good sweet bread, which
is preferred by the natives to dhoum, or maize, or even wheat. Narrative of a
Journey through Abyssinia, by Henry Daften, p. 52.
ABYSSIN IAN S. 597
(clillilrh) ; the last being the indispensable seasoning of all meat
dishes, whether composed of ﬂesh, fowl, or ﬁsh. Another choice dish,
highly relished even by the most distinguished chiefs, is the “ choge'ra,”
which is a curious compound made up of tripe and liver cut in small
pieces, to which the bile contained in the gall-bladder and the green
half-digested food found in the stomach of the animal are added, and,
being seasoned with pepper and salt, it is slightly heated and served
up at the table. A vegetable similar to spinach, called hcmzby, and
lentils, whenever in season, form a part of the regular meals. Maize
is seldom ground into meal and converted into bread ; but roasted or
boiled and eaten with butter, it is considered a great delicacy. Curdled
milk and honey of a superior quality are much used as food materials.
For cooking purposes butter is extensively employed after melting it
over a slow ﬁre and clarifying it by skimming off the scum.
The Abyssinians are very fond of strong condiments, which are the
necessary accompaniments of almost every dish. Red pepper is the
principal ingredient which enters into the composition of all the
different varieties. It is often eaten in its natural state with bread,
or it is previously dried and pounded ; and mixed with black pepper
and salt it constitutes the doukous, which, being kept in a spiral
antelope’s horn, is carried along on journeys and is highly relished for
its stimulant effect. The red-pepper paste or dillikh is prepared from
the fresh or dry pods boiled with an equal quantity of onions, and
rendered still more palatable by the addition of black pepper, salt,
fresh ginger, and odoriferous herbs.
The principal beverage used by all classes in almost unstinted
quantity is hydromel, or mead, composed of one part of honey and ﬁve
or six parts of water, in which is infused a quantity of bitter bark or
bitter herbs to disguise its extreme sweetness. It is exposed in the
sun until fermentation takes place, and is kept in narrow-mouthed jars.
Beer is also produced by an extremely simple process. The ﬂour of
the clagousha seed1 is made up into cake and baked in the ordinary
manner after the dough has fermented and has been subjected to the
.fumigation of various kinds of burning woods for two or three days.
This excessively sour bread is mixed with barley ﬂour, and soaked in
a jar of water to which some powdered bitter gac'sho leaves 2 are
added, and being allowed to stand another day it is ready for use,
after having been decanted and strained through a large straw funnel.
A social entertainment in Abyssinia is quite a ceremonious affair.
Variously sized low tables of neatly woven wickerwork or of roughly
ﬁnishedvwood are ranged round the room on the freshly grass-strewn ﬂoor.
Various qualities of bread are brought in in baskets by the servants,
and piled up upon the tables in regular order, the best quality being
always placed on the top. The guests are seated on the ﬂoor according
to the individual rank of the persons belonging to the same class.
The highest nobles eat the ﬁnest bread and partake of the best dishes.
After they have been served, the second rank follows the example
of their betters; and this successive feasting is continued until the
R
1 A species of panicum. 2 A species of rhamnus.
598 THE ARAMEAN sTooK.
lowest class of the social hierarchy has partaken of the good cheer
of the host.
The kitchen maids, who attend to the cooking, bring in the dishes,
and eachéone receives for this service a piece of bread dipped in the
dish she ‘placed on the table. The waiters (asaZaf-y) are ofﬁciously
attentive ; they dip slices of bread into the sauce and hand it to the
guest ; they take the meat from the dishes, out or tear it with their
ﬁngers, and serve it with the most submissive obsequiousness. N 0
one is ever neglected, and it is their constant care that all are plentia
fully supplied. The guests themselves are not wanting in polite
attentions towards each other. They roll into a ball pieces of bread
dipped in sauce, and mixing it with red-pepper paste they place it
into each other’s mouth as the highest mark of good breeding and
politeness. While the assembled guests are thus muniﬁcently provided
with all the delectable dishes the culinary art of Abyssinia has been
able to devise, the cow is killed in the rear of the house, and Zn’ozmdo
or raw beef is brought in by the servants in large lumps still warm
and quivering in their hands. The host, who is seated at the highest
table with the most distinguished nobles, is entitled to the choicest
part. After some ceremonious politeness as to who shall have prece-
dence, one at last ventures to cut off a thin‘ slice with his knife or
sword, and each one appropriates his share in due order. One end
of the strip of ﬂesh is covered with red-pepper paste, and is placed,
with a piece of bread, between the teeth, and the dainty morsel is
severed by an upward thrust of the sword. The broiled meat, consist-
ing of ribs and pieces cut in strips, is served up almost at the same
time and is despatched with the same immoderate greediness. To
crown the feast with its last glory, the hydromel or beer is brought in
by the grasscutter (Zogouamy), who, placing the jar on a stool provided
for this purpose, pours out the ﬁrst horn (wancha) and drinks it himself,
the second horn he offers to the superintendent of the brewery (tedge
mellcem'a). A number of horns are arranged on the ﬂoor by a servant
called the fellaky, and the asalafy or waiter takes them up in due
order, ﬁlls the ﬁrst one for himself, the second he presents to‘ the
master of the house, and next serves each of the company in succession.
Before the horn is handed to the guest, the waiter pours a small
quantity of the liquor in the hollow palm of his hand, and drinks it
off as a mark of assurance that it is not poisoned. Most of the
guests empty only two-thirds of the horn, the remainder is the perqui-
site of the servants, who, not daring to touch with their lips the edge
of the drinking-cup of their superiors, hold their two hands to their
mouth into which it is poured as it were into a funnel.
The Abyssinians wash their hands before and after their meals, and
for this purpose a servant charged with this duty carries round the
water in a horn or brass ewer. Some customs prevail at these private
parties which, in more civilised countries, would be considered a breach
of decorum. The servants claim a share of the good things provided
by the host, and one of their number is sent round to the various
tables presenting a wicker dish-cover or basket to each one of the
guests, asking for a small bit of the viands in the name of the Virgin
ABYSSINIANS. 599
Mary or in the name of Christ ,' and the request is readily complied
with. Little boys are also indulged in their freakish pranks, they
crawl under the tables and tease the visitors with coaxings and
twingings until,'bribed with’some dainty morsel thrown down to them,
they are induced to keep the peace.
Troops of servants are employed in every respectable ffamily, to
each one a particular task is assigned, and they never transcend the
limits of their special calling.1 Their number gives dignity to the
establishment and indicates the rank of the master. Their services
can be secured at very insigniﬁcant wages. They are almost always
kindly treated, and often enjoy the conﬁdence of their employers, and
are spoken to as equals. Most of the domestic slaves are females, to
whom the most arduous labours of the household are assigned. They
grind the corn, fetch water, bring in a daily supply of wood, clean the
stable, and cook the meals. Servants and slaves are much attached
to their master, and their loyalty is so unaffected and sincere that they
consider him the most sacred type of providential patronage and swear
by him 3 and in this manner they consecrate his memory even after
his death, if he has proved himself their friend and benefactor. All
servants, except those of the priests, are allowed to bear arms for
their own protection and the defence of their master and his family.
The lands in the valleys and the water-courses are fertile and
productive, but agriculture is almost in its primitive state. The
peasants are poor, and the reward of their labour is wrung from them
by extortion to feed the nobles and the soldier class. The plough is
simply a rough beam to which a crooked handle is attached serving as
a means to guide it, a wedge being inserted at a vertical angle in the
upper end to cut the soil. It is drawn by oxen or mules, who are
allowed to have their own way, for no regularity is observed in tracing
the furrows. The grain is freed from the husk by the laborious and
wearisome process of pounding it in a wooden mortar. Three kinds
of millet—toy’, dagousha, and dhom'a—are cultivated. Wheat is also
grown in limited quantities, and maize is produced as a choice article
of food. Red pepper is a staple commodity, and is regularly planted
in the ﬁelds wherever the soil is sufficiently fertile to secure its
vigorous growth. The coﬁ°ee-bush has been introduced from Arabia,
and coffee forms a valuable article of export. Indigo, rice, and sugar-
cane grow here in a wild state. Of fruits, the peach and the plum
are the most abundant ,' and in the warmer regions the vineyards
mature excellent grapes’ capable of producing a good table wine.
Cotton is cultivated to a limited extent. It ﬂourishes best at an

1 Each establishment has eight, ten, or ﬁfteen servants. One carries the shield,
and saddles the mules and horses, and accompanies you in the house and makes
himself useful about your person. Another makes your mead, and is perhaps also
a gunner and supplies you with game. Another is doorkeeper and keeper of the
orders generally. One or two older and wiser are counsellors, and their know-
ledge of the country, the customs, and tricks is of the greatest service. Another
has charge of the corn, watching that the maid-servants do not steal, and
arranging the allowance of the rest. Others are grasscutters only according to
the number of your beasts. Another is woodcutter for the supply of ﬁrewood.
Travels in Abyssinia, by \V. C. Plowden, p. 139.
600 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
elevation of between three or four thousand feet above the level of the
sea. As the cotton planted here is of the perennial variety, it takes
three or four years before the young plants produce a full crop of pods.
In the meantime the vacant spaces of the nursery are sown with
jowarhee or sorghum. After the cotton is gathered, the ﬁbre is
separated from the seed by rolling tapering iron rods over the seeded
tufts that are spread on a ﬂat stone. The cleaning process is no ‘less
ingenious. A thin layer of cotton is spread on an ox-hide, and the
continued vibration of a bow throws up quantities of the lighter
ﬁlaments, while the dust and rubbish form the lower layer, and are
easily separated from the clean ﬂeecy ﬁbre.
The teﬁ is ground into meal in a handmill, the grinding-stone
resting on a foundation of masonwork placed in a sloping position.
The corn is poured into a hollow at the back of the stone, and the
meal is discharged in front and is received into a trough.
The domestic animals reared by the Abyssinians are cattle, sheep,
and goats. Mules are highly valued and are used "for purposes of
draught and riding. Asses are quite numerous, but horses are less
common; they are somewhat regarded as an expensive luxury, and
are hardly ever employed in agricultural operations.
The mechanic arts receive but little encouragement. The masons,
carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, and potters are principally Falashas
or Mohamedans. Among the lower classes sewing is exclusively
performed by the men, and they also attend to the laundry. The
articles to be washed are soaked in water, contained in a stiff ox-hide
rendered concave by being spread over a deep hole dug in the ground
by the side of a stream, and the bud or ﬂower of a plant called
endotfl is used as a substitute for soap, which possesses highly
detergent qualities and renders the linen as white as snow.
The most important industrial pursuit is the manufacture of various
tissues used as dress materials. The loom is composed of four
perpendicular posts connected into a frame by four transverse beams.
At the extremity is placed a wooden cylinder around which the warp
is rolled, the alternate threads of which are passed through two slaies.
The knocker is ﬁxed and the weaving process is effected by means of
a shuttle. The workman is seated upon the ground with his feet
resting in an excavation dug beneath the loom. The shamas thus
produced are always of a white colour, with a red or blue stripe at
the margin, which varies in width according to the more or less ﬁne
quality of the article. The shama, which is used as currency, has a
black band around the edges. The better quality, called kaare, has a
red stripe ; and the morgaf, which is manufactured at Gondar, and is
of the ﬁnest material, has a rich silk border three inches wide. The
cotton cloth used for trousers, shirts, and sashes is more closely
woven, is of much coarser thread, and is ordinarily only eighteen or
twenty inches wide. The Abyssinian blacksmith hammers out a
sabre by beating a heated plate of iron of suitable length until it
assumes the required form ; he then smoothes off the asperities with a

1 Phytolacca alpina. '_ I
ABYSSINIANS. 601
I ﬁle, and subjects it again to the heating process in the ﬁre to give it
the proper temper. After these various manipulations the gomclé or
sabre, which has a curved two-edged blade, is sharpened upon a stone.
Lance-points and knives are produced by the same process. Their
razors, which have iron handles, are rather of inferior quality. Their
needles are also made by hammering; they are polished with the ﬁle,
and the eye is pierced with a punch. Their hatchets are of excellent
workmanship.
Tanning is an occupation much followed in the cities. Ox-hides
are pinned to the ground while they are yet fresh to keep them
smooth, and after the hair is removed they are rendered soft by the
tedious process of treading after they have been tinged red with an
infusion of acacia bark. They make parchment of the best quality
of sheep and goat skins, which are also made up into leather bags.
Their silver rings and chains, used as necklaces, are produced by
hammering without the aid of ﬁre. Copper is converted by the same
process into ornamental plates for shields, into heavy earrings and
other articles of ornamentation. Their woodwork is rather of an
inferior order. The best articles manufactured are gun-stocks,
mortars, chairs, bedsteads, knife-handles, and a few musical instru-
ments. Their pottery, though presenting but little variety, is of
admirable ﬁnish. Their dishes are of every dimension; the two—
handled pitchers are of great size, and the vases are of antique but
graceful form. Of straw they make bread-baskets, milk-pails, dish-
covers, and sieves. They braid tables and parasols of wickerwork;
and weave of rushes mats, needle-cases, and small boxes for powder,
tobacco, and amulets. They understand the art of the turning-lath ;
and they not only cut ivory into various forms, but they change
ox-horns into drinking-cups, inkstands, salt-cellars, and pepper ﬂasks.
Although Abyssinia is rich in natural resources—for she possesses
iron in abundance, coal exists, and gold is found in several provinces-—
yet her external commerce is insigniﬁcant, and trade in the interior
is principally carried on by barter and exchange. Commercial pursuits
are not held in honour, and the merchants, who are treated with
contempt by the soldier-class, are mostly Mohamedans. The caravan
traﬁ‘lc is of considerable importance, but the rich traders are compelled
to pay a stated tribute to the great chief whose favour they court and
whose protection they solicit by rich presents and base ﬂattery. The
six chiefs of merchants have a military force at their command, that
enables them to extort from the smaller traders heavy contributions ;
and frequently they mercilessly plunder or conﬁscate their whole
property under some pretext real or imaginary. The manufactured articles sold in the Abyssinian markets are principally red cloth, I
calicoes, silks, velvets, printed cottons, red and blue Indian bunting, .
raw silk, Surat tobacco, sabres and ﬁrearms, Egyptian cloth and drills ; glass-ware and beads for slave—dealers, and frankincense for the i;
use of the church, are also sold in large quantities.
In all commercial transactions in the interior salt and coarse woven
tissues are received as legal currency. Amhara supplies Tigré with
ﬁne cotton cloth, horses, cattle, furs, coffee, and dressed skins; and
1:413": '
602 ‘THE ARAMEAN s'rocx.
receives in exchange salt and coarse stuffs. The ﬁnest cattle and
honey comefrom Agou ; VValka'it furnishes a suﬂticient supply of iron
to the whole country. The Semien district exchanges its barley for
the wheat of VVagara. Building timbers are obtained from Gorgora
on the borders of Tana lake ; and Carroda, Ifag, and Derita supply a
considerable quantity of wine. Condor and Adoua send arms and
other manufactured articles through every part of the country.
The women are occupied with household affairs, and the young
girls not only assist their mothers in grinding corn and cooking, but
they are at an early age sent to the well or to a neighbouring brook
to bring water in a gourd or a jar, and often they wander away into
the distant woods to collect the daily supply of fuel. Even ladies of
the highest classes are frequently engaged in spinning cotton for their
dresses ,' seated on the ﬂoor they draw out the cotton, which they hold
in their left hand, into a thread by means of a bobbin, and being
rubbed on the bare thigh it is made to spin so as to twist the loose
ﬁbres into yarn. '
The wife is ordinarily but the drudge of the household. She sifts-
the corn at daylight to prepare the daily meal, she grinds it, brings-
water from the brook, fetches ﬁrewood, bakes the bread, cooks, makes
the beer, and in addition to all this she has to take care of the children.
Music and dancing are the favourite amusements of the Abyssinians.
The women are particularly fond of singing, and young girls, going‘
out in parties to fetch water or to gather wood, being weary of talking-
scandal, impart a tinge of romance to their rustic labours by joining
their voices'in sentimental love-songs ; and as they are often followed
by’ the young men, their merry glee is sometimes broken up by a
good-natured but not always very decent romp.
Though their melodies are rude and simple, yet they display much
harmony and clearness of sound, combined with delicacy in expres-
sion and taste in execution. Their funeral dirges, their heroic war~
songs, their verses which bewail the fate of some unfortunate chief,
are particularly distinguished for their tenderness and the emotions of
love and attachment which they excite. _
Their musical instruments, like the people, have a peculiar national
character. The negaree-t is a drum of respectable proportions which
is assigned to the highest military chieftains as a badge of ofﬁce, the-
number indicating the rank and the dignity of the respective ofﬁcer.
The umbilta is a pipe made of a species of bamboo (shamboko), and is
played in sets of ﬁve or six performers, each instrument being tuned
in a different key, and blowing each in turn, a chiming, agreeable-
melody is produced.’ The ccmdcm malakert is also a compound instru-
ment, composed of four long tubes of hollow cane provided with a.
bell mouth and a ﬂattened reed mouthpiece, and is always accom-
panied by the drum, producing harsh, disagreeable musical notes.
The cobem is a small drum beaten by the hand, and two or three are-
frequently played together as an accompaniment to the song, or for
the purpose of marking the time for the dance. A kind of ﬂute
with four holes, and a stringed instrument in the form of a guitar or
lyre, are frequently played by amateur musiciansq
ABYSSINIANS. 603
The various Abyssinian dances are neither distinguished for artistic
evolution nor gracefulness of motion. The most common dance is a
chassé in a circle. The dancers shrug their shoulders, and move their
elbows backwards and forwards in perfect time with the music 5 then
in regular order they all squat down without interrupting the shoulder
and elbow movement. Sometimes one or more will step out of the
ring and dance each alone, or two may dance together. The spec-
tators, by clapping their hands and singing, and the girls of the outer
circle with their arms laid across each other’s shoulders and swaying
their bodies gracefully to and fro, keep pace with the regular measure
of the dance. Another dance, which presents greater variety of move-
ments, forms the favourite amusement at public festivals. The young
men and the girls arrange themselves in a continuous circle, and sing
in wild and tumultuous chorus one of their national songs. When
their loud and impassioned strains have wrought them up to a high
pitch of excitement, the- common circle is broken; the men and the
women form each a separate ring, and with the arms resting on each
other’s shoulders, they swing their bodies forwards and backwards in
graceful, waving motion. One of the intertwining links of the circular
chain then steps out into the centre and remains for some moments
impassible and motionless, until roused up by the wild music of the
choral voices, which set, as it were, his soul on ﬁre, he exerts himself
in an agile and animated solo dance. Whenever his strength begins to
fail him he retires, and another one of the ring takes his place. The
war-dance (debaZZ) is a kind of martial show exhibited in honour of
the bridegroom at marriage celebrations. One party, armed with
shield and lance, march forward with alacrity as if eager for a fray ;
they bound, they leap, they advance, they retreat, and then suddenly
approaching to attack their adversaries who are armed with guns, they
execute a strategic movement so as to avoid their ﬁre. Within the
line of defence similar demonstrations are made, and when too closely
pressed, they at last ﬁre their guns in the air or into the ground, and
then ﬂourish their swords to give the ﬁnishing-blow to their assail-
ants. Among the social amusements that of the game of chess is best
known. The arrangement of the chessmen differs in the position of
the kings, which are placed opposite to one another, while the move-
ment of the bishop is conﬁned to three squares only, with the privilege
of overleaping' his adversary’s pieces when in his way.
The Abyssinians enter into the married state at a very early age.
Girls assume the responsibility of housewives before they are ten
years old, and boys become fathers of families before they have
attained their twentieth year. As soon as the son of a noble has
ﬁnished his education a district of land is assigned to him, he is sur-
rounded by a numerous train of servants, and whenever a suitable
match can be found he enters into matrimony, Henceforth he attends
to the local interest of his domain, and passes the rest of his life as a
soldier.
The mode of contracting marriage is extremely simple. As soon as
a young lad considers himself fully able to support a wife, he makes
his selection among the little maidens of the neighbourhood whose
604 THE ARAMfEAN STOCK.
worldly prospects are as favourable, if not superior, to his own. Hav-
ing ﬁxed upon the object of his choice, he addresses himself directly
to the father of the girl, makes his proposal, and hardly ever fails to
meet with a favourable reception, and to be accepted as the successful
suitor of the young lady’s hand without consulting her taste or her
wishes. During the time of betrothal, which is generally limited to
a period of three or four months, the bridegroom frequently visits his
father-in-law, and ingratiates himself into his favour by presents of
honey, butter, and occasionally of a sheep or a goat. In the mean-
time the young bride is strictly conﬁned to the house ; 1 and although
her social intercourse with her friends is not interrupted, she remains
entirely invisible to the young man who is destined to be her future
husband, and it is only by bribing some of the female inmates of the
paternal home that he can ever succeed to get even a casual glimpse
at his bride.
When the day of the marriage approaches the young girl is sub—
jected to 'a thorough ablution ; her hair is properly arranged and
neatly plaited, her diet is restricted, and certain drugs are administered
to her to counteract the ill eﬁ°ects that might arise from the too
exclusive use of farinaceous food. A few days previous to the
wedding a dass or bower is erected in the courtyard composed of a
framework of stakes and horizontal poles, covered with green branches
and leafy boughs sufficiently shady to exclude the rays of the sun.
Here the invited guests assemble in the afternoon previous to the day
appointed for the celebration of the marriage. In towns it is custo-
mary to send round a servant in order to give a special invitation to
men of distinction ; but as all are eager to partake of the feast of the
host, the crowd of guests far exceeds the space marked out for their
accommodation. On these occasions very little ceremony is observed.
The guests are squatted round the tables arranged in long rows, and
every one helps himself liberally, and displays as much eagerness and
unremitting assiduity as if he were eating for a wager to outstrip his
neighbour in gluttonous voracity. From time to time the waiters
bring in a fresh supply of broancio or raw beef, and long slices being
continually peeled off with the crooked swords, the huge lumps are
soon reduced to diminutive dimensions, while many a luckless wight
is still unprovided with the most delicious viand of an Abyssinian
banquet. Hydromel and beer are furnished in lavish profusion to
sharpen the appetite and excite a spirit of boisterous hilarity and
unrestrained mirth. The tables are constantly ﬁlled with a new
succession of hungry expectants, who, in their turn, give place to
others that abide their time with patience. It is only after night has
set in that the class is cleared of all the heterogeneous mass of revellers,
and only a few select friends and favourites remain to welcome the
bride to the nuptial bower and express to her their good wishes.
She makes, at last, her appearance carried on the back of a male

1 In Tigré a superstitious belief is entertained that if the bride leaves her home
in the interval between the betrothal and the marriage she will be bitten by a
snake. Parkyn’s Abyssinia, vol. ii. p. 41.
ABYSSINIANS. 605
relative, preceded by a number of torchbearers and followed by a
large retinue of women whose shrill shouts of exultation re-echo from
the distant hills. The precious load is deposited on a low stool,
where, seated in all her glory, and rigged out in her bridal costume,
the young lady is surrounded by her relatives and friends, who,
advancing, each in turn lay their hands upon her head and bestow
upon her their benediction, giving expression to their feelings of
friendship, and their anxious solicitude for her welfare and happiness.
The festivities are concluded with music and dancing, and the bride
shows her skill in the terpsichorean art, and receives, in return for
her gracious condescension, the applause of the festal party.
A similar entertainment is given at the same time by the father of
the bridegroom, who provides a no less muniﬁcent feast for his friends,
and whose good cheer is equally well appreciated and well patronised.
On the following day the bridegroom proceeds to the class to obtain
possession of his betrothed bride. Early at sunrise he starts out
from his father’s house, accompanied by a long train of friends and
attendants. He is followed by his bridesmen, called arlcees, to whom
particular functions are assigned and extraordinary privileges are
allowed Their number varies from six to twelve, in accordance with
the rank of the person to whose service they are attached. Boys of
the same social class unite together and form a kind of society, bind-
ing themselves to act as aﬂcees for each other whenever any one of
their members enters into the blessed state of matrimony; and they
are chosen by the bridegroom for this purpose. They are dressed in
their ﬁnest gala suits, and are adorned with a profusion of borrowed
ornaments ; and, if sufﬁciently wealthy, they prance about on horses
or mules. In front of the procession march a troop of men, armed
with guns and lances, to the sound of the big drum and the dis-
cordant notes of the umbilz‘a and the cunclan. The bridegroom is
mounted on a mule ﬁnely caparisoned, and wrapping himself up in
his shama, which covers the lower part of his face, he feels quite
elated at the conspicuous position he occupies among his admiring
friends and followers. Behind him is borne a shield handsomely
mounted in silver, and the line of march is closed by the crimes and
other horsemen. When arrived in sight of the bride’s house a level
spot is selected, where the lancers engage in a sham ﬁght, the gunners
ﬁre oﬁ their matchlocks, and the horsemen gallop to and fro in wild
confusion. The bridegroom dismounts, and, entering the bower, he
ﬁnds the seat of honour prepared for him, which is a couch decked
out with carpets and cushions, over which a canopy of white calico is
suspended. There he sits in state, muffled up in his shama and sur-
rounded by his friends, while the bride’s party occupy the opposite side
of the class. The universal treat—the brozmrlo—is then distributed
with all its auxiliary sauces and appurtenances. The bride is then
conducted around the bower amidst the ﬂickering glare of torchlight,
and is seated on a stool in front of the most distinguished of the
assembled guests. The question being addressed to the bridegroom
whether it was his wish to take the young girl as his wife, and this
question being answered in the affirmative, the young couple crook
*606 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
their little ﬁngers together under the cloth held over them, while the
arkees pledge themselves that they will truly and faithfully fulﬁl
towards her the part of brethren, wait on her, furnish her with meat
should she hunger and with drink should she thirst. After these
preliminary formalities the marriage is considered as concluded, and
the contract is binding on both parties. The marriage settlement is
ratiﬁed before witnesses, and the elders, as well as a priest, if present,
close the marriage ceremony by giving to the husband and wife a
wise admonition and salutary counsel to guide them in their conduct
through life. The bridegroom then takes possession of his bride, and
gives her in charge to his friends who are standing outside awaiting
his orders. He himself returns to the bower and receives from his
father-in-law the usual wedding presents, generally consisting of a
‘two-edged sword mounted in silver, one or two guns, a ring, a brass
'ewer and basin, and other utensils and articles of furniture correspond-
ing in quantity and value with the wealth of the donor.
The young wife, in order to reach the homestead provided by her
husband, is placed on a mule with an arlcee mounted behind her on
the crupper to keep her from falling. If she passes through a village
on her route, the country people shout out their Ly, lg], [3/8 of welcome,
and offer their congratulations. Having arrived at their destined
home the young married couple are for some time under the exclusive
charge of the arkees, who sleep in their bedroom and supply them with
anything they may want during the night ; and the oﬂi-cious grooms-
men claim in return the hospitality of their host for three or four
weeks, one of them being detailed to keep constant watch over the
bride. To make a suitable return for the expenses thus incurred in
their behalf, a few days after the wedding they start out on a black-
mailing excursion to collect contributions for the beneﬁt of their
young friends. They are dressed up in the ﬁnest style and wander
‘through the neighbourhood, accompanied by a band of musicians,
singing and dancing before every house and expecting to receive a
suitable present proportioned to the fortune of the party. A refusal
‘to comply with the requisition, or an inadequate offer, is attended with
‘the fatal consequence of having the house forcibly entered and any
:article of value found there is purloined and taken away, subject,
however, to be redeemed on paying an adequate ransom. This is a
privilege which custom allows bridesmen to exercise with impunity.
Marriage is but a civil contract in Abyssinia, and it rarely happens
that it is rendered indissoluble by being solemnised in the church.
An old couple who have lived happily together for many years, and
have brought up a numerous family, may sometimes determine in their
‘old age to renew their pledges of ﬁdelity, and revive their earlier
recollections of love and affection by knitting the bonds of wedlock
more closely, which nothing but death can sever. For this purpose
they proceed to the church and take the sacrament together ; and this
solemn act in the presence of the officiating priest converts the civil
contract into a sacramental obligation. The binding force of the
civil marriage rests exclusively upon the interest or caprice of the
parties. The most frivolous causes may lead to a dissolution of the
ABYSSINIANS. 607
marriage relations 5 and if there are any children, the boys are assigned
to the father and the girls are given in charge to the mother 5 and
either party has the privilege of marrying the second time at pleasure.
It is not uncommon for a ﬁckle husband to maintain his repudiated
wife in his own house and at the same time introduce a new partner
to share his bed and board. The condition of woman is far from
being what it should be in a Christian country. She is not only looked
upon as an inferior being in the social scale, but she holds a degraded
position in the household. After she has plighted her troth to a
husband, she is kept in close seclusion, is strictly ,watched by the
vigilant eye of jealousy, and never appears abroad except disguised
and concealed from view ‘by the ample folds of white shamas and the
manifold twists of a cumbrous belt. Concubinage, although contrary
to the teachings of the church, is nevertheless practised with impunity,
and the king furnishes an edifying example to his people by selecting
for himself the fairest damsels of the land to gratify his sensual
pleasure and serve him as obsequious slaves. The intercourse of the
sexes is inadequately guarded against, since no sense of immorality
attaches to it, and unmarried women may freely gratify their volup-
tuous passions without losing the esteem of their friends or incurring
the censure of public opinion. N 0 acts of indecency are, however,
committed, nor are the women particularly liable to the charge of
unchastity, although they can easily be persuaded to accept a lover
whom they favour as their temporary husband.
The birth of a child is an occasion of great ceremony. The mother,
when she feels the time of delivery approaching, is seated in an
almost erect position on two stones, leaving a narrow vacant space
between them, while her feet are propped up on a table or chair§and
held there by a woman who occasionally rubs them with the palm of
her hands. Another female friend, standing behind her back to
support her shoulders, constantly calls on the name of the Virgin Mary,
invoking her aid, and imploring her to lend her timely assistance. As
soon as the child’s shoulders appear, the women perform the duties
of the midwife to accelerate the process of delivery, and when ﬁnally
accomplished the new-born infant is received in a ﬂat wicker-basket
ﬁlled with ﬂour. After the child is washed in cold water and care-
fully perfumed, one of the women present presses its head and features
with her ﬁngers so as to mould them into a handsome shape ; and the
father or some other male relative, who dares not enter the polluted
chamber, protrudes a lance into the mouth of the infant boy through
the window so as to render him courageous and daring. A little boy
who knows the role he has to play, cuts the throat of a fowl in the
presence of the unconscious nursling, while the women rend the air
with their shouts of exultation, which are repeated twelve times if the
child be a boy and three times if a girl. After these preliminary
formalities have been complied with, the women rush out into the
courtyard with bacchanal ecstasy, shouting, singing, dancing, screaming ;
and if a man dares to approach to witness their wild freaks, he is
invariably caught in their meshes and is retained captive until he
purchases his freedom with an adequate ransom in money, beer, or
608 THE 'ARAMZEAN STOCK._
some other present. Visits of ceremony are paid by the father to his
friends, who congratulate him by expressing their good wishes in
stereotyped phrases : “ May your child be a joy to you ;” “ May God
render you joyful.” Similar ceremonies take place the third day
after the birth of the child, on which occasion the female friends
assemble and proceed to the neighbouring brook to subject the
mother’s clothes to the purifying process of the running water; and
on their return to the house they are invited to partake of the porridge
which has‘ been the mother’s food since her delivery, and for which
she had long since with her own hands prepared the ﬂour intended
to be used for this purpose. Immediately after the birth of the child
it is habituated to feed on substantial nourishment. Besides its daily
rations of the mother’s milk, it is made to swallow, in small quantities,
melted butter in a lukewarm state mixed with a little honey.
The rite of circumcision is performed on the eighth day, and both
male and female children are subjected to this initiatory ceremony.
As it is supposed that the chamber where the accouchement took place
is stained with pollution, it is required by the ordinances of the
church that it should be puriﬁed by a sanctifying process of religious
import. In accordance with this custom, on the tenth day, if the
child be a boy, and on the twentieth, if it be a girl, the priests, dressed
in their canonical robes, bearing crosses and burning censers, proceed
to the contaminated dwelling and impregnate the atmosphere with
the vapour of incense, while the whole house is sprinkled with holy
water. Baptism takes place after the fortieth day if a male child,
but if the infant is of the female sex the ceremony is deferred till the
eightieth day after birth, and it is considered of great importance that
the prescribed regulation as regards time be strictly observed; and its
wilful or accidental contravention can only be atoned for by a penance
of fasting varying from a month to a year. During the performance
of the christening ceremony in the church the sponsors stand before
the baptismal font, and the priest advances and receives the child
from the godfather. He then pours some water on its head, and
dipping his ﬁngers in oil, he marks its forehead, hands, breast, and
knees with the sign of the cross, and concludes the sacramental ser-
vice by tying round the infant’s neck a plaited cord of red, blue, and
white silk as a badge of membership in the Christian household of the
church. ‘The child is again placed in charge of the sponsor, whom the
priest addresses by exhorting him to provide for the support and edu-
cation of the child, and to exert himself to promote its spiritual and
temporal welfare; to which the godfather assents by a formal pro-
mise which has no other practical effect than that in case he should
die childless his foster-child becomes his legal heir. The party,
accompanied by the priest, on their return to the father’s house ﬁnd
a feast prepared, of which many invited guests partake amidst merri-
ment and rejoicing.
Education is almost entirely neglected in Abyssinia. The sons and
sometimes the daughters of the nobles and of the priests are taught
to read, and they acquire some superﬁcial knowledge of the ancient
Ghez language by memorising hymns and prayers, a few chapters of
ABYSSIN IANS. 609
the Psalms, and some portions of the New Testament; for in the
Abyssinian church the only recognised version of the Bible is that
written in the old Ethiopian language, which is only intelligible to
those who are well educated and have devoted some time to its study.
They are also instructed in singing, and their course of education is
completed by learning by heart the vocabulary of the Ethiopic dic-
tionary. To render their acquirements more practical for professional
pursuits the young men gather round the most learned of the priestly
order, who expound to them the profound mysteries of theology,
give their own commentary upon the Bible, and make an exposition
of the laws of the civil code. The nobles and the wealthier classes
send their sons to convents, which have the monopoly of teaching in
this benighted country; but many parents, fearing that their sons
might become monks, do not even avail themselves of these imperfect
educational institutions, and their children remain ignorant and unin-
structed. Some boys who have sufficient ambition to advance in the
world perform of their own accord the menial drudgeries of the
household of a priest, and in return for their service they receive
some superﬁcial instruction by reciting their lessons at night to their
master. Some boys even gain their means of subsistence by begging,
that, independent of their parents, they may prepare themselves for
the priestly office or some other professional pursuit; and a few are
educated at the expense of wealthy and charitable patrons. The
children of the poorer classes do not enjoy the advantages of a school
education; the boys are early accustomed to lend a helping hand in
the labours of the farm, and they take care of the sheep and cattle.
But if absolute poverty is the miserable lot of a family, boys at the
age of eight or nine years often leave their parents to hire themselves
out as shepherds to those who are able to support them and allow
them some triﬂing compensation for their services.
The majority of the population of Abyssinia profess Christianity,
but there are numerous Mohamedans scattered through all the towns
who are tolerated in the free exercise of their religion. They are
either of Arab origin, or they trace their descent from the neighbour-
ing Gallas. Several districts are inhabited by the Falashas, who
belong to the old Abyssinian stock, but profess the Jewish faith—a
religion which, previous to the introduction of Christianity by Fru—
mentius, A.D. 330,1 had widely spread in Abyssinia, and of which a
notable remnant still cleaves to the church, being interwoven with its
religious ceremonies, and giving characteristic colouring to its mode
of worship.
In point of doctrine the Abyssinians are strictly Monophysites or
Eutychians. They acknowledge only one nature and one will in
Christ, and hold, with the Greek Church, that the Holy Ghost proceeds

1 Abyssinia is said to have been converted to Christianity in the beginning of
the fourth century by Frumentius, a native of Tyre, who was shipwrecked on its
shores. Carried captive to the court of the then reigning queen, he used the
opportunity given him for extending the new faith. He was afterwards appointed
by Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, to be its ﬁrst bishop or aboona. Narra
tive of a Journey through Abyssinia, by Henry Dafton, p. 86.
2Q
610 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
from the Father only and not from the Son. For more than half a
century a schism existed in the church, growing out of the dogma of
the three births of Christ, which engendered a ﬁerce and violent
controversy with the party who held that there were but two births.
In 1841, by the decision of the king, the doctrine of the three births
was adopted as an essential article of belief of the national church.
N o priest is ordained, nor can he exercise the function of his holy
ofﬁce, unless he subscribes to the new addition of the creed, by which
it is held that the Son of God, begotten of the Father before all the
worlds, is the ﬁrst or eternal birth 3 when in time he became man
constitutes the second or temporal birth 3 and when he was conse-
crated by the Holy Ghost, by being baptized in Jordan, makes the
third birth. But notwithstanding this uniﬁcation of the creed by
acts of authority, there exist three sectarian divisions utterly hostile
to each other, and so embittered are they in their feelings that they
curse and denounce one another and refuse to take the sacrament
together. According to the opinion of one party, when it is said that
Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the only idea conveyed by
this expression is that the Godhead was united with his human
nature 3 and whenever the Holy Spirit is mentioned as being given
to Christ it signiﬁes his divinity, for as he always possessed the Holy
Spirit he could not receive him, nor did Christ need his assistance;
and to crown the argument they add that Jesus Christ has anointed,
that he has been anointed, and that he himself is the unction. The
second party believe that when it is said that Jesus Christ was
anointed with the Holy Spirit, it means simply that the Holy Spirit
accomplished the union of the Godhead with human nature in the
person of Christ. The third party, who are most moderate and con-
sequently most tolerant, hold the opinion that Jesus Christ as man,
although united to the Godhead from the moment of his conception,
received the Holy Ghost in the human part of his nature, as we
receive him as a gift of the Father, in order that he might be enabled
to accomplish as man the work of our redemption; and they. call
Christ’s unction his third birth, which, they say, took place in the
Virgin’s womb, where he already fasted and prayed. '
To the Virgin Mary the high ofﬁce is assigned of having died for the
sins of the world, and of having thus saved one hundred and forty- .
four thousand souls. She is a special object of adoration, and holds
the ﬁrst rank among the mediatorial host of saints, in the presence of
whom the suppliants kneel to address to them their invocations and
prayers.
Many of the religious practices of the Abyssinians are remnants of
the Jewish faith which they formerly professed, and to which the
F alashas still adhere. They not only perform the rite of circumcision
and in many parts of the country regard Saturday as a day of rest,
but they observe the laws of puriﬁcation 3 and no man who has been
deﬁled by coming in contact with things unclean is allowed to enter
the church until he is puriﬁed. They only partake of the ﬂesh of
quadrupeds that chew the cud and have cloven hoofs. The wild
boar is an abomination to them, the camel excites horror, and
ABYSSINIANS. 6 1 1
thehare is an object of disgust. They have also a particular mode of
slaughtering animals, similar to that practised by the Jews, and they
refuse to eat‘meat if the animal has not been killed according to the
prescribed regulations. Many assert even, although upon purely
fabulous grounds, that their line of kings is directly descended through
the queen of ‘Sheba from Solomon, and that their most aristocratic
families are the immediate descendants of Jerusalem J ews.1
N 0 other Christian people are as rigid as the Abyssinians in the
observance of acts of penance and the expiatory practice of fasting.
Besides every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year, they fast
forty days during Lent, twenty-ﬁve days after Trinity, fourteen days
in the month of August, twenty-ﬁve days before Advent, and ﬁfty
additional days on occasions of minor importance. They believe that
they can obtain forgiveness for their sins by meritorious works, such
as almsgiving, fasting, monastic vows, reading the Psalms, and other
acts of piety. On fast days they abstain from eating and drinking
till late in the afternoon, and then indulge .in no other food than
dried peas dressed with oil, or a vegetable dish resembling spinach.
The time of the day when the fast may be closed is determined by a
man’s shadow measured from his feet, and its length varies according
to the sanctity of the occasion for which the fast is appointed. Thus
the Lenten fast lasts till sunset, that of Advent till the shadow
measures nine and a half feet. Saturday and Sunday are privileged
days, and a morning meal is allowed to be taken provided it does not
consist of animal food. The priests are required to keep an absolute
fast for forty-eight hours from midnight before Good Friday till
midnight of Saturday before Easter.
The churches are mostly built on eminences, and are surrounded by

1 Saba, a virgin of high birth and pure spirit, by her prayers and tears obtained
the favour of Heaven, and some celestial warrior in earthly form slew the dragon
and delivered the damsel; on her foot, however, the saliva of the dragon had
fallen and caused incurable ulcers and lameness. Having been, by universal
acclaim, appointed queen of the nation (queen of Sheba), she crossed the seas to
seek for cure at the hands of the wise and far-famed Solomon, and after various
‘adventures returned to Abyssinia pregnant with a son by that monarch. It is
said that on her departure Solomon gave her a golden staff as a proof his son was
to bring to him if the child should be a male, and a diamond ring to be presented
if a daughter. In due time she bore a son, who was named Menelek. At the
age of sixteen, having previously informed his father of her intention by letter,
she sent him to Jerusalem with the golden staff. Aware of the searching mind
of Solomon, and being herself quick-witted, she apprehended that the pledge
might be mistrusted, and in her ﬁnal instructions she bid her son beware of too
hastily bestowing it on the person he might ﬁnd seated on his father’s throne,
but ﬁrst to examine his own countenance in a mirror, and search amid the throng
‘of courtiers for a maturer resemblance with himself. Following this advice he
presented the staff to his father, whom he detected sitting on the ground in
humble attire, while another in gorgeous robes ﬁlled his usual seat. Thereupon
Solomon acknowledged him as his son in wisdom as in blood, and after keeping
him some years sent him to govern Ethiopia accompanied by the eldest sons of
Jews of rank and consideration. From Menelek are said to descend the kings of
Gondar to this day, and from the Jews the twelve judges, the keepers of the
sacred books, and other ofﬁcers of high rank in the empire. Travels in Abyssinia,
by W. C. Plowden, p. 84.
612 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
groves of cypress. They are generally, insigniﬁcant structures, and
present nothing striking in their external‘ appearance. They are
circular in form, and are surmounted by a thatched conical roof,
ornamented, at its apex, by an iron or silver gilt cross. A small hut
in close proximity contains a resonant kind of stone, which, when
struck, produces a jingling sound, and thus serves as a substitute for
a bell. The interior arrangement of the church is after the model of
the Jewish tabernacle or temple. The vestibule to which the laity
are admitted is separated by a concentric wall from the sacristy, which
none but the priests are permitted to enter, in the centre of which is
a square or circular elevation called the Kodoosh K0d00shan,1 on
which is placed, under the canopy of chintz or silk, the ark of the
covenant (tabot), an object of the most profound veneration with the
Abyssinian clergy, it being the receptacle of the church vessels and
the sacred books. The exterior face of the partition wall is often
rudely painted in ochre and whiting, representing coarse delineations
of saints with full jolly faces. The archangel Michael and St. George
crushing the dragon are nearly always placed near the door. At the
base of the outer circle of this compartment are numerous burial
vaults, where the ashes of the most distinguished men of the nation
repose. The Bethlehem, which is an auxiliary department of the
church, is the place where the priests prepare the eucharistic bread,
and the grassy plain all around serves as cemetery, where the members
of the church community are interred. .
When the hour of service arrives groups of men and women, who
belong to the class of the impure, are seated upon the soft grassy
sward. The laity, who have no stain of pollution resting upon their
person or garment, enter the outer space of the sanctuary to witness
the ceremonial forms of worship. The learned scribes (debterahs) are
the choristers in all the churches. Their chanting is accompanied
by the monotonous sound of the negareef, and is neither agreeable nor
edifying. The priests, robed in gaudy canonicals, are intoning, with
unmusical voice, the liturgies and the Psalms ; deacon boys are
swinging the censers to and fro, and thus diffuse the aromatic vapours
through the precincts of the sacred ediﬁce. At certain intervals in the
regular service, one of the ofﬁciating priests, dressed up in his showy
robes, and accompanied by youthful deacons with burning censers, and
bearing a copy of the Gospels in the ancient Ghez language, proceeds
to the outer court, where he ministers to the spiritual wants of the
profane and polluted multitude by reading a portion of Scripture and
reciting some prayer—formulas. The sacrament of communion is called
Irorban,2 and is considered, what its name imports, a real sacriﬁce.
The doctrine of transubstantiation is not universally accepted, but
those who hold that the actual ﬂesh and blood of Christ is partaken
of in the eucharist by the faithful, also believe that an angel from
heaven changes the sacramental ﬂesh and blood into the original
elements if partaken by those who are unworthy.

1 These are Hebrew words, and mean “ Holy of Holies.”
2 A Hebrew word meaning sacriﬁce. _.
ABYSSINIANS. 613
. 'The church establishment of Abyssinia is strictly episcopal in its
government and ecclesiastical hierarchy. The primate bears the title
of Aboona, who is consecrated to his oﬂice and invested with authority
.by the patriarch of the Coptic church at Alexandria or Cairo, who
‘claims to be the apostolic successor of St. Marc. The person of the
aboona is considered sacred, exempt from the pollution of the ﬂesh,
and free from all moral deﬁlement. He never appears in public
except veiled; and the superstitious multitude, who believe that he
eats nothing but a kind of medicine called cosa, or at most parched
peas and grain, prostrate themselves in his presence, and invoke his
blessings as he passes, that by his intercession their sins may be
forgiven, and their transgressions may be blotted out from the
remembrance of man. The tchegee, who is appointed by the emperor,
occupies the second rank in the hierarchical order, and is looked upon
as the legitimate successor of Tekla Haimanot, who is buried in the
monastery of Devra Libanas, and whose saintly character is so highly
.reverenced that he is regarded in the same light as an apostle. The
tchegee is also distinguished for personal freedom from human frail-
.ties, and his sanctity is supposed to be second only to that of the
aboona. Within the precincts of his residence there is a holy well,
whose waters are believed to have the virtue of curing all manner of
‘diseases, provided a suitable contribution he made for the support of
the monastery, which contains the shrine of the patron saint of the
Abyssinian church. The alikas, or heads of the cities of refuge
.(gccldams), who are not necessarily priests, also belong to the ecclesias-
tical order. They are generally rich men, who know how to read
and write; and as they act as judges, they must also be conversant
.with'the laws of the country. The common priests are all equal in
rank. They have the privilege of administering the sacrament and of
attending to the ordinary church service. They are allowed to marry
once, but when their ﬁrst wife dies they must content themselves
with a state of celibacy for the rest of their lives.
Candidates for the priesthood are ordained by the aboona or the
tchegee, not by laying on of hands, but by pronouncing a benediction
and blowing his consecrated breath upon them. Boys only are selected
for deacons. They are frequently ordained as priests whenever they
are found worthy to be invested with that dignity. Generally,
however, they are discharged from the service as soon as they reach
‘the age of twelve or thirteen, under the apprehension that their morals
and conduct may become contaminated by the contact with the world,
,so as to render them unﬁt to be admitted into the holy of holies and
stand before the sacred shrine of tabot. The learners or aspirants
(tama'ree) are the students of theology. They are occupied with
reading and psalm~singing, and wear sheepskins to cover their naked-
ness, and support themselves by begging their bread. Bishops and
‘monks are bound by a perpetual vow of celibacy, but marriage pre-
vious to ordination is no cause of exclusion from the exercise of
priestly functions. The debts-mks or sacred scribes ﬁll the lowest rank
among the church dignitaries. They do not properly belong to the
ecclesiastical body, nor do they comply with any rules of discipline;
614 THE ARAMl/EAN sTook.
yet they possess great inﬂuence among the people, for they monopolise
all the practical learning and routine of administration called into
‘requisition in the management of private and public affairs. They
are the notaries, the secretaries, the attorneys, and exercise other
functions requiring skill, shrewdness,‘ and a knowledge of affairs.
They have a reputation for cunning and intrigue, and their honesty is
far below the standard of their social position. They lead a life of
proﬂigacy, and their habits are dissolute and degraded. .
Formerly the Abyssinian church possessed vast landed estates,
comprising one-third of the public domain, which was exempt from all
impost and taxation. But, under King Theodorus, all the clerical
lands were sequestrated for the use of the state, and two priests and
three deacons were appointed for each church establishment, to whom
a small farm was assigned of suflicient extent to maintain them if
properly cultivated. But their revenues are not restricted to this
alone; for the people, who recognise in the priesthood their spiritual
guides, who advise them in their difﬁculties and console them in their
afﬂictions, contribute to their support by paying annually the tenth
part of their produce gained by the sweat of their brow and the
labour of their hands.
The Abyssinians celebrate numerous religious festivals, from which
secular diversions are not excluded. The feast of Mascal commemorates
the discovery of the holy cross by the mother of Constantine. As
soon as the evening begins to dawn a procession of boys and girls
march through the streets of towns and villages, asking for a contri-
bution of wood and faggots to serve as fuel for kindling bonﬁres at
midnight. At the appointed hour the debtemhs, who conduct all
religious solemnities, assemble in considerable number and begin the
initiatory exercises of the festival by chanting in the open air a sacred
hynm, a laudatory effusion appropriate to the occasion in behalf of the
true cross. These nocturnal strains of the church choristers wake
the slumberers from their sweet repose, and in a short time streams of
torch—bearers are seen coursing along in every direction towards the
piles of wood which are lighted up into'dazzling beacons. The singing
becomes louder and louder, and the swelling notes of the dcbtemhs
are drowned by the screaming and yelling voices of the multitude
who join in the midnight song. At last, amidst the wild and tumul-
tuous shouts of the rabble, the clashing of swords, the beating of
drums, and the ﬂickering glare of crackling faggots, the auspicious
event of the discovery of the Mascal is proclaimed in due form.
The festival of Assumption is celebrated with rejoicing and merri-
ment. A cow is killed and a regular feast is prepared. The oung
of both sexes gather in groups on the green sward and under shady
trees, where, arranged in circles, they dance from noon till midnight
to the wild pathetic notes of‘ some favourite ballad. On the evening
of St. J ohn’s Day, the whole population of the towns and villages,
males and females, resort to the neighbouring streams to indulge in the
luxury of a bath. The head of the house is presented by his servants
and friends with a bunch of wild ﬂowers as a token of good-will, as
an oﬁering of ﬁrst-fruits, the gift of the beautiful season which follows
ABYSSINIANS. 615
the periodical rain, when the sky is pure and unclouded 3 when
vegetation bursts forth with all the glowing colours and rich luxu-
rian-ce of a tropical climate; when the corn spreads a carpet of grass-
like verdure over the naked soil ; when the trees are decked with the
richest profusion of foliage, dotted with bright-tinted blossoms, and
the birds arrayed in their most brilliant plumage seek shelter in the
forest and wing their ﬂight through the plain. Even Good Friday,
which is the most solemn fast-day of the year, is a day of rejoicing
set apart for the children. They assemble in some secluded spot
where they enjoy themselves in a kind of picnic feast, for which they
gather the materials by going from house to house and asking of each
family a slight contribution of some dainty food. If their application
is slighted, they revenge themselves by celebrating a mock funeral
with the mimic corpse of the ungenerous delinquent paraded through
the streets.
The invocation of saints is one of the cardinal articles of the Abys-
sinian creed. Their mediatorial aid is considered indispensable, and
they are held in such high veneration, that although a man might not
hesitate to swear falsely in the name of the Almighty, and ascribe to
a special Providence the commission of the most atrocious crimes as
well as the most trivial occurrences in life ,1 yet he would consider it
an unpardonable sin to appeal to his patron saint, St. George or St.
Michael, to bear witness to his perﬁdy or unblushing falsehood.
There are numerous convents in Abyssinia}? constituting close com-
munities of monks and nuns. They are distinguished from the
secular classes of the population by a cap which covers their head.
The men and women in Abyssinia, after they are advanced in years,
withdraw from the world, and consecrate the remainder of their life
to religious devotion. The rich divest themselves of all their wealth,
which they distribute among their children, who undertake to supply
them with all their wants until death closes their earthly career. I
Men frequently become monks when hard pressed by their creditors,
for as this kind of civil death cancels all their obligations, they are
freed from much useless annoyance by taking the monastic vow, while
they still retain the liberty of living in their own houses with their
wives, who are generally nuns ; but they are not permitted to enter a
second marriage if their wife should die.
There exists also a class of ascetics, living in monastic seclusion,
who are much revered by the ignorant populace. They are the fol-

1 The name of God is nowhere in such constant use as in the mouth of Abys-
sini ans. They imagine a special interference in every act of their lives and in
ever ything that occurs. A thief will piously praise God for having assisted him
in a dangerous robbery; a man will say: “ God threw my enemy in my way,
and I slew him.” The death of a dog, the breaking of a bottle, a slip in the
mud, are sufficiently important to be imputed to the Will of the Divinity.
Wonderful escapes, the bloodiest crimes, and the most trivial commonplaces of
life are alike due to the interposition of Providence. Travels in Abyssinia, by
W. C. Plowden, p. 90.
'2 The two monasteries of the greatest sanctity, in which no female footstep is
permitted, are Waldoobha and Lallibella, to which pilgrims from all parts resort.
Travels in Abyssinia, by W. C. Plowden, p. 86.
61 6 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
lowers of Gorgorius, a fanatic priest, who claimed to possess the gift
of prophecy, loudly denounced the laxity of morals which had even
invaded the inner sanctuary of the Abyssinian church. To set an
example he withdrew from the world, and established monastic com-
munities in lonely and isolated places, separated from the haunts of
vice and degradation of the unholy and the impure. These ascetics
do not suffer themselves to be contaminated by the unhallowed touch
of the profane; they will not partake of their food, nor share their
drink, nor give rest to their weary limbs in their dwellings. They
cultivate their own ﬁelds, reap their own harvests, and prepare their
own bread. Monks of this order pass months and even years in the
swampy lowlands, the miasmatic fens, the gloomy forest wilds, and
the entangled jungles, subsisting on wild roots and dried peas, which
is the only article of food they carry with them in their wanderings.
Many become feeble and helpless from the hardships which they
endure, and succumb to the inﬂuence of the noxious vapours they
inhale, or to the pangs of hunger by which they are consumed; and
if they are able to resist these passive enemies, they often perish
defenceless victims of the bloodthirsty voracity of the tiger, the lion,
or the hyena.
The Abyssinians, profoundly ignorant and cut off as they are on
every side from the civilised nations of the Christian world, are in the
highest degree superstitious. Their belief in evilspirits is wide-
spread, if not universal. Of these, the bo'udha is considered the most
active and the most dreadful in the fatal results of his mysterious
power. This invisible agency of malice is supposed utterly to subdue
its victim to do its bidding, or to castigate it with the most agonising
tortures, or contrive a lingering death to wreak its vengeance upon
the object of its hatred. Its demoniac propensity exerts itself to kill
and devour its enemy, unless defended by certain charms and amu-
lets, or bafﬂed in its nefarious design by timely discovery. It is
pretended that this malignant spirit employs certain classes of the
population as ﬁt instruments of mischief. The blacksmiths, the
workers of iron and brass, are looked upon as the most noted sorcerers,
possessed of magic skill to bring into exercise this demoniac power.
They are utterly despised, and yet to avert their wicked machinations
they are treated with respectful consideration and condescension.
Women and other persons of weak nerves and shallow brains are
frequently attacked by a nervous malady generated by the climatic
peculiarities of these tropical regions, which is ascribed to the myste-
rious inﬂuence of sorcery. The symptoms are of an exceedingly
depressing character, which sink the whole vital organism into a
deadly faintness, giddy languor, and passive inertness. There is‘ an
utter incapacity of physical exertion and a torpid state of insensibility
nearly approaching to unconsciousness. At intervals the patient is
roused to violent action by paroxysms of abnormal nervous force,
which seeks relief by biting, tearing, kicking any one within reach,
and, if failing in its aim, by uttering shrill, discordant howls not
unlike those of the hyena. The exorcist is generally called in, who is
expected to drive out the evil spirit and counteract the sorcerer’s
ABYSSINIANS. 61 7
‘incantation by more potent charms and effective appliances. He
.approaches the possessed person regardless of the cries of dolesome
‘lamentation or bursts of rage alternating with ﬁts of laughter, and
with one hand he holds to the bosom of the patient an amulet, while
with the other he applies to the nose a bundle of strong-scented drugs
bound up with the bone of the hyena and other ingredients of the
most offensive odour. If the violent contortions of the patient cease
for a moment, the exorcist addresses the bouclha in the person of his
supposed victim, who rejoins in proper form, and the conj uror exclaims,
“ I_ command thee in the name of the blessed Trinity, the twelve
apostles, and the three hundred and eighteen bishops of the Council
.of Nicaea, to leave this possessed person, and never more to molest
him.” The bouclha, speaking through the patient, generally refuses
to obey this summary order ; but being threatened with a dose of live
coal as an effectual remedy against obstinate resistance to a superior
power, he at last consents to depart, on condition that a dish of vic-
tuals, such as he loves, should be prepared for him. All kinds of
ﬁlthy and refuse materials are mixed up with water, and this disgust-
ing preparation the exorcist presents to the demon, inviting him to
partake in these words, “ As thy faith, so do thou l” The possessed
person, as if struck by the conjuror’s wand, suddenly leaps up, and,
crawling on all fours, snatches up the delectable repast and devours it
with the greatest avidity and satisfaction. The patient then exerts
himself in some act of prodigious strength and falls down helpless and
exhausted, and in the course of half an hour the person is himself
again and the recovery is complete.1
The superstitious dread of sorcery has produced, as a natural con-
sequence, the no less superstitious practice of casting out the evil
spirit by the use of a talisman, which is composed of various strong-
scented roots or herbs, intermixed with bits of hyena-skin, sewn up
in a morocco case, and hung round the neck as a preventive, or applied
to the possessed person as a curative expedient. The debzfemhs
monopolise the trade of these potent charms, and derive considerable
proﬁt from this shameless imposture which panders to the weakness
and fancy fof public credulity. They also act as exorcists and con-
_jurors, pretending not only to remove the fatal consequences of the
.demoniac inﬂuence, but they deceive the ignorant populace with the
.dangerous delusion that they possess the power of pointing out the
bouclha or sorcerer through whose agency the mischief has been
.wrought. For this purpose they wander from house to house on a
tour of discovery, and as the practice of their nefarious art renders
their presence hateful in every household, their good-will is purchased
by presents, which they exact for the favour of refraining from prefer-

1 Both Mr. Stern, in his “ \Vanderings among the F alashahs,” and Mr.
Plowden, who was British Consul in Abyssinia, assure us that they were witness
to several cases of hysterical or monomaniac disorders as described in the text,
and that the cure was effected by the means and in the manner stated. There
is, however, room for suspicion that the machinery of the exorcism is the baseless
‘fabric of a vision, and that trickery has been brought into play to produce the
desired result.
6x8 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
ring false charges against the innocent. As it is believed that the
boudka can cause no injury to a person unless he knows his true name,
it is the custom for mothers to conceal the baptismal name of their
children, and to substitute for it Son of St. George, Slave of the
Virgin, Daughter of Moses, and similar patronymics 3 or some favourite
nicknames, some epithet of endearment, as Gold, Silver, Joy, Sweet-
ness 3 or some expression indicating anticipated merits or some physical
characteristics of the child. But if this important secret has by
chance been divulged, it is supposed the boudha can make the bearer
of the name the victim of his implacable hatred, by consecrating a
particular kind of straw, in pronouncing over it some mystic formula,
and then bending it into a circle and placing it under a stone. It is
asserted that the person against whom the incantation has been
directed immediately sickens on the bending of the straw, and if, by
accident, it should break in the act of forming the ring, the malady
will inevitably terminate in death. A still more malignant genius of
evil is the dobbas, who abides in certain houses or visits certain
haunts. His form is hideous and repulsive, and is wrapped in a thick
blue mist. As he is hovering about like the angel of death, those he
encounters in his ﬁtful wanderings are the doomed victims of his
malice 3 their limbs are seized with icy coldness, a convulsive shudder
passes through their frame, they know that death’s door stands open
and that they are invited to enter.
In a country like Abyssinia, where superstition is so widely
disseminated, cunning impostors are not wanting who, disguising
themselves under the cloak of religion, take advantage of the insane
delusions prevalent among the people, and by their very acts give
reality to that demon power which originally exists only in the
distempered imagination of the credulous multitude. To this class
belong not only the clebterahs, but there exists a body of men who
style themselves feZZaty, or knowing ones, who assume the character
of prophets, and pretend that they possess the knowledge of secret
things communicated to them by saints and laid open by divine
inspiration; that nothing hidden can escape their scrutiny, and all
that is concealed is disclosed to their acute vision. In some parts of
the country they have even acquired the reputation as infallible judges,
and contested cases are referred to their ﬁnal decision where the facts
in controversy cannot be substantiated by credible witnesses. It is
only on stated days and certain nights, but more especially during the
period of full moon, that the prophetic spirit manifests itself most
conspicuously in the exercise of its oracular power. Before the parties
to a dispute, who come for consultation, are admitted to the house,
the fellazfg/ declares to his friends around him, that persons outside,
~whose names he announces, are in waiting, who desire to consult him
on a matter in contest, which he explains, and then orders them to be
brought before him. As soon as they appear he renders his decision
without making the least inquiry or any preliminary examination
whatever. If the judgment proves to be unsatisfactory, or if it does
not meet the facts of the case, the failure is attributed to the unpro~
pitious season or an unfavourable hour.
ABYSSI N IANS. 6 I 9
All the towns and the neighbourhood of the churches are infested
with an immense number of professional beggars, whose importunate
demands, in the name of Kudas Micheal or Tekla Haimanot, are no
less annoying than insolent. They shower their choicest blessings
upon the generous giver; but if their outstretched hand is pitilessly
thrust aside, and the pittance asked for is refused, they have laid up
in store select formulas of curses and maledictions, which they mutter
forth with unsparing volubility.
But the most impudent beggars of a "purely professional class,
exclusively met with in the province of Tigré, are a mendicant fra—
ternity called the Zacchari. They constitute a numerous society, are
dressed in leopards’ skins, and carry a staff ornamented with brass or
silver rings. They enter the huts of the peasantry at the time of the
day when the master of the house is engaged in the labours of the
ﬁeld, imitating the shrill growl of the hyena and the tumultuous roar
of the lion, so as to intimidate the helpless women and children, in
order that their extortionate demands may be readily complied with.
They will snarl, make horrible grimaces, strike themselves with their
staﬁ“, and threaten the trembling wife that death or any other calamity
would visit the household unless a piece of cloth, a quantity of corn,
or any other article they may desire, is instantly delivered over to
them. Prompted by fear, the woman never hesitates to satisfy the
insolent marauder, and receives in return empty wishes for her happi-
ness and future welfare. They are also skilled in tricks of jugglery ;
they exhibit their power of endurance by thrusting their bare feet
into the ﬁre, striking themselves with whips, and cutting their
shoulders with swords.
The funeral ceremonies of the Abyssinians are formal, complicated,
and tedious. A priest is called in that, after having heard the con-
fession, pronounced absolution, and administered the last sacrament,
he might, according to the teachings of the church, bring consolation
to the dying and inspire him with the hope of a better life. It is
the priest, in the presence of witnesses, who is made the depositary
of the last wishes of the dying man concerning the disposal of his
property; for last wills in this benighted country are not written
documents, but merely oral communications made at the last moments
before ﬁnal dissolution. As the funeral takes place on the same day
the death occurs, preparations are immediately made for that purpose.
The priests and oiiicials of the neighbouring church assemble in great
. numbers, and the relatives send messengers to the nearest villages;
they proceed to high eminences or ascend the housetops to summon
the friends and acquaintances to join the funeral procession and pay
the last debt to the deceased, exclaiming in a loud voice, after having
announced the name of the dead person, “Come ye to the funeral,
and bring the crosses and the incense bowls.” W'hilc priests are
chanting their prayers, and friends and relatives give vent to their
grief in wails and moans and lamentations, the body is carefully
washed and wrapped in a white cotton shroud, with the face entirely
covered. It is then placed on a couch (alga), which serves as bier,
and is deposited outside before the front entrance of the house.
620 THE ARAMiEAN STOCK.
When the corpse is about to be borne to its ﬁnal resting—place, another
howl of lamentation, another cry of disconsolate sorrow is heard, that
cannot fail to excite emotions of sympathy and pity. Some frantically
grasp the bier, as if wishing to retain it by force; others, convulsed
by the throes of agony and despair, rend their clothes, tear their hair,
lacerate their neck and face with their nails, so that the blood trickles
down in streams. A wife, or mother, or a sister, with her utterance
almost choked by sighs and sobs, exhibits some triﬂing mementoes
of love and affection which recall to her mind some pleasant incident
of the life of the deceased. A salute is ﬁred by those who carry
guns, and the funeral train is immediately set in motion. Seven
halts are made as the procession marches from the residence of the
deceased to the church. Psalms are read by each of thepriests and
scribes in turn, prayers are offered up, and the corpse is fumigated
with the vapour of the incense bowls which are constantly swinging
round the bier. Arrived at the church, the funeral service is performed
in all its minutest details, for the relatives are anxiously watching
that not the least part should be omitted. If the deceased wore an
amulet, which consists of strips of parchment enclosed in a morocco
case and inscribed with some legend of the Virgin, it is unrolled and
laid over the body. After the conclusion of the ofﬁce for the dead,
the body is wrapped by the officiating priests in a mat of the leaves
of the date-palm, symbolical of the palm-branches strewn in the way
when Christ entered Jerusalem. The priest descends into the grave,
which is consecrated with incense, the body is then lowered and
consigned to its eternal rest. The Zeslso or wailing is repeated every
morning for a week, during which time no ﬁre is kindled in the
house, no provisions are cooked, and the necessary food for the house-
hold is supplied by the neighbours. The third day after the burial
is set apart as a special occasion of mourning. The relatives and
friends of the deceased assemble on some grassy spot near the church,
where they are seated near a couch on which the corpse is laid out in
efﬁgy. A salute is given by the discharge of ﬁrearms, while the rest,
with bowed heads and humble attitude, are ranged in a line weeping,
and violently rubbing their cheeks and foreheads with their shamas.
To deliver the soul from purgatory, masses are performed for forty
days if the deceased be wealthy, but ﬁve masses are deemed sufﬁcient
for the puriﬁcation of the souls of the poor. At some convenient
period after the funeral has taken place, a feast is provided in honour
of the departed, which often continues for seven days. The ﬁrst day of
the banquet is exclusively set apart for the priests, but the poor, who
are generally congregated in great numbers before the gates of the
church, are not neglected; they receive each a piece of bread and a
portion of the entrails and liver, and after being duly served they
show their gratitude to the donors by holding the share distributed
to them under their mouth, shouting out to the top of their voice,
“ Hai-oh !”-—a prayerful exclamation expressing the wish that the
deceased may rise to a new life. On the second day all the great and
distinguished men of the neighbourhood are invited, and the priests
also assemble to partake of the entertainment. The rank of the
ABYSSINIANS. 62 I
guests diminishes each succeeding day to the seventh and last day,
which is exclusively devoted to the women. The banquet for the
dead is repeated at every anniversary, which is looked upon as a pious
duty; for it is believed that at every recurring annual festivity the
soul of the deceased is wafted nearer to the uppermost regions of the
realms of bliss.
The Amharic and the Tigré languages are the two principal dialects
spoken in Abyssinia, and they are both derived from the ancient
Ethiopian, called the Ghez, which ceased to be spoken at the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century. The Tigré resembles the mother
tongue most closely, whilst the Amharic is a more modern develop-
ment, more or less altered by a mixture of foreign words, but its more
extensive use renders it somewhat national. The Ghez is the classic
language, and is studied only by the higher order of the priesthood,
and by a few men of the secular class who are ambitious to acquire a
reputation for learning, or are invested with oﬂicial dignity. The
Ghez is Aramaean in structure as well as in root-words ; it is exceed-
ingly harsh and inharmonious, and has been arrested in its progressive
steps of advancement before it could divest itself of its rude forms of
speech, and be subjected to the reﬁning process of a more polished
civilisation. It is characterised by peculiarities of grammatical forms
and construction which assign to it a distinct individuality, and which
distinguish it from the other Semitic languages. Its broken plurals,
the particular forms of its verbs, its rudimentary distinction of cases,
and its ﬁnal vowels, are evidences of its antiquity and independent
development. It bears marks of affinity by which it is connected
with the Himyaritic or ancient Arabic, but in its external physiog-
nomy it has a closer resemblance to the Hebrew. It has many root—
words in common with the Hebrew and Aramaean which are entirely
wanting in the Arabic vocabulary. The organic structure of the
verbs and their mode of application are scientiﬁcally developed, and
present much variety of form. The particles perform an important
ofﬁce, and impart delicacy of expression and nicety of verbal variation,
which is not equalled by any other idiom of the same family of tongues.
“All this attaches the Ghez to an ancient condition of the Semitic
languages, although it also presents features by which it approaches
the modern Hebrew and Aramzean, such as the abstract forms, the
external concretions, and the developed turns.” Its pronunciation
alone differs from the other Semitic idioms. Some letters and the
vowels of the sixth order are almost impossible to be pronounced
except by an Abyssinian. The alphabet differs from the other Semitic
alphabets by their number, their order, their value, the name and form
of the letters, and the direction of the writing from left to right, and
especially by the mode of notating the vowels. It is identic with the
Himyaritic character with the exception of the direction of the
writing. '
The Amharic language, having long since been reduced to writing,
expresses every word by means of alphabetic characters, of which
twenty-six are of Ghez origin, and seven additional letters, which are
purely Amharic. Each letter, without separating the vowels from the
622 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
consonants, has seven different forms, which all express different
sounds of variously graduating shades, and ~the language has conse-
quently two hundred and thirty-one characters in addition to twenty
diphthongs. Nouns have but two numbers, the singular and the
plural, and the plural signiﬁcation is ordinarily indicated by the ﬁnal
syllable otsh, but there are plural terminations in an and in at, in
addition to several other forms. Some nouns have no plural sign,
and plurality is only indicated by a numeral or a particle of quantity.
The Amharic nouns are either masculine or feminine, but there exist
in most words no distinct gender marks, and the gender can only
be inferred from the nature of the idea expressed, by the addition
of speciﬁc sexual words and by certain terminations. Numerous
nouns, however, have no determined sexual value, and adjectives
as well as verbs are promiscuously applied to them in the masculine
and in the feminine. There are only four cases in this language.1
The nominative is always the root-word, without any additional
sign. The genitive and dative are denoted by characteristic preﬁx
letters, while in the accusative the characteristic sign is a ﬁnal letter.
Occasionally the constructive genitive of the Ghez is used 3 and the
governing and governed noun are so closely connected as to appear as
one word. Adjectives which belong to the substantive class are
invariable. The degrees of comparison are either expressed by an
accented pronunciation, or by augmentative or diminutive particles,
by the propositions “ of ” and “from,” and certain sufﬁxes. The
adverbial words used are always preﬁxed to the adjective‘. The system
of numeration is decimal. There are speciﬁc words for the units, ten,
twenty, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and a million. All the
intermediate numerals are simply compounded of these. The Amharic
has personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, reﬂec-
tive and distributive pronouns. _All pronouns are, as regards form,
either separable or inseparable. In the separable personal pronouns,
the second and third person have distinct forms for the masculine and
the feminine gender. The second person has besides three distinctions
of honour which are applied to inferiors, to God, and to intimate
friends and in universal address. In speaking of a distinguished
person the third person plural is used as a mark of honour. The
personal pronouns are declined both in the singular and the plural.
The separable possessive pronouns are formed by the genitive of the
personal pronouns. The inseparable pronouns are, with regard to
their position, either preﬁxes or suffixes. The personal sufﬁxes to the
verb are partly modiﬁcations of the personal pronouns, and are annexed
to every part of the verb except the inﬁnitive. The verbs are mostly
an advanced development of the noun radicals. The third person
singular masculine of the preterite is the simplest form or radical of
the verb. Verbs are either perfect, and are inﬂected in all the moods,
tenses, and persons, or imperfect, which are either defective, augmented,

1 M. Massaya, following the Latin standard, gives to the Amharic a vocative
and an ablative, and of the last even a sacramental ablative 3 and he states that
the cases are also marked out by governing prepositions.
ABYSSINIANS. 62 3
or irregular. The Amharic has seven moods, which are the indicative,
the contingent, the subjunctive, the constructive, the imperative, the
inﬁnitive, and the participle. The indicative has two tenses, the
preterite and the present or future; but other tenses are formed by
the contingent, the constructive, and in connection with auxiliaries.
The contingent is the simple verbal form with the personal preﬁxes
and terminations, and serves for the indicative as well as the subjunctive
mood. The subjunctive mood is only used to express desire, request,
or obligation. The constructive is formed by the simple root with
personal affixes, and has four different forms. The participle has
_three simple and two compound forms. The three former partake of
the character of nouns, the two latter are formed by the ﬁnite verb,
the preterite, and contingent. Strictly speaking, the Amharic has only
two divisions of time, the past and the present; the last being also
used for the future. The past is divided into the perfect, the imper-
fect, or pluperfect. The perfect is rendered by the simple preterite
form, and the plup'erfect is composed either of the contingent or the
simple constructive with a preterite auxiliary verb nabarra. The
present is composed of the contingent and the auxiliary ala. The
future is distinguished from the present by the context, or by certain
phrases indicating future time. The diﬁerent conjugations are
‘expressed by preﬁxes or preformatives, and suﬁixes or aﬁ'ormatives.
There are twenty-four different forms in which the verb is conjugated.
.Words which determine the relation between nouns, pronouns, or
verbs are either prepositions or postpositions. The adverbs are either
separable or inseparable; the inseparable are generally connected with
the verb, and are modifying particles of the action expressed by the
verb. The conjunctions are also divided into separable and in-
separable.1
The government of Abyssinia is an absolute despotism. exercised by
the king or ras, who is the ruler of the nation, in conjunction with
the feudal chiefs, who are almost possessed of unlimited power in
the administration of aﬁ‘airs in the provinces. The reigning monarch
bears the pompous title of emperor, and the succession is hereditary
in the'lineal descendants of Solomon the Great. The ras has no
ensign of authority except the negarect, composed of eighty-eight
drums loaded by pairs on mules with the drummer mounted behind,
and which always precede him in battle. He is surrounded by a
household of officers and favourites, whom he rewards by allotting to
them a certain number of dem'os or churches, with the lands and
immunities attached to them. The most important of these imperial
chiefs are the following :—The prime minister (bellalta gcezfa), who acts

1 The grammatical exposition as given in the text is principally taken from the
grammar of Mr. Isenberg, though the grammar of R. R. M. Massaya has been
consulted, who does not seem to be a professional philologist, but has simply
acquired a mechanical and not a philosophical knowledge of the language of
which he treats. [The whole organism and construction has been based upon the
Latin standard, otherwise it would have been impossible to apply in two parallel
columns the same rules, with some marked exceptions, to two languages so differ-
ent in origin as the Amharic and the Ormaic. ,
624 THE ARAMXEAN STOCK.
for his imperial master in his official capacity, issues orders in his
name, and controls all the internal affairs of the home establishment.
The commissary-general (ajaz) is charged with the special duty of
collecting in time of peace as well as war the necessary supplies of
provisions, to entertain strangers, to take care of the tents, and super—
vise the affairs of the imperial household, numbering more than a
thousand beneﬁciaries. The judge-advocate (aﬁa negoos), or mouth
of the king, reports all cases from which an appeal has been taken,
presents all petitions, and all the decisions and judgments are rendered
through the intermedium of this oﬁicer. The commanding general
(ﬁt-aware), who leads the advanced guard of the ras in battle. The
commanders of the body-guard (chaZilsa-zaﬁan-bet and zabaz'gaa alz'lsa),
who have men under their orders to guard the emperor in his tent or in
his palace, and prevent any attempt at trespass or intrusion; and the
latter acts, in addition, as seneschal, who, at public entertainments,
marshals the guests according to their rank.
The chiefs of the provincial dependencies (dejajmaeh) are the
virtual rulers within the limits of their territorial domain, and nume-
rous vassal chieftains and feudal nobles acknowledge their superior
rank and dignity. Some of'the secondary chiefs are chosen by the
liege lord among his followers and retainers, and as they hold their
estates by the favour of a great chief, they pay a regular tribute to the
supreme head to whom they owe homage and allegiance. Others are
invested with hereditary titles, claim superior rank and distinct prero-
gativcs, and hold their large landed possessions in absolute fee,
entirely exempt from taxation. The rank of a feudal chief is indi-
cated by the number of drums (nega’reet) he is entitled to heat, which,
in all probability, was originally proportioned to the number of men
of war that followed his standard and could be arrayed against an
enemy in the ﬁeld of battle. The most eminent chiefs beat but forty-
eight drums 3 others of inferior rank are reduced to twenty-four or to
twelve. They make all the proclamations for the promulgation of the
laws, and for this purpose they call the people together and make
known to them the will of their superiors. They have the power of
life and death within the limits of their respective provinces; they
levy as large a number of soldiers from the mass of the people as they
are capable of maintaining. The ras makes occasional demands on
them for horses, mules, honey, and provisions according to his neces-
sities or pleasure, and they extort all they are obliged to furnish from
the country people. When the ras ascends the throne he distributes
the disposable provinces to his great chiefs, who, in their turn, appoint
subordinate ofﬁcers to the smaller districts, while the latter place their
representatives over the villages, until, descending in the scale of dig~
nity, the lowest rank is reached in the person of the spearsman who,
in time of peace, has no other duties to perform but to beg his bread
and solicit the favour of his master.
The warrior class forms an important part of Abyssinian society;
for, surrounded as the Abyssinians are by wild negro tribes, and the
very heart of the country being occupied by Mohamedan Gallas, they
can only preserve the integrity of their national existence by being at
ABYSSINIANS. 625
all times prepared to repel any sudden hostile incursion that might be
attempted, and to resume defensive or offensive operations as circum-
stances may require. The Abyssinians are brave and efficient soldiers
when engaged with an enemy not superior to themselves in discipline
and scientiﬁc training. They are not skilful gunners, and ﬁrearms are
not their favourite weapons. They formerly carried large heavy
matchlocks, and instead of cartridges they used loose powder, with
hollow canes as a substitute for powder-horns. Their most formidable
weapon of attack is the shotel or crooked sword, which is double-
edged, nearly four feet long, and is curved in a semicircular form like
a reaper’s sickle. It is encased in a morocco sheath, its lower extremity
being ornamented with a hollow silver ball. Its downward thrust is
most damaging and effective. The spear is six feet six inches long,
with a diamond or square iron head; it is of neat workmanship and
often tastefully decorated. A light kind of javelin for throwing is
also used. The shield is composed of a circular frame covered with
buffalo-hide, about three feet in diameter. It is held by a leather
handle, loops are attached all around the edges, and it is embellished
with other ornamental devices.
The army, under the immediate command of the ras, is of itself
insufficient to meet a powerful enemy ;1 and when a campaign of
importance is determined upon, the chiefs are summoned, by special
messengers, to collect their soldiers and join the army of their liege
lord with all their disposable forces.
The highest proof of courage of the Abyssinian soldier is the
number of enemies he has been able to despatch, for killing (geolda-z')
is the sole aim and purpose of a warrior’s life in this barbarous
country ; and as soon as a soldier can boast that ten lives have been
sacriﬁced to ﬁll up the full measure of his honour, he is entitled to
wear the betoa and to have his hair plaited in full. The killing of an
elephant is considered equal to forty men slain on the ﬁeld of battle.
The greatest proportion of the land in Abyssinia is held by the
central government or by the nobles and military chiefs. The church
has recently been despoiled of the greatest portion of its landed estates,
but it still possesses numerous small farms which are assigned to the
priests for their maintenance and support. Most of the peasants are
simply tenants, and pay as annual rent for the land they cultivate a
certain share (of the produce. They are subjected to many hardships,
and are made the victims of the cupidity and extortion of the govern-
ment officials to make up the deﬁciency of compensation allotted to
them for their services. In each parish a certain area of arable land
is specially reserved for the beneﬁt of the governor of the district. If
he cultivates it on his own account, the peasants are required to
furnish him during the year a certain amount of labour and lend a
helping hand to forward the interests of his farming operations. Every
householder is therefore called upon to supply one day’s labour for

1 As a general idea I should compute the Ras’ force of shields and guns, horse
and foot, at about 70,000 ﬁghting men, if collected in one camp. Travels in
Abyssinia, by W. C. Plowden, p. 62.
2 R
626 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
clearing and ploughing, and another day’s work for sowing; two days
are spent for weeding the crop, and two additional days in gathering
the harvest. Even those of the peasantry who are actual landowners
are not secure in their possessions, for, as no legal title-deeds exist,
the taxgatherers (chz'icitas) exercise the power of marking out the
boundary at pleasure, and thus making private land a part of the
domain of the chief 3 and it is only by adequate presents that this
gross act of usurpation and tyranny can be averted.
The taxes due to the central government are either collected in
money, in the form of pieces of cloth universally received as exchange-
able value, or in corn 3 and a taxgatherer is appointed in every parish
or village, who not only collects the quota assessed by the government,
but a considerable proportion in excess of it, which is divided between
himself and the local chief, as their share to which they are entitled
from the public revenue. Each chief pays annually a mashomz'a, as
an acknowledgment of his allegiance to the emperor, made up of a
determined quantity of cattle, honey, butter, arms, and other articles.
The peasants form a numerous class, and it is they who bear the
burden of taxation and supply the soldiers for the standing army.
They are industrious in their habits, but, on account of the numerous
church holidays, they pass one-third of the year in absolute idleness.
They 'are often cruelly oppressed and are exposed to the capricious
exactions of the provincial chiefs. Soldiers are constantly quartered
on them unless they offer resistance en masse. When they are
suspected of being uncommonly prosperous, or if it is supposed that
they are possessed of a considerable amount of disposable means,
unless they voluntarily disgorge and surrender their superﬂuous
wealth, their wrists are locked up in iron bracelets, which are
hammered tighter and tighter until their stubborn heart is softened,
and they purchase their liberty by sacriﬁcing all their accumulated
treasures, which are often increased by the generous contributions of
their friends. It sometimes happens that the poor wretch has nothing
more to give, but his tormentors are still unsatisﬁed, when he is
doomed to die a victim of excruciating tortures, unless a change of
government brings relief to his sufferings and releases him from
conﬁnement.
The criminal law is capriciously severe, and some of the punishments
are of a retaliatory character, and bear the impress of unmitigated
barbarity. Fines are arbitrarily imposed as a condonement for crime,
and are thus‘ made a potent instrument of extortion, corrupting the
administration of justice, and rendering it an article of merchandise
subject to barter and sale. In cases of manslaughter the relatives of
the victim, instead of demanding blood for blood, may agree to a
compromise by accepting an adequate ransom from the guilty party 3
but half of the sum received enures to the beneﬁt of the chief who
acts as judge in criminal cases. If a dispute arises between man and
'wife, and the matter is referred to the chief for decision, he readily
grants a separation, especially if property interests are involved, but
he claims his share of the lion’s spoil and exacts a ﬁne from both
I contestants. The less talz'om's is carried to its utmost consequences; it
ABYSSINIANS. 627
not only demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ; but if a
murder is perpetrated, the relatives are required to kill the murderer
with the same weapon with which he inﬂicted the death-blow upon
the slain. But if the criminal takes refuge in a church, he is
protected by the priest, who enters into negotiations with the nearest
relatives of the victim, who are generally prevailed upon to accept the
usual price that ensures his release. The inhabitants of the villages
are made responsible for theft or highway robbery committed in their
neighbourhood. Theft, coupled with the crime of sacrilege, is either
punished with death or the amputation of the hands or feet; but
ordinary larceny may be expiated by imprisonment or a severewhipping,
which is applied with an hippopotamus whip upon the naked back of
the culprit, who is led through the town where the offence has been
committed, exclaiming at every stroke: “All ye who see me thus,
may you proﬁt by my example.” Flogging is not considered, how-
ever, a disgraceful punishment, and women, boys, and even chiefs
submit to its inﬂiction without the least resistance. No disgrace
whatever attaches to the commission of any crime, and in some
provinces a criminal is still regarded as an honourable member of
society, although he may have been guilty of the most heinous
crimes.1 The unfortunate rebel who is found guilty of treasonable
designs against the king is treated with the most ferocious cruelty.
His hands and feet are cut off, and his body is hanged on a tree in
the public market-place, or he is stripped naked and roasted over a
slow ﬁre. ‘
In all civil cases where a money claim is the matter in controversy,
and no witnesses can be produced to establish the truth of the facts
alleged in support of the demand, the oath of the plaintiff is considered
admissible to prove the validity of his claim. There are various
forms of oaths of more or less binding efﬂcacy. The party who is
called upon to swear to verify a statement, or conﬁrm an agreement,
lights a straw which he holds in his hand over a heap of cowdung,
and when fairly in a blaze he extinguishes the ﬂame by pouring water
over it, repeating the sacramental formula that he and his family may
be burned and their memory be blotted out from the face of the earth
for seven generations if he should violate his promise. Or, unsheathing
a sword, he prays that surely as it is thus drawn in witness of his
word, so surely may the holy archangel St. Michael draw his sword
of vengeance to his destruction if that word should prove false. Or
by placing his hands on the picture of St. George, he calls upon the
saint to direct his lance against him as he once did against the dragon,
should he prove faithless in the matter in question. But the oath
taken in the church is the most solemn and impressive, and is never
resorted to in cases where simply pecuniary interests are at stake.
The person required by his opponent to take this oath is stretched

1 Theft is in many provinces regarded as an honourable employment ; highway
robbery, even if accompanied by homicide, is quite excusable ; rape is common
and venal, and adultery is an offence against the husband only. Travels in
Abyssinia, by \V. G. Plowden, p. 104.
628 THE ARAMrEAN STOCK.
on a funeral mat in the outer circle of the sanctuary, where the‘
dead bodies are deposited before burial; and while the sacrament is
administered, he calls on the name of the Almighty to bear witness
to the truth of his testimony, and to grant, should he have sworn
falsely, that he may return after three or seven days to the mat on
which he is now lying, never to leave it more. Perjury is looked
upon as a heinous crime, and the guilty party would almost be
considered an outcast of the community and be precluded ever here-
after from being a witness in any case whatever.
The administration of justice purports to be based upon a code of
law called Fithah N egust, which, upon the authority of tradition, is
believed to be of divine origin; but every judge is invested with
discretionary power to condemn the guilty and acquit the innocent
without reference to the written law, murder and sacrilege only
excepted. An appeal may be taken from the verdict of the local
magistrate to the king, who may annul the sentence previously
pronounced, and may even punish the judge who has been derelict in
his duty, or who has been inﬂuenced by corrupt motives in the
exercise of his functions. When a suit is instituted, both plaintiff
and defendant are required to furnish security, or, in default of it,
must suffer themselves to be chained, and remain thus bound during
the continuance of the trial. The judges receive no salary, but are
paid in proportion to the importance of the case by the party who
gains the suit. In addition to this they receive and accept valuable-
presents, which does not much contribute to render their decisions
just and impartial. Testimony is generally obtained by commission
through the agency of a judicial officer, who travels about to collect
the evidence. The poor and the rich alike plead their own cause, and
complete liberty of speech is allowed in the trial of contested cases.
But notwithstanding the severity of the law, and the excessive exactions
of the judges, litigation has degenerated into a passion which corrodes
the very heart of the nation, and fosters the inordinate avarice and
cupidity of the chiefs to whom the most triﬂing disputes are referred
for ﬁnal decision. In trials of great importance a professional
counsellor is sometimes employed to conduct the proceedings before
the judicial tribunal. When an application is made to the chief for
the adjustment of a difﬁculty, he sends out his servant to bring the
disputants into his presence in due form by tying the corners of their
shamas together, with the special injunction not to speak to each
other, the infraction of the rule rendering the party liable to a ﬁne.
The court is held in a rude circular building with a conical roof, the
ﬂoor of the interior being strewn with rushes. Here the litigants are
introduced and presented to the judge, being kept apart by a servant
who is ordered to stand between them. Here the plaintiff and
defendant, the demandant and respondent display, in turn, their
forensic eloquence; introduce the testimony of their witnesses; exhibit
their documents in proof of their rights, and notwithstanding the
boisterous ejaculations and the passionate debates of the excited
disputants, the judge preserves his dignity and renders his decision
with a promptness and ﬂuency of expression that startles the
ABYSSINI ANS. 629
.disappoi'nted suitor into almost instantaneous acquiescence. The
.successful party crawls in the dust before the righteous judge, who
has thus raised him high in the estimation of his countrymen, and
made him a man of importance and dignity among his friends and
acquaintances. .
Gondar, the chief town of the Amhara province, is the capital of
Abyssinia. Its situation is highly picturesque, exhibiting the most
beautiful, charming landscape scenery. In the north the wild and
rugged Woggera towers aloft in gloomy grandeur, with its summit
dipped in a sea of the purest blue, while the Semien, like a lonely
ever-watchful sentinel, looks down upon it from its cloud-capped
misty cliffs with haughty pride. To the south the wide-spread plain
of Dembea stretches along, checkered with waving ﬁelds of corn, and
green and ﬂowery meadows intersected by meandering rivers dotted
with smooth unrippled lakes, and bounded in the distance by the
shadowy outlines of the mountains of Godjam tinged in dusky hue
and pouring forth the little gurgling rill which swells into the Blue
Nile, thus feeding, as it were, with its life-blood the rising waters of
the mother-stream. Far distant in the west, as far as the eye can
penetrate, where the sky is wedded to the earth, where the sandy
desert, bleak, barren, and desolate, reﬂects the sunbeams with redoubled
force, are visible, in magic dimness, VValkheit and Armatgioho, here
and there broken by lowly hills, narrow enchanting dales, jagged,
sharp, protruding rocks ; deep impassable gorges ; steep acclivities and
frightful torrents, whose foaming, seething, and roaring waters over-
leap every barrier that obstructs their path, until they lose themselves
in the Abara, or are swallowed up by the thirsty soil of the ﬁre-
breathing desert.
But the aspect of the town does not correspond with the grandeur
and magniﬁcence of the scenery by which it is surrounded. Its
interior, presents nothing that is attractive. Its buildings are mean
and insigniﬁcant. Its population does not exceed six thousand souls,
of which one-tenth at least are priests, while government officials,
some families of the nobility, a troop of soldiers, numerous merchants,
a few artisans and labourers, and an immense crowd of beggars make
up the rest. The town and vicinity contain no less than forty-four
churches, where idle and worthless priests are continually engaged
during the day in chanting liturgies or performing some act of mock
worship, which passes current for genuine religion. Here is the see
of the metropolitan, and here the aboona resides who governs the
church, guides the priesthood, and directs the ecclesiastical affairs
of the whole kingdom. Here the king has his palace, where the
political affairs of the country are regulated and conducted, where
questions of peace and war are decided ; and here is the royal tribunal,
the highest court of judicature, in which all cases are adjudged in the
last resort without further appeal.
Gondar is the only commercial town of importance in Abyssinia,
and the merchants form a wealthy and inﬂuential class, inferior only
in rank to the aristocracy and the priesthood. As they possess a
considerable portion of available capital, they monopolise the export
6 30 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
and import trade of the whole country, and by means of caravan
traﬂic their business connections extend as far as Massowa and
Mantamma. They import from England, Germany, and India valuable
staple articles, which they dispose of to retail dealers at home, or sell
to the Gallas in the south in exchange for gold, ivory, civet, and
coffee. There is a regular market-day every Saturday, when numer-
ous purchasers congregate to supply themselves with articles of ﬁrst
necessity as well as luxuries. The wholesale merchants have no
shops 3 but, ever apprehensive of a hostile demonstration of some rebel
chief, they store away their goods in the secret recesses of their houses,
to which privileged dealers only are admitted, while the less favoured
must obtain their supplies at the public market or through the agency
of a broker.
AUTHORITIES.
Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia. By Henry Dafton. I867.
Travels in Abyssinia and the Gallas Country. By__Walter Ch. Plowden,
British Consul. 1868.
Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours during Eighteen Years’
Residence in Eastern Africa. By J. L. Krapf. 1860.
Life in Abyssinia. By Mansﬁeld Parkyns. 1868.
Wanderings among the Falashas of Abyssinia. By Rev. Henry A.
Stern. 1862.
Journal of Three Years’ Residence in Abyssinia. By Rev. Samuel
Gobat. 18 34.
Voyage to Abyssinia. By Henry Salt. 1814.
Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile. By James Bruce. I 790.
Grammar of the Amharic Language. By Rev. Charles Wm. Isenberg.
1842.
Histoire des Langues Semitiques. Par E. Rénan. 1860.
Voyage en Abyssinie. Par Ed. Combes et M. Tamisier. I838.
Travels in Southern Abyssinia. By Ch. Johnston. 1846.
Zwiilf J ahre in Abyssinien. Von F. M. Flad.
Sectiones Grammaticales Linguam Amaricum nec non et Linguam
Oromonicum Auctore. R. R. D. D. Massaya. I867.
FALASHAS. 631
FALASHAS.
THE Falashas 1 or Abyssinian Jews are but a remnant of some of the
aboriginal tribes of Abyssinia who had been converted from pagan
idolatry to Judaism by Jewish emigrants from Yemen and Arabia
Felix, where powerful communities of Arabian Jews had for centuries
maintained their independence. Though the Falashas claim to be the
direct descendants of the Jewish race, and assert that their ancestors
had come to the country during the reign of Maqueta, known as the
queen of Sheba, yet the vague tradition, unsupported as it is by facts
worthy of credit, deserves but little consideration, since they are
entirely ignorant of Hebrew, and the Pentateuch and the Psalms
which they possess are simply translations in the Ghez or ancient
Ethiopian language—a work probably performed by the Arabic
missionaries who effected their conversion. When Christianity was
introduced in 336 A.D., a portion of the Abyssinian Jews joined the
pagan converts and adopted the new creed; and to this day the
Abyssinian church strictly adheres to many of the Jewish forms and
ceremonies. The Falashas who remained faithful to their ﬁrst
religious convictions were compelled to seek refuge in the mountain
fastnesses of Semien and Bellesa, where, under the government of
their own kings, they maintained their independence until the begin-
ning of the seventeenth century. Constantly harassed by their
enemies, they were at last driven from their rocky homes, and were
forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the detested Amhara chiefs.
They established new settlements in various provinces, collected their
people in regularly built villages, in the centre of which stands the
house of worship, distinguished from the rest of the dwellings by its
superior height and dimensions and the red earthen pot which crowns
its summit. They are now scattered over almost every part of
Amhara; they have numerous villages occupied by them exclusively
in the districts of Thigadié, Djanfankora, and Thyelca, and they are
met with in many places from the Semien to Lasta. On the summit
of Mount Hoharoa live ﬁfteen Falasha hermits, who enjoy great renown
for sanctity and science even among the Christians. They are all
heads of families who have taken the vow of celibacy at the death of
their wives. They cultivate their own ﬁelds, abstain from intoxicat-
ing drinks, accept from lay members only the natural products of the
soil, and in their lonely solitude they are waited on by children not

1 They are called Falashas, meaning “emigrants,” being derived from the
Amharic of the Ghez word fallasi. Halévy’s Excursions, p. 20.
632 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
exceeding the age of twelve, whom they educate and instruct in the
religious tenets of their creed.
Surrounded as the F alashas are by the ruling classes of their
countrymen, who profess a corrupt and idolatrous Christianity, the
purity of their morals deserves the highest commendation. They are
simple in their manners, honest in their dealings, faithful in their
domestic relations, cleanly in their habits, and industrious in their
pursuits and avocations of life. They are sober, active, courageous,
and are boldly defending their rights with arms in their hand. They
are not addicted to licentious proﬂigacy so common among the
Abyssinians, and in which even consecrated priests indulge; and
being devout and sincere in their religious belief, they practise all the
virtues inculcated by the law and the decalogue.
The villages of the Falashas are situated at some distance from
those of the Amharas, generally near a watercourse for the convenience
of bathing. Every group of houses is enclosed by a thorny hedge,
having but a single entry. Each family has at least three huts, of
which the two smallest are designed as lodging-places of persons who
are affected with two degrees of impurity. Those whose pollution is
washed away by taking a cold bath at sunset are lodged near the
family dwelling, and any one may visit and keep company with the
person that occupies it. It is here that impure strangers, or men of
another religion, are received. The other but is always found in a
retired corner, and is reserved for those whose impurity lasts longer
than a day. This is the solitary retreat of those who are so deeply
polluted that no one enters or even approaches the hut, and a person
is soiled by the simple touch of the furniture.
The Falashas do not dress differently from the Christian Abyssi-
nians. They wear short. trousers, or a loin cloth which reaches down
to the knee. The shama or mantle, ornamented with a red border, is
very highly valued, but is mostly reserved for Sabbath and festival
days. Young boys, with an affectation of elegance, hang it on their
arm or negligently carry it on their shoulder. The women are dressed
in long shirt-like gowns, embroidered at the edge in various colours.
Their favourite ornaments are bracelets, earrings, and necklaces of
corals or beads. Both sexes go barefooted ; the men out their hair
short and leave their head uncovered. The priests and the hermits
only wind a turban round their head as a badge of distinction.
The ordinary food of the Falashas is made of teﬁ' and dagoassa
ﬂour baked into cakes. Particular attention is paid to the Sabbath
bread, and it is sanctiﬁed to its use. They never eat their meat raw
like the Abyssinians. Garlic, onion, and a richly-peppered sauce
serve as their principal seasoning. WVhen travelling they conﬁne
their diet to sorghum, which is boiled in salt water and is spiced with
ginger root. Their common beverages are hydromel (thedy) and a
kind of beer (theZZa) brewed of dagoassa grain.
The Falashas are principally devoted to agriculture, and they culti-
.vate all the grain, seeds, and vegetables of their Amhara neighbours.
They are quite skilful in the industrial pursuits of weaving, making
pottery, and plying the tools of the blacksmith. They have the
FALASHAS. .633
‘greatest repugnance to commerce, for they consider it inconsistent with
their religious and moral principles 3 and though they number no less
than a quarter of a million, yet it is said that they have not a single
merchant among their people. There are whole Falasha villages exclu-
sively inhabited by potters; others by weavers; and men, women,
and children are all busy in the performance of their task, that they
may contribute their share to the support of the community. Pots,
bowls, and dishes are dexterously moulded into symmetric form with-
out any other appliance than their ﬁngers; and being dried in the
sun they are burned into substantial earthenware in the ﬁre. Their
looms are of a rude and primitive construction.1 They are all congre-
gated together at the entrance of the villages, are covered with sheds
to protect the weaver from rain and sunshine, while he is seated at
the edge of an excavation several feet deep, over which the woof is
stretched, and there he throws his shuttle between the threads sepa-
rated by bamboo sticks, andpmanufactures woven tissues necessary for
the clothing of his people.
The Falashas speak the Amharic language with as much purity and
facility as the rest of the Abyssinians. Among themselves, however,
they converse in the Agoua idiom 5 and it is in this dialect that they
translate the Bible to their children and recite their prayers in the
temples. The principal names by which they are called are mostly
biblical, next in ‘order come those derived from the Amharic or the
‘Ghez, and others are purely religious expressions; but neither Arab
nor Chaldean names are found among them.
The Falasha women are considered the equals of the men ; they do
not live in seclusion, and they are not prevented from joining the
social circle of the family. Husband and wife work together behind
the loom, and they have neither servants nor slaves. The women are
modest in their deportment, and pleasant and agreeable in their
manners; they are the guardians of their own virtue, and the strict
propriety of their conduct is sufficient proof that this conﬁdence is not
misplaced.
Marriage is contracted after the parties have attained the age of
maturity. A young man’s suit would meet with little favour unless
he is between twenty and thirty years old, and has given evidence
that he is able and willing to support a wife and family. Parents
never dispose of their daughters till they are ﬁfteen or twenty years
of age. A betrothal once solemnly acknowledged is indissoluble,
which no priestly power can annul. The Falashas do not practise
polygamy, and intermarriages with tribes holding a creed different
from their own are strictly prohibited. Divorces are very rare, and
validity is given to the separation of husband and wife in a public
assembly without drawing up a written document. The operation of
circumcision is performed on the seventh day after birth both on boys
and girls.2

i 1 See supra, p. 600.
i 2 Circumcision must have existed among the Falashas before they adopted
Judaism, which leads to the supposition that they are an indigenous Agoua race
converted to the law of Moses. Halévy’s Excursions, p. 18.
634 THE ARAMZEAN sTocx.
The Falashas dispose of their dead by burial. Their cemeteries are
always situated upon the slope of some isolated hill at a considerable
distance from the villages. The graves are marked with sepulchral
stones, but they have no inscription.
The Falashas pay much attention to education 3 schools are estab-
lished in the villages where the priests and debtemhs impart instruction
to the children, and the greatest number of Abyssinian Jews know
at least how to read. Their biblical knowledge, though limited, is
suﬂiciently extensive to make them familiar with the moral and
ceremonial law of the Pentateuch. Their religion is strictly founded
upon the Mosaic law modiﬁed according to local exigencies. They
still practise the ceremony of sacriﬁce, but it is only of a commemora-
tive character, and the Mosaic prescriptions are not strictly followed.
The mesgm'ds or houses of worship are divided, after the manner of
the tabernacle, into three partitions, with an entrance towards the east,
in strict conformity with the Lcvitical law. All the laws of puriﬁcation
as laid down in the Mosaic record are strictly enforced, and are
considered of such great importance that discourses are delivered on
the subject in every religious assembly. The sacred ediﬁce of the
mcsguid and the courts by which it is surrounded are jealously guarded
against the intrusion of the unsanctiﬁed and the unclean 3 and the
severest penalty would be inﬂicted upon the transgressor who would
pollute the sanctuary by his unhallowed presence. In the rear of the
building is a small enclosure, in the centre of which a huge altar of
rough-hewn stones is erected. Here sacriﬁces are offered on the great
festival days, especially on Easter Eve and on the Day of Atonement.1
In addition to sacriﬁces, the religious services consist in commemorative
prayers, which are repeated with the head uncovered and the hands
raised towards heaven; in the chanting of psalms and hymns, inter-
rupted from time to time by the recitation of moral allegories 3 and
in reading some verses or a chapter of the book of Leviticus. The
Sabbath is most rigidly observed 3 no labour of any kind is performed,
and, unless prevented by sickness, all are found in the house of prayer
at the appointed hour. On Friday, at mid-day, they all repair to the
neighbouring stream, perform their weekly ablutions, and dress them~
selves in their holiday costume. They then loiter about in the ﬁelds,
or repose on the luxuriant grass of the meadows until sunset, when
they are summoned to the mesguz'ol for evening prayer. Zealous and
pious priests continue religious worship throughout the whole night,
and their plaintive chants may be heard in the distance resounding
through the valleys and re-echoed from the hills. I11 the morning of
the Sabbath the congregation again assembles to attend the service
at the mesguid, where the following prayer is recited, which marks
the solemnity of the day z—“Thou, O Lord! hearest in heaven the
worship of thy saints, hear us also when we cry unto thee in thy
holy temple. O Lord! be not angry with us, nor suffer us to be
destroyed. Remember the covenant of our fathers, whom thou didst

1 A sacriﬁce is also offered for the dead known as tezkau, a custom equally
observed by the Abyssinians. Halévy’s Excursions, p. 18.
FALASHAS. 6 3 5.
redeem out of Egypt’s bondage 3 forgive us our sins, and blot out our
transgressions which have separated us from thee. God of our fathers,
turn unto us and cause us to live ! God of Abraham, turn unto us and
cause us to live! God of Isaac, turn unto us and cause us to live 1
God of Jacob, turn unto us and cause us to live I O Lord ! lead us in
the right way, and give peace unto Zion and salvation to Jerusalem.”
After the performance of the usual ceremonies, and the close of the
religious exercises, the worshippers return to their huts, partake of a
cold and frugal meal, and either retire to sleep or pass their time for
the rest of the day in conversing with their neighbours and friends.
Most of the priests remain in the mesguid engaged in religious devo-
tion from Friday night till Saturday evening, that they may not
contravene the Scripture injunction: “ Let no one go out of his place
on the seventh day.”
The F alashas also observe the regular ordained festivals. The feast
of passover is celebrated by sacriﬁcing the paschal lamb, and by the
substitution of unleavened for leavened bread. The feast of pentecost,
the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles
are considered as days dedicated to divine worship 3 and they bring their
offerings to the mcsqm'd and join in appropriate prayers. They also
abstain from agricultural and other professional labour during the
festival periods.
As the F alashas received their religious instruction from the Arabic
Jews who had never adopted the ceremonial and traditional observances
of the Rabbinical school, they do not follow the forms and superstitions
of the Eastern and \Vestern Jews. They know nothing of the use of the
fringed prayer-cloth (tale'th) and the phylacteries (tplzz'lz'm); they do not
blow the horn on the feast of trumpets, nor dwell in booths on the feast
of tabernacles ,- but, on the other hand, they are fanatically attached to
other practices equally absurd and much more injurious in their conse-
quences. They fast twice a week, and also during the forty days
before the feast of passover 5 they stretch the Mosaic laws of puriﬁ-
cation to their utmost point. A visit to an unbeliever’s dwelling is
considered a sin, and subjects the transgressor to the penance of
submitting to a thorough ablution before he is permitted to return to
his own home. “This ritual scrupulosity involves many social hard-
ships and inﬂicts on numbers many a social pang ; particularly in the
hour of dissolution, when the sweet expressions of friendship and love
are so soothing to the agonised soul and the anguished frame, the
dying F alasha has no affectionate hand clasped in his, and no words
of comfort from beloved objects whispered in his ears. The inﬂexible
law forbids the least ofﬁces from the weeping relatives 3 and the
helpless sufferer is, in his agonising death-convulsions, dragged from
the weary couch into the open air, where the polluted and unclean
remove him from the bare ground to the tainted and lonely hut.”
AUTHORITIES.
Excursion chez les Falachas en Abyssinie. Par Joseph Halévy. 1876.
Wanderings among the Falashas. By Rev. Henry Stern. 1860.
636 THE ARAMEAN STOCK.
H ASSANYEH ARABS.
SOUDAN is that extensive belt of territory, situated in Central Africa,
which borders on Nubia and Abyssinia in the east, and stretches as
far as Senegambia on the west; the Great Desert forms its northern
boundary, and on the south the mountains of Kong separate it from
Upper and Lower Guinea ; while east of the Crystal Mountains it is
connected with an indeﬁnite region of country known by the compre-
hensive name of Ethiopia. It is traversed from south to north by the
\Vhite Nile; and the Niger, in the west, describes in its course a
deep irregular curve, and fertilises its banks before it empties the
swelling tide of its waters into the Gulf of Guinea. It is intersected
by numerous tributary streams which partly feed Lake Tchat and
Lake N ouaer, and are partly connected with the two great historic
rivers that impart life and fertility to the country. .
The political divisions of Soudan are numerous, and its population
is heterogeneous in origin as well as in social and political organisa—
tion.» Independent negro tribes, small in number and of loose
internal coherence, are scattered in every direction. Mixed races are
more closely united, and yield passive obedience to despotic chiefs
whom audacity or fortune has raised into power. A degenerated
stock of Arabs who have lost their ancestral pedigree, and have even
unlearnecl their original mother-tongue by long and continued contact
with the savage and untutored N igritian races of Equatorial Africa,
occupy limited localities, or lead a nomadic life, and select as camping-
ground tracts of land suitable for pasture to feed their herds and
ﬂocks. . .
The purest stock among the uncivilised African Arabs are the
Hassanyeh, who occupy the left bank of the White Nile in Kordofan.
Although they have preserved the regular features and physiognomy
of the original stock from which they sprang, yet the climate-and
their mode of living have darkened their complexion, which is of a
deep copper colour, and they are assimilated in some degree to the
N igritian races by which they are surrounded.
The Hassanyeh are a migratory people; they move from‘place to
place, and yet they never wander away in the distance, and always
keep within a day’s journey from the banks of the Nile. Their camp
is arranged in two straight parallel rows of tents or huts, placed at
regular intervals from each other, leaving an intervening space of
ﬁfteen yards, and forming a long and capacious street fully ﬁfty yards
wide. The huts are built of light and unsubstantial materials. The
framework is composed of forked posts supporting transverse poles, to
which the matting is fastened which constitutes the lateral walls.
HASSANYEH ARABS. 6 37
During the rainy season a thick woollen cloth of home manufacture
takes the place of the matting, to protect the inmates more effectually
against the inclemency of the weather. A small space in the rear of
each hut is enclosed with dry thorn bushes, which serves as a pen for
calves and lambs. The doorway, about four and a half feet high, is
in front of the hut, and opens into a passage which extends from one
extremity to the other, while the side wall of the apartment is occu-
pied by a couch covered with matting, which serves in the daytime as
a seat and as bed at night. At the back of the hut, separated from
the principal room by a low reed partition, is a low stage, which is the
place where the children sleep. The couches have ornamented backs
of tanned and blackened bullocks’ hides, embroidered with cowry shells,
forming stars, circles, triangles, and other fancy devices. From the
roof are suspended, by means of shell-embroidered belts, carved gourds,
earthenware basins, glass bottles, and ostrich eggs.
The dress of the Hassanyeh is as simple as it is scanty. It is no-
thing but a loin—cloth in the form of a scarf (ferdah) of cotton stuﬁ
of their own weaving, which is girded round the loins, with the ends
suspended in easy folds in front. The costume of the married women
does not materially differ from this, except that the wrapper or
gourbah, which is dyed blue, is wound round the hips and extends
below the knees 5 and that on festival occasions a scarf is thrown over
the upper part of the body, which in ordinary times is bare and unpro-
tected. The unmarried girls are distinguished by wearing the well-
known fringed belt (rachat), composed of a great number of narrow
strips of leather sixteen inches in length, many of them plaited and
provided with a tassel, or ornamented with rings of zinc, coral, and
amber beads.
The hair of the men is carefully drawn off from the forehead to-
wards the back of the head, where it hangs down in plaited tresses.
The plaits of the women are collected in bunches at the side of the
face and on the back of the head, which are profusely ornamented
with amber or coral beads and brass trinkets, such as buttons or per-
forated thimbles strung together on a thread. After the hair is
dressed in becoming fashion, it is greased with butter, which renders
it soft and glistening.
The common fare of the Hassanyeh is conﬁned to thin unleavened
dhow'a cakes, and a porridge of maize or dhow'a, seasoned with salt
and red pepper, to which a plentiful supply of sour milk is added.
Mutton well boiled, and ﬂavoured with salt and pepper and onions, is
the principal meat diet. Ostrich meat is a favourite dish, and the
liver and stomach of the recently killed sheep are eaten raw, after
being cut into small pieces and seasoned with the contents of the
gall-bladder and an abundance of red pepper. The surplus milk not
used for daily consumption is converted into butter,'which is clariﬁed
over a slow ﬁre (ghee), and preserved in large gourds, or in vessels
made of the skin of the camel or the giraffe. The beverage in com-
mon use is called merissa. It is made of dhozm’a or millet grain,1

1 Sorghum vulgare ; Holcus docua.
638 THE ARAMJEAN STOCK.
which is spread out to germinate between two layers of the poisonous
leaves of a species of silkweed.1 After having been subjected to the
drying operation, the dhoum is reduced to ﬂour, is made into thin
cakes, and is baked over a slow fire. These cakes are broken into small
pieces and boiled with a quantity of water until reduced to a paste,
which is set apart in a pot, and at the expiration of two days, the
fermentation being completed, it is ready for use.
The Hassanyeh,"like all other Arabs, are distinguished for unselﬁsh
‘hospitality. The stranger who has the honour of being received in
their camp becomes the subject of unwearied attentions, and he is
bountifully supplied from their abundance of grain and cattle with
all that can render his stay comfortable and agreeable.
The principal occupation of the Hassanyeh is the rearing of herds
and ﬂocks and the tillage of the soil. It is made the duty of the
boys and the young men to drive the cattle, goats, and sheep to
pasture, and see that the calves, and lambs, and kids are properly taken
care of in pens made of dry thornbushes, situated contiguous to the
hut. At night the cattle are conﬁned in a large pen,'made in common
by the camp community, so as to save the growing crops from damage.
‘They pay great attention to their horses, which are picketed at night
between their tents. They supply them once a day with an ample
quantity of grain, water them at regular hours, and allow them,
morning and evening, as much fresh milk as they can drink. The
women attend to the milking of the goats, but the cows are milked
by the men, while the older members of the family manage the
‘trading business of the establishment. On certain days in the week
they proceed to the nearest market town, at a distance of from ﬁve to
ten miles, to dispose of their surplus live-stock, as well as dhoura,
butter, fowls, eggs, cotton-thread, and dried vegetables. They pur-
chase, in return, such articles of household use which neither their
manufacturing skill nor their agricultural labours supply. Their
cattle are of medium height and are generally of good condition.
Their goats are rather small in size, but are a hardy race, mostly of
black colour, with long hair and very long ears. The sheep belong
to a large breed and are generally white, but their wool is short,
scanty, and ragged from want of sufficient care.
Their agricultural operations commence at the beginning of the
rainy season. Having encamped on the lowlands of the White Nile
during the summer months, they now remove their light portable
dwellings on the backs of bullocks to a spot previously selected in the
interior, where every family prepares a piece of ground for the cultiva-

1 Asclepias procera, or usher, is a poisonous plant (a shrub in Egypt but a tree
in Kordofan). It is almost an evergreen, retaining its leaves until all other trees
bud, which, at the same time, have lost their foliage. It produces a white blossom,
and afterwards a large, green, soft, pulpy fruit, about the size of an ordinary
orange, not used. The young shoots are exceedingly ﬁbrous, which, when beaten
and cleaned, resemble white silk of the ﬁnest texture, and is so used for stuffing
cushions. The large, thick leaves contain a white milky juice—a well-known
poison—with which the negroes of the southern conﬁnes of the province and the
mountains of Fazogle poison their arrows. Schweinfurth’s Heart of Africa,
vol. ii. p. 157. -
HASSANYEH ARABS. 639
tion of the doocizu grain ,1 and as the soil is sandy and light, the patch
of land is changed in one or two years so as to derive all possible
advantage from its unimpaired fertility. After the roots of the pre-
vious crop are pulled up, and the newly grown-up bushes are cut down
and burned, and the land has become sufficiently saturated by the
rains, holes are dug in a straight row and at regular intervals with
one stroke of the hoe, in which ﬁve or six grains of doochu are
‘deposited, which are covered over with a little soil by a shoving
motion of the right foot. In a fortnight after sowing, when the
doochu is already six inches high, the ﬁelds have to be cleared of the
grass, and the men, women, and children of the household assist in
the labour of weeding, which is one of the most important agricultural
operations, and is effected by means of a crescent-shaped hoe provided
with a long handle. In eighty or ninety days the grain is fully
matured and is ready to be out, which is done with a ﬂat knife, close
to the ear. The cut stalks are carried off by the women in wicker-
baskets, and are stacked on a wooden frame raised about one foot
from the ground to render it less exposed to the ravages of the white
.ant. The threshing is performed by men with long sticks, the doochu
being spread on a smooth clay or cowdung ﬂoor. The harvest work
is completed by winnowing, which is a work assigned to the women.
As soon as the grain is cleaned of the husks, it is stored away in a pit
dug in the ground about twelve or ﬁfteen feet deep and six feet in
‘diameter, and being covered with a layer of doochu stems and leaves,
it is protected from the rain and the inroads of cattle by a low mound
‘of earth, which indicates the spot where the year’s supply is deposited
for future use. At the end of the rainy season, after the inundation
of the White Nile has subsided, and the soil of the lowlands has
acquired sufficient consistency, the winter crops are sown. The Nile
lands are much richer than the sandy uplands, and here dhom'a,
@cotton, tobacco, beans, onions, red pepper, and water-melons are
.cultivated with much success.
The only agricultural implement used here is a curved stick, with
.a cross piece of wood attached to one extremity. This is stuck into
the soft ground, and by a twisting motion a hole is produced into
which the seed is dropped, which is covered with a small quantity of
dry earth supplied from a distance and carried along in a basket by
the sower.
When no other and more important work claims their attention,
the women are engaged in spinning cotton, for which purpose they
make use of a spindle made of thin reed ﬁxed to a perforated disk
chipped out of a piece of old earthenware. The thread thus produced
is coarse, and is principally employed for the manufacture of scarfs
:(fcrclahs) for the men and of wrappers (gom'bahs) for the women.
They also attend to the tanning of the kid and goats’ skins by steeping
them in an infusion of the seeds of the sour‘ tree,2 which have decided
astringent properties. After being thus prepared and made suﬂﬂciently
pliable, they are converted into tobacco-pouches and other useful

1 Holcus docua. 2 Acacia gummifera.
640 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
articles, but more especially into water-vessels, which make an indis-
pensable part of their outﬁt in their nomadic wanderings, and are
transported from place to place on the back of donkeys, bullocks, or-
camels. They also show considerable skill in forming pitcher and
basin~shaped vessels so compactly woven of rushes as to render them
impermeable to water. Trays, on which the cakes and bread are
served up at meals, are plaited of the leaves of the doom-palm, stained
in red, yellow, and white colours.
The Hassanyeh Arabs pass much of their time in ostrich-hunting.
They sometimes catch these birds in snares, but more frequently they
hunt them down on horseback. When a number of huntsmen espy a
ﬂock of ostriches they pursue them in full speed until an ambush is
found where they can effectually secrete themselves. The ostriches,
having lost sight of the pursuing enemy, turn back upon the track on
which they came, and as soon as they reach the hunters’ hiding-place
they recommence their ﬂight. Having advanced a certain distance,
they again return to assure themselves that the road is clear of danger,
but the sight of the huntsmen,'who in the meantime do not change
their position, again frightens them, and they again strike for a preci-
pitous retreat. Being at last tired out, the horsemen begin their
pursuit in earnest, and easily overtake them. They then stun them
with short sticks, which they hurl with great dexterity, and kill them‘
by thrusting a lance into their head. The Arabs sell the feathers to
the traders, who rarely, however, pay money, but give in exchange
coral and amber beads or some other triﬂing articles of their fancy
wares. The ﬂesh of the ostrich forms an excellent article of food,
but the fat is still more highly valued as a soothing application in
sprains and bruises.
The presence of a distinguished stranger in the camp is celebrated
with a dance. The prettiest girls, accompanied by their sweethearts,
resort to the ground set apart for this purpose. Here in the moon-
light they form a semicircle surrounded by the older members of the
camp community. One of the young damsels steps out into the
centre of the open space, while the other girls supply the music by
singing a song and clapping their hands. The dancer throws open
her scarf and thus exposes her breast, and maintaining an erect posture
she casts her piercing eyes around the audience, and with a motion of
her right foot she indicates the change of the measure, and slowly
advances, moving her head and breast backwards and forwards, while
her hands are raised in horizontal position with the elbow. Her step
becomes gradually accelerated, and the measure of the music quickens
in proportion; and with a sudden bound in the air she disrobes her
waist and shoulders of her scarf, and performs with her legs and arms
a series of remarkable muscular movements which show great agility
and are not devoid of grace. As the music becomes quicker she
rebounds into the semicircle, where she is met by a young man who
brandishes a lance over her, while his left hand rests on her head.
This feat of arms is followed by the zygareet, a shrill shout of joy
raised by the united voices of all the females present. During these
performances men's-ea is freely handed round in a gourd to all those
HASSANYEH ARABS. 64 1
who ‘are present on'the occasion. Love is the universal theme of their
songs, a strain of triumph exulting in the success of the lover, who
baffled his rival suitors, bore off the object of his affection on the fleet
horse or the swift-footed dromedary 5 each verse terminating with a
chorus in which all the company join.
Marriage among the Hassanyeh is an affair of bargain and sale, and
the father disposes of his daughter, without consulting her wishes, to
the suitor that offers the greatest amount of dowry and is able to
comply with the obligation thus incurred. After the preliminaries
are sufficiently advanced, the parents of the bride and the bridegroom
meet in the tent of the girl’s father, and here, in the presence of
witnesses, the articles of the marriage contract are agreed upon.
It is certainly a very remarkable custom that prevails among these
people, that the wife is only required to be faithful to her marriage
tie during a certain number of days in the week, and during the
remainder of the time she is entirely absolved from all allegiance
towards her husband, when she is at liberty, according as her fancy
may strike her, to bestow her favours‘ on any paramour she may see
ﬁt to select as a temporary companion and friend. In the best families
the validity of the marriage relations is recognised during four days
in the week—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and the
duties imposed by the marriage vow are strictly observed 3 but Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday are days of matrimonial independence, and
the wife may, if she chooses, adhere to her husband, or she may claim
the privilege of spending these days of dalliance away from the family
home with a temporary lover whom she may favour.
In addition to the ordinary dowry the bridegroom is generally
required to purchase the ﬁdelity of his future wife, for the limited
time which is conceded to him as his exclusive right, by the payment
of a sum of money, and the delivery to the parents of the girl of a
number of cows and cattle. A week after the negotiations have been
completed the wedding takes place, which is celebrated by feasting
and dancing, to which all the friends and neighbours are invited,
each contributing, for the entertainment of the guests, a large pitcher
full of merz'ssa, which, with an abundance of bullocks’ and sheep’s
ﬁesh, forms the most attractive feature of the marriage feast.
The Hassanyeh are nominally Mohamedans, and they have fakirs
among them who attend to the duties of religion. Although not
strict in their religious Observances, they are nevertheless excessively
superstitious. Each man wears a cylindrical leather case above the
right elbow, which contains an amulet inscribed with a verse from
the Koran or some moral maxim of their learned men. They believe
that this acts as a charm to protect them against the pernicious inﬂuence
of the “evil eye,” and from the evil effects of sickness, and that it
renders them invulnerable to deadly weapons, while at the same
time it secures to them the affections of those they love.
The Hassanyeh recognise the dignity and authority of sheikhs, who
preside over the encampment, and act not only as arbitrators to adjust
internal difficulties, but they administer justice in most criminal cases.
The Egyptian government, however, claims supreme control over
2 S
642 THE ARAMZE AN STOCK.
whole Kordofan by right of conquest. It appoints the provincial
governor, who bears the title of lﬁClShBf, and who is charged with the
duty to preserve peace and order and watch over the collection of
taxes. As he has ,a number of troops at his command to support
his authority, he delegates his powers to wakccls or subordinate
functionaries, who generally belong to the soldier-class, to act in the
capacity of taxgatherers. These petty tyrants, though entertained
free of cost with the best provisions the country affords, rudely enter
the huts, and assuming the authority of irresponsible masters, they
carry off any article of value which they may need, or that may strike
their fancy; and, adding insult to injury, they abuse the inmates with
coarse and insolent language, and sometimes even apply the whip of
hippopotamus hide upon the backs of unoffending men and women.
The Hassanyeh, although they never engage in open warfare, are
constantly involved in hostile contests with neighbouring tribes. It
is during the rainy season that they organise plundering expeditions
to increase their stock of cattle ‘at the expense of the Baghara Arabs,
who, in their turn, seize upon the ﬁrst opportunity to make good
their loss by retaliatory measures. Parties start out on foot or on
horseback, armed with lances, and during the succeeding night they
surprise the encampment into which they propose to make an irrup-
tion.
AUTHORITIES.
Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa. By John Petherick. 1861.
Im Herzen von Afrika. Von Dr. Georg Schweinfurth. 1874.
Le Nil Blane et le Soudan. Par Brun-Rollet. 18 5 5 .
LIBYAN BEDOUINS. 643
LIBYAN BED OUINS.
THE Libyan Desert is but the eastern extension of the Desert of
Sahara. It has Egypt for its eastern and F ezzan for its western
boundary, while in the north it is in part bounded by the Black
Mountains. In the most favoured region of this vast plain the rain—
fall lasts but three months, and during this short period all plants
spring up, develop themselves, bloom, ripen to maturity, then wither
and die. During the rest of the year the rays of the sun are so
powerful, and the reﬂection produced by the sand is so oppressive,
that all plant-life wastes away and dries up. In November the
khamsz'n wind blows from the 'west, which raises the most formidable
whirlwinds loaded with sand ; and woe to the traveller who encounters
its stormy dust-clouds. The country north of the Desert, where it
joins the kingdom of Barcah and Tripoli, is dotted with numerous
caravan stations, where wells have been dug, which supply a greater
or less quantity of water, extending from Abousir, at twelve hours’
journey from Alexandria, to Khaoor, at a distance of seventy-six hours’
journey from Abousir. This coast region contains no rivers, no forests,
and no villages. The most common quadrupeds are the hare, the
gazelle, the jackal, and the wolf. This vast extent of country is now
occupied by the Bedouin Arabs, that are divided into hordes entirely
independent of each other, of which the most powerful are the Ualed
Aly, composed of over eight hundred ﬁghting men ; the Djameat, and
the Garbi, each of which can furnish from two hundred and ﬁfty to
four hundred men capable of bearing arms. They have been subjugated
by Mehemed Ali, the founder of the Egyptian dynasty, and recognise
the supreme authority of the Egyptian government.
The Libyan Bedouins have all the physical characteristics common
to the Arabs of the African Desert. They are rather of low stature,
are lean in physical outline, and are of very swarthy complexion.
Their moral character has lost much of its simplicity by their frequent
contact with caravan travellers. They are sometimes quite hospitable,
and furnish provisions and water to strangers as a gratuitous gift ; but
generally they demand the highest price for all the food materials
they can spare. They, are faithful to their word; and if they take
upon themselves the responsibility of protecting a traveller, they
do it at all hazard, and adopt every measure necessary to accomplish
the object proposed. In the desert they assume all the haughtiness
of masters 3 here they recognise no superior, and if they are threatened
with retaliatory measures they threaten in their turn. They are
much inclined to indolence, they are quite taciturn, and they frequently
644 THE ARAMrEAN sToeK.
pass a great part of the day together seated round in a circle, only
occasionally interrupting the silence by some passing remark. Although
perfectly honest among themselves, they are not at all to be trusted
with provision stores, which they consider as common property, and
when pressed by necessity they have no hesitation in helping‘
themselves.
The Libyan Bedouins lead a nomadic life; they live together in
camps, which are moved from place to place according to the necessity
of pasturage and water. The encampments are sometimes composed
of a hundred or two hundred families, each of whom occupies,
according to its means, one or more low tents, arranged in several
rows, which consist of a frame of staves covered with black felt.
The costume of many of the Libyan Bedouins resembles that of the-
Egyptians, but there are some of the men who have preserved their
ancient national dress. They wear wide trousers of red linen, in
addition to a shirt which constitutes their overdress. Over this they
throw a mantle or baracaw, composed of a single piece of cloth which
envelops their whole body with its graceful folds. Their head is
protected by a white or red cap. The dress of the women consists
of a blue shirt, and a square piece of stuff that covers their shoulders.
The Libyan Bedouins are somewhat abstemious in their diet, and
their food is principally derived from the vegetable kingdom. Peas,
beans, or barley ﬂour are mixed and cooked with barley-bread, which
forms a regular dish. Cakes made of barley-ﬂour are baked with
onions in hot ashes. Dates are eaten in various ways, either fresh or
dried. They are pounded and are mixed with ﬂour or bread, or they
are made into a preserve with honey and butter. Butter is a common
article of consumption, but milk is only used as food for children.
Mutton and kid are their favourite meat, but it is only on extra-
ordinary occasions that they indulge in such an extravagant mode of
living. They keep their water, which they.bring from the wells, in
hide-bags; while their provisions and valuables are stowed away in
woollen or leather sacks, or in baskets braided of palm-leaves. They
eat with their ﬁngers, serve their food in wooden dishes, and are
seated cross-legged on the ground during their meals.
The Libyan Arabs, contrary to the habits of their race, follow
agricultural pursuits to a limited extent. They cultivate barley,
beans, and peas, and pay much attention to the planting of date-palms.
One of their principal occupations is the breeding of domestic animals.
The camel is the most useful, for it serves them for riding as well as
for the transportation of their tents and their household utensils.
They make use of its milk, feed on its ﬂesh, fabricate various articles
from its skin and hair, and hire it out to the caravans, and they incur
but little expense for its support. They rear sheep, ,of which they
sell the wool and eat the ﬂesh, and goats whose skins are a marketable
commodity. They have everywhere a small number of asses, but
horses, which are rather an expensive luxury, are mostly owned by
the sheikhs who mount them when going on a warlike expedition.
Cows are only kept in scattered localities. Dogs are very numerous,
and they are valuable as guardians of the tents and of the ﬂocks and
LIBYAN BEDO UINS. - 645
herds. They do not practise ﬁshing 3 and even hunting is but little
followed, because they are indifferent marksmen. They generally
take gazelles alive by surprising them while asleep. Hares are caught
by means of trained vultures or by killing them with guns, and they
.are most expert in bird-hunting. Being engaged in caravan trafﬁc,
they transport to Egypt and Barbary on the back of their camels
grain, beans, and different kinds of manufactured goods.
The Libyan Bedouins speak the Arabic language, but it is far from
being the pure idiom of the Hedjaz or even of Cairo. Although their
intellectual knowledge is not of a high order, yet in many camps
young boys are instructed in reading and writing, and there are men
among them who can read the Arabic currently. They are very fond
of listening when one of their companions, more learned than the
rest, takes up and reads some Arabic work, and at the same time makes
some judicious remark about the text. They have small collections
of Arabic manuscripts mostly written on theological subjects. Their
songs are generally of the erotic kind, and are rather indelicate if not
obscene in their composition, for their simple manners allow a freedom
of expression which would not be tolerated in a highly civilised
society 3 but this exercises no inﬂuence upon their conduct, which is
far from being licentious.
The women of the Libyan Arabs perform no outdoor labour, for
the men attend to the tillage of the soil, they take care of the herds
and ﬂocks, and they convey their surplus product to market loaded
on the back of camels. Their wives are busy at home in attending
to the labours of the domestic establishment. They prepare and cook
the provisions for the daily meals, keep the tent and household uten-
sils in good order, milk the domestic animals, and nurse and watch
‘over the children. The only industrial pursuit which they follow is
the weaving of mats of strips of palm-leaves. They are not compelled
to live in seclusion, but generally they associate only with their own
sex, and they constantly keep each other company, sitting round in a
circle entirely separate from the men.
The Libyan Bedouins have long since lost their independence.
They have been made tributary to Egypt at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. They pay an annual tribute, which is principally
made up of dates. Each camp is presided over by a chief who
assumes the title of sheikh, but he does not claim any superior power
-or dignity, and the members of the horde are more his companions
than his subordinates. He is responsible to the central government
for the maintenance of order and peace among his people, and he is
charged with the collection of the tribute, which he delivers over to
the official appointed for this purpose by the Egyptian government.
The Libyan Bedouins profess the Mohamedan religion, but they do
not strictly comply with the requirements of their religious duties.
They do not regularly recite their prayers ﬁve times a day, and some
neglect this duty altogether. They have, however, a faivz'r or teacher
in each camp who exercises ecclesiastical functions, and some of them
have even made the pilgrimage to Mecca and are proud of their title
of hacijz' They are no less superstitious than the other Arab tribes.
646 THE ARAMÆAN STOCK.
They give much credit to charms and amulets, which are simply scraps
of paper written over with passages from the Koran sewn up in
leather pouches, and are attached to the head or are hung round
the neck as a protection against every imaginable evil. They believe
in astrology, and imagine that those learned in that particular science
are enabled to predict the future and to cure diseases.
AUTHORITIES.
Voyage dans le Pay Compris Entre Alexandrie et Paraetonium 1e Desert
de Lybie, Siouah, et l’Egypt. Par J. M. A. Scholz, D1). 1822.
Dans les Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. 11‘6- Serie. Vol. xx. 1823.
Voyage dans le Marmarique et la Cyremaïque. Par J. R. Pacho. 1825.
SAHARA ARABS. 647
SAHARA ARABS.
THREE tribes of Arabs claim as their own the tract of country that
borders on the right bank of the Senegal and makes a part of the
Sahara Desert. The Trarzas occupy a large territorial extent, of which
the depth may be estimated at two hundred and seventy-ﬁve miles,
stretching along the river from the seashore to the marz'got 1 of
Maghen opposite Goe. The territory of the Braknas lies along the
river from the marz'got of Maghen to El Modinalla. The region of
country held by the Dooa'i'chs does not touch the river banks, but
extends far to the north 3 it begins at El Modinalla and passes beyond
the Guidimakha.
All these tribes are of an amalgamate stock of Arabs and Berbers ;
for under the name of Zenegas the Berbers had originally occupied
the whole country, but were subsequently conquered by the Arabs
who now form the governing class, except among the Dooaichs, where
the Berber predominates. The Trarzas, who are the descendants of
the Beni Hassan tribe, or of the Moors of Morocco, are divided into
numerous clans, of which the Ooled-Dahman, the Ooled-boo-Alia, the
Alebs, and the Mosats are the most inﬂuential. The tribes of Berber
origin are all tolbas or mamboos, some of whom speak the Berber and
others the Arabic language: and one of these tribes of Berber maraboos
is entirely independent. These clans exercise supreme authority over
all the Arab, Berber, mulatto, and negro population. But even many
of the Arabs and Berbers are not pure, but are much intermixed with
N igritian blood; while one-half of the inhabitants of the country are
of pure negro descent, being held in slavery either as prisoners of war
or as descendants of such. The Braknas are, like the Trarzas, a mixed
race; one-third of them are direct descendants of the Beni Hassan,
but they are slightly intermixed with N igritian blood ; another third
are descendants of the Zenegas, equally amalgamated with negroes ;
and the rest are pure N igritians, either slaves or enfranchised. The
Dooaichs are also a mixed race, with the Berber blood predominating.
The people are divided into two parties, called the Abakaks and the
Chratits, who are hostile to each other, and their internecine wars
have reduced them to the greatest extremities.
In physical characteristics the Sahara Arabs resemble much the
ancestral races from which they originally sprang. They are of

1 The branch outlets of the Senegal, which are very numerous, are called
marigots.
648 THE ARAMIEAN STOCK.
medium stature, and have generally a swarthy complexion, which,
with those who are not much exposed to the sun, approaches more or
less to whiteness. They have ﬁne regular features, an oval face, dark
lively eyes, and an aquiline nose. Their hair is black and curly, and
their temperament is nervous and dry.
The Sahara Arabs have not entirely abandoned the cardinal virtue
of their ancestors which forms the prominent trait of the Arab char-
acter. Strangers are welcomed in their camp with great cordiality,
and are hospitably entertained. But as they are a commercial people,
and avarice is one of their besetting sins, they limit the exercise of
hospitality to one day and one night ; after which, if the visitor is not
sent away, he is less muniﬁcently treated ; and if he prolongs his stay,
very little attention is paid to him, and he is but scantily supplied
with provisions. They are cruel towards their enemies, ungrateful
towards friends, addicted to plunder and robbery, and are not scrupu-
lous in sacriﬁcing the life of men to their interest or vengeance.
The Sahara Arabs, leading a nomadic life, have no ﬁxed habitations,
but they are united together in families or clans, who establish them-
selves for a time in a locality favourable for pasturage and water,
where they form a regular camp. The tent-frame, which is composed
of a deﬁnite number of poles ﬁrmly planted into the ground, is covered
with thick cloth of camel’s hair, which is tied to the uprights with
leather straps. The ﬁre is kindled in the centre, and the ﬂoor is
covered all round with mats and carpets.
The costume of the Sahara Arabs is as simple as their dwelling.
They are dressed in wide trousers, over which they wear an ample
shirt (ckoosabe), both of which are of cotton stuff. They generally go
bareheaded and barefooted, and the rich only cover their feet with
slippers or half-boots of morocco. Some of the most opulent throw a
Moorish bamoos over their shoulders on going abroad. The kings
and nobles are dressed altogether in white ; they wear wide trousers
in Turkish fashion, a robe (mboobe), a waistcloth, and a scarf, and
when dressed in gala suit they entwine their head with a turban.
The women wrap themselves up in a piece of cotton drapery which is
tied across the breast, and covers their body as well as their head.
Their ﬁne black hair falls down over their shoulders in two long
tresses, to the ends of which pieces of amber are sometimes attached ;
and, to keep it in order, they encircle their head with narrow bands of
cotton stuff. They never veil themselves, but when the wind blows
hard they draw their mantle across their face, so that only their eyes‘
remain visible. The richer classes wear sandals, but all the others go
barefooted. They paint the nails of their hands and feet red, and
colour their eyelids black. Finger and toe rings are the most valued
ornaments.
The chief articles of diet of the Sahara Arabs are two dishes called
cuscoosoo and sanglé, both prepared from granulated millet or maize
ﬂour by the aid of steam, the ﬁrst being cooked with mutton or beef,
and the last being simply boiled in water and seasoned with some
sauce or milk. Rice and dates are favourite food-materials whenever
they can be procured. They drink nothing but water and milk, and
SAHARA ARABS. 649
they look upon wine and liquor as forbidden beverages. They sit
cross—legged while taking their repast, and eat, in Oriental style, with
their ﬁngers. Sometimes the whole family sit down together to take
their meal, at other times the master of the tent eats alone, and fre~
quently even he takes his turn after his wife has ﬁnished. To preserve
beef and mutton for future use the meat is cut into thin slices, which
are strung on a cord and are hung up on the branches of trees to be
dried in the sun. This sun—dried meat, when perfectly cured, is called
'mashuarcm, which is carried about in their wanderings with other pro-
visions, stored away in leather bags, and is always ready for use.
They are very gluttonous when their food supply is very abundant;
but in their long and wearisom'e journeys they are capable of enduring
hunger and thirst to an extraordinary degree. A little gum and a few
dates will sustain them for ﬁve or six days, when they have recourse
to the expedient of tightening each day the girdle of famine.
The chief occupations of the Sahara Arabs are the breeding of
camels, ‘horses, cattle, sheep, and goats, and more especially the
pursuit of commerce. Their herds of cattle and ﬂocks of sheep and
goats are guarded in the pasture-ground on the islands of the Senegal
by herdsmen who are generally slaves, and who milk the cows and
sell the milk in St. Louis, the capital of the French possessions, and
the surrounding country. Their camels and horses, which are not
very numerous, are taken care of by the owners in person. They are
not altogether ignorant of the mechanic arts 3 their blacksmiths are very
skilful, though their stock of tools comprises but a few hammers and
ﬁles, an anvil, a pair of tongs, pincers, and a bellows composed of two
leather bags. They forge all the iron articles necessary for home use,
which are of excellent workmanship. Their leather-workers tan sheep
and goats’ skins, and the women paint them in various devices.
They make pouches, pistol-cases, saddles, girdles, sheaths for sabres
and poniards, and quivers. The women spin camel’s hair by means of
a spindle which is twisted into twine about the size of a quill; and
this furnishes the material for their tent-covers, which are woven on a
primitive loom composed of two uprights stuck into the ground at a
distance of two and a half feet. The warp is attached to the posts,
and the ﬁlling is passed by dividing the threads by means of a ﬂatv
piece of wood, which is also used for beating up the web. They
frequently unite in parties to engage in the ostrich hunt, and they
use for this purpose a stick about two feet long, which they skilfully
hurl at the neck of the bird after it has been exhausted by being
hunted down.
The principal article of commerce of the Sahara Arabs is gum-
arabic, of which they annually collect a great quantity, and which
they sell to the traders in St. Louis and other commercial stations.
But their exports are not conﬁned to gum alone, for they transport to
market dates, embroidered carpets, mats, and even gold.
Although the Sahara Arabs are generally grave in their deportment,
yet they are not the less fond of amusements whenever a proper
occasion presents itself. When they arrive at their trading-places on
650 THE ARAMZEAN STOCK.
the river, where a kind of fair is held, they sit around the ﬁre singing
war and love songs accompanied by the 'rhababa, or Arab guitar,
strung with three or four chords. While they recite some interesting
stories and smoke their social pipe, the young men and women open
the dance in separate groups. The steps executed by the men indicate
a warlike spirit, while the movements of the women are more gentle
but are somewhat indecorous. One of the dancers steps into the
circle and exhibits her pedal agility, while the others beat the time
with their hands and supply the music by singing.
The women of the Sahara Arabs are not illy treated,1 but daughters
are nevertheless considered as the property of their father, who rears
and fattens them, like he does a doniestic animal, to enhance their
value. Girls are only considered beautiful and can only form an
eligible match if they are sufficiently plump and fat so as to impede
their powers of locomotion. To accomplish this object they are daily
fed with an abundance of milk and butter, in addition to the ordinary
articles of food; and if they refuse to submit to this stuffing process
they are beaten until they comply with this barbarous practice. A
young woman whose corporeal frame is so unwieldy that she is unable
to walk without being supported, is most admired for her substantial
charms ; and as wives are universally bought, they are esteemed as a
commodity of extraordinary value which rich men only can secure.
Polygamy, which is universally practised, is only limited by the
Mussulman law that restricts the domestic establishment to four
legitimate wives 5 but a man is allowed to marry as many concubines
as he can purchase and support. Marriages are only contracted
between families who follow the same vocation, for professions are
transmitted from father to son. Girls are generally given away in
marriage at the age of thirteen, and boys assume the responsibility of
married life at seventeen, or even sooner, if they possess the means to
pay the price of purchase. The suitor is required to pay to the father
of the young woman he has chosen for his Wife, according to the
degree of beauty or corpulency of the girl, a number of camels, horses,
cattle, sheep, or goats. The marriage is celebrated by the mamboo,
who conﬁrms and gives validity to the contract.
The birth of a child is an occasion of rejoicing, and after the infant
is eight days old it receives an airing by being carried four times
round the tent, and friends and relations are invited to a feast which
continues for eight days, during which time all without distinction
are welcome to the hospitalities of the tent.
Boys are circumcised at the age of seven, at the same time their
hair is cut short, leaving only four small tufts. If the boy at the age
of twelve or thirteen kills a boar or some other wild beast, one of the
tufts is shorn, and all the rest are successively cut as the boy advances

1 When a man beats his wife it is the most certain proof that he loves her and
does not wish a separation ; if, on the contrary, he contents himself to humiliate
her by his reproaches, she believes herself an object of contempt and invariably
returns to her parents. Follie, Voyage dans les Deserts de Sahara, p. 109.
SAHARA ARABS. 65 I
in years and distinguishes himself by some courageous act. The
operation is performed by the chief of the clan, and gives rise to
family rejoicings. As soon as his head becomes smooth and hairless
he is considered a full-made man.
a gThe Sahara Arabs look upon death as a great misfortune. When
one of their friends dies the whole family of the deceased assemble
'near the entrance of the tent and utter the most dolesome cries and
lamentations, at the same time the slaves of the household run
through the camp with their hands slung over their head, hurling
forth the most fearful howls and shrieks. All the inhabitants of the
‘camp immediately gather round the tent where the dead person lies
in state 5 the women join in the plaintive cries of the members of the
family, and the old men address to them words of condolence, remind-
ing them that their relative has gone to heaven. After the body has
been duly washed and dressed up in the ordinary clothing of the
deceased, it is consigned to its last resting-place in due form. Imme-
idiately after the burial the camp is broken up, and the tents are
pitched at a considerable distance from the former site.
The government of the Sahara Arabs is monarchical, the Trarzas,
‘the Braknas, and the Dooa'i'chs being each governed by an independent
king. Among the Trarzas the royal master formerly held an elective
oﬂice, which is now hereditary in the collateral male line,- but the
candidate to the throne must be conﬁrmed by' the principal branches
of the royal family. This royal chief exercises absolute power over
his subjects in time of war; but in time of peace he is more or less
powerful, and is more or less obeyed according to his ability and his
wisdom, which can alone enable him to strengthen his authority and
secure him against the intrigues of his rivals. In Brakna the king
still receives his appointment by election, but he can only be chosen
from the Ooled Siid and from the descendants of Aghrichi. The
Dooaichs are governed by two princes, who are in constant hostility
with each other.
The Sahara Arabs are frequently engaged in warlike enterprises,
and hostilities among rival chiefs are not uncommon. In time of war
all the able-bodied men follow the national standard. They are armed
with ﬂintlocks, sabres, and poniards, and are, for the most part,
mounted on horseback.
The Sahara Arabs are Mohamedans by profession, but they only
conform to the ritual and ceremonies of their creed as far as their
situation permits them to do so. Although they have no mosques,
yet they pray regularly at the appointed hours in their tent, or wher—
ever they may be, and perform their ablutions either with water or
with sand. They are instructed in their religious duties by the
maraboos, who lead them in prayer, and who, as the learned men of
the nation, are the interpreters of the Koran and its jurisprudence.
The maraboos also act as teachers, and every morning the children
are taught to read the Arabic which is written on wooden tablets,
and they learn by heart certain passages of the Koran.
6 522 THE ARAMÆAN STOCK.
AUTHORITIES.
Esquisses sénégalaises. Par l’Abbé P. D. Boilot. 1853.
Annuaire du Sénégal et Dependance pour l’Année 1858. Par M. le
Colonel Faidherbe.
Voyage dans les Deserts du Sahara. Par M. Follie. I792.
Naufrage du Brigantin Americain, le Commerce, Publié par J ames
Riley. 1818.
Histoire du Naufrage et Captivité de M. de Brisson. 1789.
INDEX.
Explanation—f. 12.. means footnote.
AAHMES, 168 f. 12., 172
Aared, 388
Aarru, 233
Abadde, 279
—— amusements, 282
-- country, 279
-— diposal of the dead, 283
-— dress, 281
-— ﬁshing, 281
—- food, 281
—— habitations, 280
-— industrial pursuits, 281
— language, 282
—- marriage, 282
—— moral character, 280
—- pasturage, 281
— physical character, 280
— population, 280
— productions (natural),
279
—- religion, 283
—— war, 283
—- woman, 282
Abara, 629
Abaris, 167
Abbas Pasha, 574
Abdallah Tnooth, 472
AbdelWahab, 394, 395 f. n.
Abol Ola, 381 f. n.
Abostek, 217
Abraham, 64, 166, 346
Absynth, 222
Abydus, 214
Abyssinia, 590
—— agriculture, 599
-— amusements, 602
-— army, 624 and f. n.
— ascetics, 615
— beggars, 619
—— childbirth, 607
-- churches, 611
—- circumcision, 608
— commerce, 601
— convents, 615
—— country, 591
—- disposal of the dead, 619
-— dress, 594
--— education, 608
-- feasts, 597

Abyssinia, festivals, 614
—- food, 596
—— Gondar, 629
— government, 623
— habitations, 592
— history, 590
— industrial pursuits, 600
— justice, 627
— lands, 625
— language, 621
— laws, 626
— marriage, 603
—— moral character, 592
—— music, 602
—— peasantry, 626
—- physical character, 592
— priests, 613
— productions
91
— religion, 609
—— revenues, 626
—— servants, 599'and f. n.
—— superstition, 616
—— woman, 602
— worship (religious). 612
Accadians, 32 f. 12..
Acre, 453
Adar, 53, see Bar N in
Adoniram, 96
Adonis, 14, 15
Adramelech, 21
Adrian, 461
A'eneze tribes, 358, 359, 365,
374.385
Aeon, 13
Esculapius, 16
Aﬁaj, 388
Africa, ix, 8, 163
Aftan, 350
Agademon, 16, 218
Agriculture, 26, 46, 62, 73,
83, 95, I83, 260, 267,
274: 281a 286a 293, 314,
33I,39I,398,4I6,4I9,
435,449,476,494,521,
528, 549 and f. n., 550
and f. m, 599, 625, 626,
§32,638,644,649
Agrippa Minor, 461
(natural),
Ahicanac, 342
Ahkdar (Gebel), 430, 431,
435
Air and Auelimidden, 308
Akhaf, desert of, 415
Alcorac, 342
-Aleppo,44s,4sa,469
Alexander the Great, 89,
123,137,284
Alexandria, 123, 552-554,
569,586
15189751171; 148,499, 523, 531
Algiers, 524
Alhambra, 126
Allah-Illahism, 63
Almahs, 557
Althos, 342
Amasis, 172
Amenophis I. or Amenho-
tep, 168
Amenophis III., 169
Amenti, 211, 216, 217, 220,
232—234111t,235
Amhara, 591, 631
Ammer Ibn Lahay, 408
Amrou, 254, 533, 580
Amset, 220
Amun or Amun-ra, 205, 208,
225
Amurath III., 473
Amusements, 97, 149, 181,
224, 262, 268, 282, 288,
335, 438, 495, 520, 521,
555,584,602,640,649
Anata, 5o
Anaya, 304
Anouke, 207
Auseyreeiah, 493
~— agriculture, 494
— amusements, 495
—- classes, 496
— country, 493
—— disposal of the dead, 495
—- divorce, 495
— dress, 494
— food, 494
— government, 496
-— habitations, 494
2'1‘
654
INDEX.
Anseyreeiah, marriage, 495
—— moral character, 493
—— physical character, 493
-— Polygamy, 495
— population, 493
—— religion, 497
-—- woman, 495
Antef, panegyric of, 229
Anti-Libanus, 456
Antioch, 445
Antiochus Asiaticus, 444
—-— Epiphanus, 46o
Antipater, 461
A1111, 34, 54
Anubis, 211, 213, 233
Anunavisiti, 55
Aoneans, xii.
Amp, 209
Aphaca, 225
Apis, I66, 215
Apis Osiris, 215
Apollo, 217
Apominai, 256
Arabian mountains, 536
Arabia», 5, 124, I69, 349
Arabo-Aramaeans, xiv, 345
Aradus, 18
Arafat, mount, 383, 414
Aramzeans, xiv., 1, 2, 3
Architecture, see Fine Arts
Armatgioho, 629
Armenians, 13o
Arms, see Military Affairs
Army, ibid.
Artistic productions, 7, 21,
47, I91
Aryo-Iranians, xv
Ascetics, 615, 631
Ashamas. 339, 342
Ashieaxnas, 339
Ashimenceys, 339
Ashkenasim, 137
Asia, 167
Aso, 212
Asp, 209, 215, 222
Asshur, 23
Asshur-idanni-pal, 20
Asshur-ris-ilim, 19
Assouan, 265
Assyrians, 19, 167 f. n., 443,
456, 469
—— agriculture, 26
—- climate, 22
—- commerce, 27
—— country, 19, 22
-~ dress, 24
—— feasts, 25
-- ﬁne arts, 29
-- ﬁshing, 27
-- food, 25
- furniture, 25
-- gardens, 26
—- government, 36
- habitations, 25
-~ history, 19 [28
—- industrial pursuits, 27,
—- language, 31, 32
-- military affairs, 37

Assyrian, moral character,
24
—— music, 30
— physical character, 30
—- productions, 23
— religion, 33
— temples, 3 5
Astarte, 15
Astrology, see Science
Astronomy, see Science
Atbarah, 536
Athor, 217
Athotis, 166
Athyrtis, 17o
Atin-ra, 209
Atlas mountains, 291, 499
f. n.
Atribus, 221
Atta-ka (Gebel), 537
Avatar, 211
Ayesa (Jesus), 408, 414, 466
Azdjer and Ahaggar con-
federations, 308
Azobo Gallas, 591
Azyr tribe, 368
BAAL or Baalshemi, 14
Baal Chamman, 14
Baal Ohewan, 14
Baal-peor, 106
Babylon, 57
Babylonians, I 5, 41, 443, 456
— agriculture, 4
—— artistic productions, 47
— astrology, 48
—- Babylon, capital of, 57
—- climate, 43
-— commerce, 46
—— country, 42, 43
-— disposal of the dead, 49
-— dress, 44
—- feasts, 45
— food, 45
—— government, 56
—- habitations, 44
— history, 41
— industrial pursuits, 46
— marriage, 49
— military affairs, 56
— moral character, 44
—— music, 47
— physical character, 44
—— priests, 56
—— productions, natural, 43
—— religion, 49
— science, 47
— temples, 56
— woman, 49
Babylonian Jews, see Jews
Bacchus, 210, 215
Bagdad, 42 f. 92., 125
Bahariyeh (oasis), 536
Bahr-el-Abiad (‘Vhite Nile),
536
Bahr-eé-Azrak (Blue Nile),
53
Bahr-Bela-Ma valley, 535
Bajazet IL, 127

Balbec, 445
Barabras, 265
— agriculture, 267
—- amusements, 268 .
—— commerce, 268
—— country, 265
— disposal of the dead, 269
— dress, 265
-— ﬁshing, 267
— food, 26 5
—— government, 269
— habitations, 265
—- hunting, 267
— language, 268
— marriage, 269
—- moral character, 265
—— physical character, 26 5
—— religion, 270
-- woman, 268
Barada river, 2
Barbary Arabs, see Moors
Barbary Bedouins, 526
— agriculture, 528
— commerce, 529
— disposal of the dead, 53o
— dress, 527
— etiquette, 529
—- food, 528
— government, 521
—- habitations, 526
— industrial pursuits, 529
—— marriage, 529
— moral character, 526
— pasturage, 528
-— physical character, 526
— religion, 532
~— woman, 529
— states, 147
Bar Nin, 53
Baroa N igritians, x
Barsumas, 15
Basilico-grammate, 255
Baths (Egyptian), 584
Batna, 435 [588
Bazaars, 458, 462, 520, 582,
Bedjas, 271
Bedouin Arabs, 345
— childbirth, 37o
— circumcision, 38o
— climate, 349
—— commerce, 364
— country, 349
— courtship, 366
-— dakheil and dakhal, 372
— disposal of the dead, 382
— divorce, 369
— dress, 357
— education, 370
— feasts, 379
_ food:
—- government, 383
—— habitations, 356
—— haramy (freebooter), 374
— hospitality, 371
—— industrial pursuits, 363
— justice, 385
—-,lady’s saddle, 355 and f. n.
—— language, 381
INDEX.
655
» Bedouin Arabs, laws, 387
—-—~ literature, 378
-— marriage, 366
—- migrations, 355
— moral character, 351
—— music, 378
—- physical character, 350
. -- population, 350
-— productions, natural, 350
—— religion, 383
—— science, 378
—— slavery, 37o
--— Songs, - '
__ thar (blood relationship),
373
— warlike expeditions, 377
— wealth, 364
—— weapons, 365
—- wasy (guardian), 373
— woman, 362
Bedouins, 2, 388, 395, 398,
415, 423, 424, 425, 426,
431,434, 435, 436, 444,
514, 537
Beggars, 404, 619
Bekaa valley, 469
Belit, 55
Bel or Belitan, 15, 34, 50,
54, 58
Bel Merodach, 53
Beltes, see Astarte
Beltis, 34
Bendayca, 342
Bennu, 214, 233
Berbera, 277
Berbers, 271
—- agriculture, 274
—— commerce, 275
— disposal of the dead, 276
——- dress, 272
—- education, 276
— etiquette, 275
-— food, 273
— furniture, 278
-— government, 276
— habitations, 272, 278
—— history, 271
— marriage, 276
~— moral character, 271
—- pasturage, 275
— physical character, 271
— population, 272
—— religion, 276
Berytus, 15, 16
Bethel (school), 136
Beyroot, 445, 453, 454, 470
13111.53, 55
Black stone (Mecca), 408
Black Sea, 8
Boats and boatsmen, sec
Navigation
Bochoris, 171 '
Bombay, 124
Bonna, Wady, 415
Book of the Dead of Egyp-
tians, 203 f. 'n., 229, 232
Braknas, 647
Bream (deiﬁed), 222

Britain, 8
Broussa, 126
Brutus, 89
Bubastis, 207, 217
Bull, sacred, 215 and f. n.
Burial, see Disposal of Dead
Busiris, 216
Buto, 207, 213
Byblos, Is, 34, 50, 54, 58
CABIBI, 14, 16
Cadmus, 8
Own. 537, 553, 569, s80
Calvary, 461, 462, 465
Cambyses, 172, 533
Canaan, 7 f. n.
Canaanites, 88, 106
Canary, 328
Caravansaries, 449, 457, 523
Caria, 8
Carp (deiﬁed), 222
Carthage, 8, 499, 519
Carthaginians, 7 f. n., 291
Casimir the Great, 151
Cassius, 89
Cat (deiﬁed), 207
Cataract mountains, 536
Celto-Iranians, xvi
Cerberus, 211
Ceres, 216, 221
Chacham Bashi, I27, 136,
I43, I44
Chaldees, sec Babylonians
Character, see Physical and
Moral
Charles V. of Spain, 135
Charon, 231
Chiapo-Maranonians, xii.
Childbirth, 154, 298, 370,
510, 566, 607, 650
Children, sec Childbirth
China, 124
Christ, 64
Christianity, 70, 533, 635
Christians, 90, I44, 454, 470,
472, 474, 513, 517, 522,
538, 585, 588, 609f- 1»-
Churches, 61
Church of the Holy Sepul-
chre, 464 -
-— Protestant, 464
Cilicia, 8
Circumcision, 17, 98, 155,
224, 254, 380, 510, 633,
5o
Class-distinction, 11, 106,
235, 321, 339, 40% 424,
459, 488, 496
Claudius (Abyssinia), 591
Cleopatra, 173, 533
Cleopatra’s Needles, 123,
586 and f. 12.
Climate, 6, 22, 43, 257, 284,
308, 329, 349, 4I5, 4%
444, 475, 500, 535, 643
Coffee-houses, scc Amuse-
ments
Colonies (Phoenician), 8, 18 .

Commerce, 8, 27, 46, 96, 262,
268. 275, 287, 315, 364,
392, 438, 450, 516, 518,
529, 552, 601, 645, 649
Conscription (Egypt), 548
Constantine, 123
Constantinople, 127, 553
Convents, 85, 255, 615 and
. n.
Copts, 163, 250, 538
—— disposal of the dead, 253
—— dress, 250
—— education, 251
— history, 250
— language, 251
—— literature, 252
-— marriage, 253
— monasteries, 255
— moral character, 260
—— occupation, 250
—— physical character,.2 50
— population, 250
— priests, 255
—— religion, 254
— mode of worship, 254
Coraybe, 416, 428
Corybanthes, 16
Cosmetic applications, see
Dress
Costume, sec Dress
Country, 6, 19, 22, 42, 60,
7O, 79. 92, I64, 257, 265,
279, 284, 291, 308, 328,
349, 388, 398, 412, 415,
430, 44a 460, 474, 493,
499, 534, 536, 591, 636,
43,
Courtship, see Marriage
Crete, 8
Crocodile (deiﬁed), 222, 232,
233
Crocodile lake, 535
Crusade against Jews, 92
f. n.
Crusades, 80, 469, 533
Culinary art, see Food
Cyaxarus, 22
Cyclades, 17o
Cynocephalus (deiﬁed) 211,
219, 222
Cyprus, 8, 172
Cyrus, 89, I72, 444, 460
DAGON, 106
Dakheil and dakhal, 372
Dakhel, oasis of, 536
Damescusﬂ,133,445,45a456
Damietta, 554
Dancing, see Amusements
Dancing-girls (Egypt) 556
David, 96, 114, 460
Dead, disposal of, 49, '63,
98, I40, 156, 230, 232,
air, 253, 260, 263, 269,
276, 282, 288, 292, 299,
32I, 338, 382, 393, 423,
439, 452, 482, 495, 510,
529, 571, 619, 634, 651
656
INDEX.
Deborah, 98
Delta, 162, 207, 535
Dembea lake, 536
—- plain, 629
Demotic writing, sec Lan~
guage
Derr, 265
Diana, 207
Diarbekr, 42f. 'n.
Dibborah, 55
Divorce, 98, 154, 369, 482,
495, 564, 633
Doan, Wady, 416
Domestic animals, see Agri-
culture
Dongola, 265, 536
Dooa'l'chs, 647
Dowasir, wady, 389
Drar-Aboo-Beryk, 284
Dravidians, xiii
Dress, 24, 36, 44, 6r, 72,
82, 94, 135, 137, I49,
176, 228, 250, 265, 272,
281, 285, 312, 330, 357,
39°, 400, 409, 412, 417,
433, 446, 476, 494, 505,
527, 543, 594, 632, 636,
644, 648
Dru-Sega 80: 444a 455a
—— agriculture, 476
-- classes, 488
-— cquntry, 469, 474, 475
-- disposal of the dead, 476
-—- divorce, 482
-— dress, 486
-- food, 476
-- government, 490
—- history, 469
-—- industrial pursuits, 478
——- lands, 478
—- marriage, 479
—— military affairs, 491
—- moral character, 475
-— olive groves, 477
—- polygamy, 482
—-— population, 469
—— religion, 482
—— silkworms, rearing of,
477
-- woman, 479
Dshilwe, wady, 415
El, 34, so, 54
Eagle (deiﬁed), 222
Edessa, school of, 71
Education, 99, 130, 133, 155,
192, 201, 251, 276, 337,
(370, 404, 420, 566, 567,
34
Efenek, 342
Egypt, 8, 21, 89, I62, 165
f. 'n., 166, 167, 168, 213,
533’ 534-
Egyptians, 163, 469
Egypto-Libyans, 164
— agriculture, 183
—— amusements, 181, 224
—— army, 242

Egypto - Lihyans, artistic
pursuits, 191
— boats, 190
— boatsmen, 183 ,
— chronology, 166 f. n.
—- circumcision, 224
—— classes, 235
-— country, 164
—— dress, 176
—education, intellectual,
201 '
— education, moral, 198
-— embalming, art of, 234
— fasts, 224
—— feasts, private, 180
— festivals, 223 .
— festival of harvest-home,
224
-— festival of N iloa, 224
—- ﬁne arts, 196
— food, 178
—— funeral rites, 23o
— furniture, I75
-— future state of existence,
232
-— gardens, 183
—— government, 238
— habitations, 174
-- historical record, 173
-— history, 164, 166
— hunting, 182
—— industrial pursuits, 187
— justice, 248
-— language, 194
— laws, 246
-— literature, 196
— military affairs, 244
-—- mining, 191
— moral character, I73
—- morals of, 229
-— music, 199
— oracles, 225
-— physical character, I73
— polygamy, 200
— priests, 227
—— religion, 201
— science, 192
— superstitions, 225
—- tombs, 233
—- tools, 190
-— weapons, 243
—— woman, 200
— worship, mode of, 225
-— writing, art of, 194
El Burk, 466
Elephantine island, 205
Elephantis, 222, 359
El Modinalla, 647
Embalming, 234, 609
England, 427
Enu, see Bel
Ephesus, council of, 71
Eraoranham, 342 .
Erech, 5o
Esar-haddon, 21, 35
Essenes, 110
Ethiopia, 163, 169, 170, I71,
205, 636

Etiquette, 96, 275. 393, 438,
507, 529, 559 _
Eudoxus, 209 f. n.
Euntis, see Mylitta
Euphrates, 2, 42f. 11., 162,
443_
Eutychians, 254
Ezion-Geber, 96
Ezra, 89 f. n.
FAITH, articles of, 160
Fakirs, 57
F alashas, 609, 610, 631
— agriculture, 632
—— circumcision, 633 and
. n.
— disposal of the dead,
,634
— divorce, 633
—-— dress, 632
——- education, 634
— festivals, 635
— food, 632
-— habitations, 632
—- history, 631
— industrial pursuits, 632
—- language, 633
-— marriage, 633
-— moral character, 632
—- puriﬁcation, 635
—- religion, 634
— sacriﬁces, 634 and f. n.
-—— woman, 633
——- worship, mode of, 634
Fallaheen, see Anseyreeiah
Farafrah, oasis of, 536
Fasts, 36, 224, 611
Fatimists, 444
Fayaoom, 537, 553
Fayre, 342
Feasts, 25, 4s, 118, am,
359, 379, 597
Fellahs, 545
Feroe, 328
Festivals, 68, 104, 158, 223,
347 f- w, 558, 614, 635
Fez, 515
Fezzan, 553
Figs, cape of, 587
Fine arts, 22, 29, 196, 534,
. 553.
Flns, xiv
Fishing, 27, 267, 281, 333
Fodli, 415, 426, 427
Food, 25, 45, 62, 73 ﬁn»
82, 94, 152, 178v 227,
265, 272, 286, 293, 313,
331, 391, 401, 412, 418,
419, 434. 448, 449 and
f. n‘, 476, 494, 506, 507,
528, 545, 596, 632. 637,
638, 644, 648
Fortaventura, 328
Fostat, 580
Fowaris Tnooth, 470
Frumentius, 609 and f. '17,.
Funeral rites, see Disposal
of the Dead
INDEX.
657
Funeral hymns of Egypto-
Libyans, 203 f. 72., 210
. n.
Furniture,~ 25, 72, 82, 94,
175,269,272, 278, 312,
401, 433, 542 _
Future state of exlstence,
see Disposal of the Dead
Gums, 8, 16
Games, see Amusements
Garah-el-Kamyseh, 284
Gardens, 26, 183
Gauff, 415
Gaza, 445
Gemarah, 119, 155
Genii of the Amenti, 220
Geographical description,
see Country
Geology, see Country
Gezer, city of, 171
Ghadames, 309
Gharama, 322
Gharmy, 284
Ghengis Khan, 533
Gizeh, pyramid of, I67
Goat (deiﬁed), 222
Godjam mountains, 629
Goher, 580
Gomera, 328
Gondar, 629
Good Friday in Jerusalem,
4 4-
Gorgorius, 616
Government, 17, 36, 69, 78,
86, 113, 150, 238, 263,
269, 276, 283, 288, 301,
310, 323, 340, 394, 405,
411, 426, 449, 453, 499,
496, 513, 518, 523, 531,
572, 623, 641, 645, 65I
Graeco-Latin Iranians, xvi
Grammar, see Language
Greeks, 16, 130, 171, 469
Guanches, 328
-— agriculture, 331
— butcher, trade of, 334
—— classes, 339
—— climate, 328
— country, 328
— dances, 33 5
—- disposal of the dead, 338
-— dress, 330
—— education, moral, 337
-— ﬁshing, 333
—— food, 331
—— girls, fattening of, 337
—- government, 340
-— habitations, 33o
-— history, 328
-— industrial pursuits, 334
—— intellectual knowledge,
.334
-— justice, 341
— language, 335
-— marriage, 336
—- martial exercises, 335
—- moral character, 330

Guanches, music, 335
— myths. 343
—— pasturage, 332
— physical character, 329
— productions, 328
——- religion, 342
"— Songs, 333
-— war, 341
-— woman, 336
Guarano-Maranonians, xi
Guidimakha, river, 647
Guinea, gulf of, 445
Gula, 34
Hamrarroxs, 25, 44, 61,
72, 81, 94, I73, 259,
265, 272, 278, 280, 285,
292, 311, 328, 356, 399,
399, 417, 427-429. 433,
446, 458, 462, 494, 594,
515, 517, 519, 524, 526,
542, 581, 592, 632, 636,
D
Hadhena, wady, 415
Hadramaut, 415
Hagar, 408
Hassar, 359
Hair-dressing, see Dress
Hakem Biamur Allah, 417,
483
Hams, 493
Hanqzé, 47% 472, 484, 485
Hapi, 220
Harem)’, 374
Hareek, 388
Harem, 564
Harpocrates, 211, 214, 218
Hassanyeh Arabs, 636
—— agriculture, 638
— amusements, 640
— country, 636
—— dress, 636
— food, 637
— government, 641
-— habitations, 636
—— hospitality, 638
— hunting, 640
— industrial pursuits, 639
—- marriage, 641
— pasturage, 638
— population, 636
—-~ religion, 641
' — war, 642
Hat, sec Hor-Hat
Hathor, see Athor
Hawazan tribe, 347
Hawk (deiﬁed), 208, 209,
221
Hea, sec Ea
Hebrews, 87
—— agriculture, 95
— amusements, 97
— circumcision, 98
-— classes, 106
—- commerce, 96
— constitution, 115
— country, 92
— disposal of the dead, 98

Hebrews, divorce, 98
— dress, 94
—— education, 99
—— Essenes, 110
— etiquette, 96
— festivals, 104
— food, 94
—— furniture, 94
— government, 113
—- habitations, 94
- history, 87
-— idolatry, 106
—— industrial pursuits, 95
— justice, 116
-- language, 101
—— laws, 116
— Levites, 107
-— literature, 100, 101
—- marriage, 97
—— military affairs, 115
—— music, 100
—— patriarchal age, 92
—— Pharisees, 109
—— priests, 103
—— prophets, 107
—— rabbinical age, 108 and
. n.
—— Rechabites, 108
— religion, 102
—— sacriﬁces, 104
— Sadducees, 109
— Sanhedrim, 119 and f. n.
—— schools, 100
— synagogues, 121
— synagogue-worship, 109,
119
—— tribunals, 120
—- woman, 98
Hediaz, 346, 358, 359
Hedjaz Arabs, 398
——- agriculture, 398
—— beggars, 404
—-— commerce, 401
—- country, 398, 412
—— devotions, religious, 409
— dress, 400, 412
— education, 404
-— food, 401, 412
—— furniture, 401
-— government, 405
— habitations, 399
—- history, 411 f. 72.
-— justice, 406
-—- Kaaba, 406
— language, 405
— marriage, 402
— Mecca, 399
-- Medina, 411
-- moral character, 402, 412
—- mosques, 406, 413
-— music, 405
—- occupation, 413
-— physical character, 400,
412
— pigeons of Beitullah, 411
—— pilgrimage, 409
— pilgrim's garb, 409
— police, 411
658
IN DEX.
Hedjaz Arabs, preaching,
411
—— productions, 398
~— religion, 404
-- revenues, 405
-— schools, 413
—— science, 405
—— slavery, 402, 413
—— songs, 405
—- suburbs of Medina, 412
—— tomb of Mohamed, 413
-— Zemzen, well of, 407
Heliopolis, 166, 170, 209, 580
Henna, 545 and f. n.
Hephaestus, 205
Hercules, 16
Hermes, 16, 54, 218, 219
Hermetic books, 203 and f. 'n.
Hermopolis, 222
Hezekiah, 631
Hieratic writing, see Lan-
guage
Hieroglyphics, 167, 194
Hierogrammates, 235, 241
Hieroloatomi, 235
Hierophant, 235
Hierophori, 235
Hierostoli, 235
Himyarites, 415
Hindoos, xv
Hinnom, valley of, 462
Hiram of Tyre, 96
History, 7, 19, 4I, 60, 7°,
79, 87, 151, I66, 254,
291, 328, 329, 346, 347,
411 and f. n., 443, 460,
‘(£69, 499, 533, 586, 590,
31
Hobal, 408
Hoharoa, mount, 631
‘ ‘ Holy ﬁre,” drawing of, 465
Hor, see Horus
Hor-Hat, 218, 224
Horse,Arabian, 364 and f. n.
Horus, 204, 210, 211, 217
Hospitality, see Food
Hospitality, Arab, 37o
Hotep, 233
Houses, see Habitations
Hungarians, xiv
Hunting, 182, 267, 392, 640,
6 .
- 45 ,
Hurki, see Sm
Hycsos, 167 and f. 02., 168
Hypsuranius, I3
Hyrcanus, John, 89
IAMBLIOUS, 203 f. n.
Ibn el Faredh, 381 f. n.
Ibn Saood, 394
Ibrahim Pasha, 549, 575
Ichneumon (deiﬁed), 221
Idolatry, Hebrew, 160
Isisi, 55
Ihaggaren, 321
Ikelan, 322
Ilu, 50 ,
Imarieh, Gebel, 349

Imashar, see Tuaregs
Imrhats, 322
Indian Ocean, 8
Industrial pursuits, 10, 27,
29, 46, 73, 95, I87, 260,
281, 294, 309, 315, 334,
363, 392, 420, 436, 450,
478: BUS—5187 522a 524’
529, 553, 588, 600, 632,
39, 649
Intellectual knowledge, see
Science
Intoxicating beverages, sec
Food
Iranian stock, xv, 443
Isabella (Spain), 135
Ishmael (son of Abraham),
346, 389, 408, 431
Ishtar, 35, 54, 55

Jews of Damascus, 133
—— education, 133
—— government, 133
— occupation, 133
—- places of residence, 133
— population, 133
Jews of Egypt, 147
Jews of Jerusalem, 134
—- Ashkenasim, 137
—— Bethel school, 136
—— burial service, 141
-— dress, 135, 137
-- government, '136, 139
—— hospital, 139
—- Kareites, 138, 139
——1<msuase, 135, 137
—— marriage, 140
—— number, 135
—— occupation, 135
—- pilgrims, 134
-— religion, 138
-- revenues, 137
—— schools, 139
—- Synagogues, 135, 139
Isis, 206, 210, 211, 213, 216—
218, 222
Ismael Pasha, 278, 568, 575
Israelites, 21
Issuv, 55
Iva, see Vul
JACOB, 166
J acobites, 254
J aﬁa, 445
J eroboam, 171
Jerusalem, 88, 89, 123, 134,
I71, 453. 460
Jews, 5: 907 I23: I71, 41]:
- 'n': 427, 444, 454,
461, 467.472, 513, 517,
522,538
—- emancipation of, 91
-— expulsion from Spain,
126, 135
-— persecution, of, 90
—— Prussian crusade against,
92 f. 'n.
—— social standing of, 91
Jews of Arabia, 124
— Babylonia, 125
-— Bagdad, 125
Jews of the Barbary States,
I47
—— amusements, 149
—— costume, 149
-— government, 150
—— marriage, 150
-— occupation, 147
--— oppression, 147
-— physical character, 148
-— social and political con-
dition, 148
Jews of Bombay, 124
—- China, 124
Jews of Constantinople, 143
-— ﬁnancial administration,
I45
—— government, 143
—— judicial authority, 144
— number, 142
—-— occupations, 143
'—- schools, 146
—— synagogues, 146
—— worship, 136
Jews of Koordish Moun-
tains, 125
—— Mount Lebanon, 134
—— Persia, 124
Jews of Poland and Russia,
150
—— articles of faith, 16o
—— childbirth, 154
-— circumcision, 155
-— conﬁrmation, 155
—— deathbed, 156
-— divorce, 154
—— dress, 152, 154
—— education, 155
—— festivals, 158
-— food, 152
—— funeral ceremonies, 156
' —- history, 151
—- marriage, 153
— mourning, 156
—— number, 150
—— political rights, 151
—- religion, 157
—— Sabbath, 157
—- social condition, 150
Jews of Salonica, 146
Jews of Syria, 124, 126
—— dress, 132
—— habitations, 132
— language, 132
—— marriage, 132
Jews of Tiberias, 141
—— grand rabbi, 141
—- government, 142
—— number, 143
—— occupation, 142, 143
—— pilgrims, 142
Jews of Turkey, ‘
—- education, 130
—- language, 132.
—— marriage, 131
—— moral character, 130
INDEX.
659
Jews of Turkey, occupation, ’
129, 130
—— oppression of, 127
—- rabbinical government,
127
— real property, acquisition
of, 131
-— religion, 128
— religious usages, 130
-— Spanish Jews, old, 129
—— superstitions, 128
— Talmud, 128
-— taxes, 131
Jezebel, 14f. 'n.
J ochtan, 346, 388, 431
J ohanan ben Sakai, 467
Joseph, 168, 209
Joshua, 460
Josiah, 171
J ousel ben Dashﬁn, 517 f. n.
Judah, 8, 96, 171
J uhar, Wady e1, 513 f. n.
Jupiter, 14,-16, 106, 205, 208,
284, 408, 461
Jurjura, 291
Justice, administration of,
H6, 248, 323, 341, 385.
394, 406, 427, 440, 453,
514, 522, 578, 627
K5 (soul), 232
Kaeba, 346, 347, 406, 408,
410
Kabyles, 163, 291, 515
— agriculture, 293
-- anaya, 306
-— childbirth, 298
-— country, 291
—- disposal of the dead, 299
—- dress, 292 4a.‘.
— food, 293
—- government, 301
—— habitations, 292
-— history, 291
— industrial pursuits, 294
-— language, 294
-— laws, 302
—- maraboos, 300
—— marriage, 298
—— moral character, 292
—- physical character, 291
— poor, provisions for, 299
—— religion, 299
—— revenues, 303
-— soﬁs or tribal leagues,
302
— superstitions, 301 and
. n.
—- tribal divisions, 291
—— war, 304
—— woman, 298
— Zaw'i'a, 304
Kadisli, 137, 157
Kamisura, 55
Kareites, 138, 139
Kargeh, oasis of, 536
Karnak, palace of, 169
Kebenhsnof, 220

Kenoos, see Barabras
Kerneter, 232
Khem, 205, 223
Khem-Chemmo, 206
Khol-pia, 13
Khonso, 205
Kidron, brook, 461
Kinana tribe, 347
Koordish mountains, 125
Koosa N igritians, x
Koran, 64, 66, 373 and f. n.,
566 f- n’, 568
Kordofan, 636
Koreish tribe, 346, 408
Ki'oomirs, 291 f. 7%.
Ksel river, 518
Kwolaggeria, 591
LABYRINTH, 167
Ladikia, 493
Laheg, 415, 427
Lamassu, 55
Lands, see Agriculture and
Government
Language, I. II, 31, 73, 83,
101, 194, 251, 262, 268,
282, 287, 294, 309, 316,
335, 347, 381i, 393, 405,
421i, 438, 510, 567, 6M,
633, 645
Lanzarota, 328
Las Palmas, 329
Lasta, 631
Let, 347, 408
Latona, 207, 213
Latopolis, 222
Law, 116, 246, 302,303f. 71.,
324, 387, 62
Lebanon, mount, 25, 134,
345, 443, 456, 469
Lepidotum, 222
Lesseps, De, 536
, Levites, 107, 115
Libya, 170, 171
Libyan Arabs, 643
—- agriculture, 644
— climate, 643
— commerce, 645
-— country, 643
— dress, 644
— food, 644
— government, 645
— habitations, 644
—— hunting, 645
— language, 645
—— moral character, 643
—— pasturage, 644
— physical character, 643
—— religion, 645
— superstitions, 645
—— woman, 645
Libyan desert, 265, 284,
535, 643
— mountains, 536
Libyo-Aramaeans, xiv. 162
Lilis, 155 and f. 97/.
Literature, 74, 100, 101, 196,
252, 378, 567, 588

’ Lobos, 328
Locusts, 500 f. n.
Lotus, 222
Lucullus, 444
Lunus, 219
Luxor, palace of, 169
Lycopolis, 222
MAAD, 346
Maat, 205, 207, 218
Maazy tribes, 358
Maccabaeus, Judas, 109, 461
Macedonia, 8
Masades, 342, 343
Maghen, 647
Mahallah, 416, 428
Malacca, 8
Malay-Polynesians, xi.
Mamelooks, 80, 123,
573, 580
Mamudyeh canal, 536
Mamins, 146
Manah, 347
Manu, 55
Maraboos, 300, 321, 511, 651
Maranonians, xi
Marcus Aurelius, 523
Mareotis, lake, 535
Marigot (outlet), 647
Marine, see Navigation
Maronites, 444, 445, 470,
47.4, 479
—- agriculture, 83
— convents, 185
~ country, 79
—— dress, 82
—— food, 82
—- furniture, 82
—— government, 86
-— habitations, 81
-- history, 79
—— language, 83
—— moral character, 81
— physical character, 81
— priests, 84
—- religion, 84
— schools, 83
—— superstitions, 84
Marrlase, 49 15 a, 62, 74,
97, I31, I40, 150, I53>
154, 253: 263’ 268: 276,
282, 288, 298, 320, 336,
366, 393, 402, 421, 439,
452, 479, 495, 508, 529,
560, 603, 633, 641, 650
Mars, 15
Martu, 35
Mascat. 431, 434, 436, 437,
441
Massila, 350
Mecca, 346, 399, 466
Mechanic arts, see Industrial
Pursuits
Medicine, sec Science
Medidjah, 291
Medina, 411
Mediterranean, 5, 162, 164,
552
533,
660
lNlJEX.
Mehemed Ali, 60, 80, 394,
534, 548, 549, 553, 568»
573, 574, 587, 643
Mekam Ibrahim, 410
Melanesians, x
Melek Taoos, 65
Melkarth, 16
Memphis, 66, 67, 168 f. 43.,
170, 171, 172, 206, 207,
215, 235, 580
Memrumus, 13
Mena, 166
Mendes, 166, 222
Menkeru, 167
Menshyeh, 284
Mental capacity, see Moral
Character
Menzaleh, lake, 135
Meotis, 222
Mercury, 218, 219
Merekedes (el) tribe, 372
Merodach, see Bel Merodach
Meroé, 171, 258 and f. n.
Meroua, 408, 410
Mesopotamia tribes, 358
Meyrfabs, 271
Micronesians, xi
Midianites, 106
Migration of Arabs, 355
Military aﬁairs, 18, 37, 56,
242, 262, 283, 288, 304,
341, 365, 377, 395, 425,
441, 454, 490, 515, 624
and f. 73., 41
Miltsin, mount, 499 f. n.
Minzeans, 347 ﬁn.
Minerva, 172, 208
Mining, 11, 191
Mishna, 119
Missionaries, 74
Moabites, 106
Mocha, 428
Moéris, lake, 222
Mohamed, 64, 124, 408, 410
— tomb of, 413, 466
Mohamed I., Sultan, 126
Mohamedanism, see Reli-
gion
Mohamedans, 90, 587, 609
MohamedGryne, 591
Mohamed Said, 574
Mohamed, son of Ismail
Darazi, 471
Mokattib, Gebel, 349
Moloch, 15, 106
Monasteries, see Oonvents
Mongol-Turanians, xiii
Monophysites, 254, 609
Monothelites, 254
Moors, 499
-— agriculture, 521
— Algiers, 524
—- amusements, 521
'_" army, SIS
-—- bazaars, 520
— childbirth, 510
—— circumcision, 510
-— climate, 500

Moors, coffee-houses, 520
— commerce, 518
— country, 499
—-— disposal of the dead, 510
—- divorce, 509
—- dress, 505 _
-— etiquette, 507
_"‘ Fez:
—- food, 506
—- government, 513, 518,
523
— habitations, 504, 515,
517, 519, 523, 524
—- history, 499
-— hospitality, 507
—industrial pursuits, 516,
_ 512', 518, 522, 524
— Justlce, 14
—— language, 510
— Magador, 517 and f. 'n.
— maraboos, 511
—- marriage, 508
— moral character, 502
— Morocco, 516
—— mosque, 523
—— music, 507
—— physical character, 502
—— polygamy, 510
— population, 501, 524
— productions, 500
— religion, 513
-— revenues, 515, 519
— schools, 516
-— slavery, 513
— superstitions, 512
-— Tripoli, 522
—— Tunis, 519
— woman, 508, 520
Moral character, 24, 44, 61,
72, 81, 130, I73, 229,
250, 258, 265, 271, 280,
285, 292, 310, 328, 350,
389, 402, 412, 417, 432,
445, 475, 493, 502, 520,
539, 592, 632, 643, 648-
Morayba, 342
Morocco, 499, 513, 516
Mosque of Beitullah, 406
—— El Azhar, 569 f. 72., 580,
585
—— El Haram, 413, 457, 461
— Hassan, 585
— Mehemed Ali, 58 5
—— Omar, 466, 523, 580
—- Tooloon, 585
Mosul, 42 f. n.
Mot, 13
Motam, 408
Motanebbi, 381 f. n.
Motualis, 444
Mount Moriah, 461
Mount Olives, 462
Mount Sion, 462
Mugrebbin, see Language.
Muly Edris, 513 f. 71.
Music, 30, 47, 100, 199, 262,
335, 378, 405, 420, 438,
507, 555, 632

Mustard (deiﬁed), 222
Muttaliku, 55
Mygale (sacred) 207
Mylitta, 15, 34, so, 58
Mysteries of Osiris, 212
Myths, 343
NABoPoLAssAR', 22
N ahr el Kelb river, 469
Nasi, Prince of the Capti-
vity, 126
Natron, lake, 535
Navigation, 9, 183, 262, 437,
441’ 554
Nebo, 35, 54,. 55
N ebuchadnezzar, 20, 460
Nebyk, 408
N echerophes, 167
Necho, 171
Nehemiah, 89 f. n.
Neith, 172, 208
Nejed, 388
Nejed tribes, 372, 373 f. n.,
8
3 9
Nepe or N etphe, 209
Neph, 208, 218
Nephthys, 210, 211, 213,
216, 218
Neptune, 8
N ergal, 21, 3
N estorians, 70
— agriculture, 73
— country, 70
—— dress, 72
-— food, 73 f. n.
— furniture, 73
—— government, 78
— habitations, 72
— history, 70
— industrial pursuits, 73
— language, 73
— literature, 74
— marriage, 74
—— missionaries, 74
— moral character, 72
—— physical character, 71
-— priests, 77
—-- religion, 76
— schools, 74
—— superstitions, 76
N estorius, 71
Nictoris, 167
Niger, 636
Nigritians, ix, 169‘
Nile, 162, 164, 167, 170, 171,
_ 213, 265, 535, 536
—— inundation of, 550
— festivals of, 558, 629
Niloa festival, 224
Nilus, 218, 224
Nineveh, 21, 22
Ninip or Nin, 34. 53, sec
Bar Nin
N irbah, see Serakh
N isham, 143
Noah, Gebel, 415
Nomcs, 235
Nooredin, 580
INDEX.
661
N ouar, lake, 636
Nu (sky), 203 f. n., 209, 210
ub, 168
Nubas, 163, 257, 265, 538
—- agriculture, 260
-— amusements, 262
—— boats, 262
—— climate, 257'
— commerce, 262
— country, 257
-— disposal of the dead, 263
—— dress, 260
—-- food, 260
—- furniture, 260
—— government, 263
—— habitations, 259
—~— industrial pursuits, 261
— langu< 0e, 263
-— marriage, 263
—- moral character, 259
— music, 262
—— physical character, 258
—- population, 2 58
— productions, 257
—- religion, 263
—— weapons, 262
— woman, 263
Nubia, 162, 163 f. 12., 164,
297,257
N umidia, 291
Nut, 210
Nutar, 203 and f. n.
OCTAVIUS, 533
Oinuphis, 209 f. n.
Oman, 430
Omanites, 430
— agriculture, 435
— amusements, 438
—— army, 441
-— climate, 431
— commerce, 437
—- country, 430
— disposal of the dead, 439
— dress, 433
-— etiquette, 438
—— food, 434
—— furniture, 433
—- government, 440
— habitations, 433
— industrial pursuits, 436
— justice, 440
— language, 438
—— Mascat, 431
-— marine, 441
—— marriage, 439
—— moral character, 432
— music, 438
— navigation, 437
-- physical character, 432
— Polygamy, 439
—- population, 431
—- productions, 430
— religion, 441
— revenues, 441 and f. 'n.
— slavery, 440
— superstitions, 442
— woman, 439

Omar, 499, 533
Ombte, 218, 224
Ommiades, 444
Omra, 411
Ooshtettas, 291 f. n.
Oracles, 2,25
Ormuzd, 63
Ornaments, see Dress
Orontes, 2
Osiris, 167, 171, 204, 206,
210, 211, 214, 216, 217,
234_
Owl (deiﬁed), 222
Ozza, 347, 498
PADEKIM, 137
Painting, see Fine Arts
Palestine, 92, 126, 169, 171,
443, 445, 453
Palmas, 328
Palm-branch, 222
Pan, 206
Panopolis, 206
Pantheon of Egypt, 204
Papuo-Australians, x
Papyrus, 222
Parachistes, 235
Partliians, 89
Pasht, 207
Pasturage, see Agriculture
Pataeci, 16
Patriarchal age of Hebrews,
92
Peach (deiﬁed), 222
Pelusium, 170, 171
Perch (deiﬁed), 222
Persepolis, 32 f. n.
Persia, 124, 444, 469
Persians, 172, 456
Perushim, 137
Peruviaiis, xi
Phallus, 15, 106, 206, 213,
214
Pharisees, 109
Philae, 214, 217
Philippi, 89
Philipville, 291
Philistines, 106
Phoenicia, 5, 170, 453
Phoenicians, 5, 443
—- army, 18, 96, 167 f. n.
— artistic pursuits, 7
—— classes, 11
—— climate, 6
—- colonial establishments,
8, 18 _ -
— commerce, 8
—— country, 6
—- government, 17
— history, 7
— language, 11
— manufactures, 10
— mining, 11
—— navigation, 2
— productions, 6
-— religion, 12
—- science, 10

Phoenicians, ships, 9
— writing, art of, 11
Phoenix, 209
Phrah or Pharaoh, 209 and
f. 72.
Phtliah, 107, 205, 206, 233
Phthahotep, maxims of, 229
Phthah-Sokari-Osiris, 206
Physical characteristics, 22,
44, 61, 71, 8r. 148, I73,
250, 258, 265, 271, 280,
284, 291, 319, 328,359,
389, 499, 412. 416, 432.
445, 493, 592, 526, 538.
_ 592, 643, 647
Pilgrimage to Mecca, 409
Plato, 209 f. n.
Plutarch, 211]‘. 72., 213
Pluto, 50, 210
Poland, 151
Police, see Government
Polish and Russian Jews, 150
Polygamy, 63, 299, 439, 482,
495, 519, 564
Pompey, 444, 46I
Ponipey’s Pillar, 123, 526
Poppy (deiﬁed), 222
Population,60, 258, 280, 284,
291, 31°, 345, 350, 399,
4311.443, 462, 469, 493,
591, 524, 537, 581, 587.
636, 647
Poseidon, 16
Pothos, 13
Potiphar, 209 f. n.
Praecones or pastophori, 33 5
Priests, I7. 35, 56, 67. 76,
84, 103, 227, 239, 255,
613
Primeval man, ix
Prisoners of war, see Mili~
tary Aﬂ’airs
Procession of shrines, 223
Productions, natural, 3, 23
257, 275, 308, 329» 35°:
398, 439, 443, 445, 599.
537, 552, 589, 59][
Prophets (Hebrews), 107
Proserpine, 216
Protogonos, 13
Prussian bureaucracy, 92
f. n.
Psammeticus I., 171
Psammenitus, 172
Pshent, 202, 207
Pterophori, 235
Ptolemy, 171, 173, 242
Ptolemy Soter, 460, 533
Puriﬁcation, 635
Pyramids, 167
Pythagoras, 172, 209 f. 91.
RE, 50, 203 f. 'n.., 205, 207-
209 and f. 11., 217, 218_
225 f. n., 232, 233, 241
12
Ba Nu, ‘203 f. n.
Rabbinical age, 108
2 U
as
INDEX.
Rabbinical government, 127
Ramalu, 445 .
Ramanu, see Bin
Ramaseion, 170
Ramses II., 169 and f. n.
Ramses III., 169 and f. n.
Rechabites, 108
Red Sea, 5, 8, 162, 171, 345,
552
Rekot, wady, 350
Religion, 12. 33. 49, 63, 76.
84, 102, 128, 130, 157,
29I. 254, 263, 269, 283,
299, 299, 326, 342, 347.
383, 395, 494, 499, 411,
423, 441, 482, 497, 513,
£32, 569, 634, 641, 645,
I
Resurrection of the dead,
109 f. n.
Revenues, see Government
. Rhat, 310
Rhea, 15, 58, 209
Rhodes, 8
Riad, 389
Romans, 123, 291, 328, 444,
456, 499
Rome, 8, 89, 461
Rothschild, 139
Russia, 151
SABA, queen of, 611 f. n.
Sabaco, 171
Sabaean, 14
Sabbath, 136, 157
Sacriﬁces, human, 17 f. n.,
104, 340 f. n.
Saddle (Arabian), 355 and
. 'n.
Sadducees, 109
Sahara, 162, 265, 309
Sahara Arabs, 647
— amusements, 649
- childbirth, 650
— circumcision, 650
— commerce, 649
— country, 647
— disposal of the dead,
641 1
— dress, 648
-— food, 648
— government, 651
— habitations, 688
— industrial pursuits, 649
— maraboos, 651
—— marriage, 650
—— moral character, 648
—— pasturage, 649
—— physical character, 647
— population, 647
— religion, 641
— woman, 6 50
Sa'is, 172, 208, 222
Saladin the Great, 461, 580
Samaria, 89
Samas, see San
San, 52, 55
$292, 349, 427

Sanchoniathon, 14 f. n.
Sanhedrim, 89 j‘. 'n.,
119
and f. n.
l Santa Cruz, 329
82429292. 23, 444. 456, 469,
586
Saracus, 22
Sardinia, 8
Sargon, 20
Sarrakhu, 55
Sassanian dynasty, 71
Sate, 207 ‘
Satu, 233
Saturn, 4, 16, 17f. n.
Saul, 114
Scarabaeus, 205, 208, 222,
232
Schools, 74, 83, 199, 1.39,
413, 429. 5I6, 568
Science, 10, 47, 48, 192, 319,
334, 378. 495, 429
Screech owl (deiﬁed), 221
Sculpture, see Fine Arts
Scythians, 21, 170
Seb, 210, 212, 213, 225 f. n.
Sebek, 169
Sebucha, 284
Sedeyr, 388
Sedu, 55
Seleucia, 493
Seleucidae, 444
Selim 1, 473. 534, 589
Selselih, Gebel, 537
Semien, 591, 629, 631
Semitic, 1 f. n.
Senaar, 553
Senegal river, 647
Senjak, 65
Sennacherib, 21, 35
Sepharedim, 135
Serakh, 55
Sesonches, 171
Sesorthos, 167
Sesostris, 167, 169
Set, 210, 212, 213, 225f. n.
Sethroite nome, 167 -
Shakeyah, 536
Shalmaneser 1.,“19
Shalmaneser II. , 20
Shamar, Gebel, 349
Shamar tribe, 355 f. 'n.
Shamesh, 34
Sharezer, 21
Sheikh-Adi, 63, 65
Sheliach (delegate),137 f. n.
Shemal tribe, 367, 369 f. 'n.
Shendy, 278 .
Ships, 9
Shoah, 591
Shrew-mouse (deiﬁed), 221
Shu, 209
Shyano-Turanians, xiii
Sidi Mohamed, 517 f. n.
Sidon, I8, 470
Sidonians, 96
Silkworms, rearing of, 477
Silsilis, quarries of, 169
Sm, 52, 55

Sinai tribes, 359, 367, 368,
6
_ 37
Sistrum, 207
Siwahs, 284, 536
— agriculture, 286
— amusements, 2'88
— climate, 284
— commerce, 287
— country, 284
— disposal of the dead,
288 -
— dress, 285
—— food, 286
— government, 288
—— habitations, 285
— language, 287
-— marriage, 288
— moral character, 28 5
— physical character, 28 5
——- population, 284
— religion, 290
— war, 289
— woman, 288
8121120’, I2, 322, 379, 394,
492, 413, 449, 513, 567,
592 f. n. _
Slavo-Iranians, xvii
Smautf, 220
Smoking, see Food and
Amusements
Sobiesky, John, 151
Soffs, 302
Solomon, 96, 114, 170, 460
Solon, 172
Songs, 333, 379, 495. 429
Sorcery, see Superstition
Sothis, 216
Soudan, 278, 636
Soul, immortality of, 232,
233
Sour (Tyre), 469
South Arabians, 415
— agriculture, 419
_ army, 425
—- Ohoryabe, 428
— classes, 424
— climate, 4.15
— country, 415
— disposal of the dead, 423
—— dress, 417
— education, 420
— food, 418
—— government, 426
— habitations, 417
-— hospitality, 419
— industrial pursuits, 420
— justice, 427
-— language, 421
— Makallah, 428
— marriage, 421
—- Mocha, 428
— moral character, 417
— music, 420
— physical character, 416
—- religion, 423
— Sana, 427
—- schools, 420
—- science, 420
INDEX.
663
South Arabians, songs, 420
—— superstitions, 423
— weapons, 425 ,
Spain, 8
— expulsion of Jews from,
126
Spanish Jews, 129
Sphragistae, 235 '
Squills (deiﬁed), 222
St. Cyril, 71
St, Helena, 462, 614
Stork (deiﬁed), 221
Subulal, 55
Suez canal, 535, 536, 552
Suez tribes, 363 f. n.
Sukra, 466
Sunnin, 443
Superstitions, 76, 85, 128,
135, 225, 301 andf. n.,
326, 334, 423, 44.2, 512,
570, 616, 6 5
' Suphis and Sensuphis, I67
Suplat, 35
Sycamore ﬁg (deiﬁed), 222
Syene, 222
Synagogue, 121, 135, 139,
468
—- worship, 109, 136
Syrla, 2, 8, 89, 126, 345, 443,
.453
Syrian Arabs, 415
'— agriculture, 449
— army, 454
-— bazaars, 458, 462
—- caravansaries, 449
— Church of Holy Sepul-
chre, 464
— climate, 444
— commerce, 450, 459
— country, 443
— Damascus, 456
— disposal of the dead, 452
— drawing the “holy ﬁre,”
465
—— dress, 446
— food, 448
— Good Friday, 464
-— government, 453
— habitations, 446, 458, 462
— history, 443, 456. 460

Syro-Aramaeans, xv, 4
Szafa, 408, 410
TABLE SERVICE, see Food
Tacazzy, 591
Tadmour, 96
Takroor Nigritians, x
Talith, 136
Talmud, 128, 155
Tamarisk (deiﬁed), 222
Tanaitic mouth of the Nile,
2‘13, 214
Tanzimat, 60, 78, 148
Tarshish, 96
Tartessus, 8
Tataro-Turanians,
Taiit, 16, 218
Taxes, see Government
Tchad, lake, 636
Tefnut, 209
Temples, 35, 55, 58, 65
Tensift, river, 516
Testament, New, 64
—— Old, 64
Teutono-Iranians, xvii
Theba'i'd, 164, 205, 214, 535,
535
-— hospitality, 449 and f. n.
—- industrial pursuits, 450
— Jerusalem, 460
—- jusitice, 453
— lands, 454
—— marriage, 452
— moral character, 445
-— mosque of Omar, 466
—— mosque of Omeiyades,
457
-—— physical character, 445
_ Population, 443, 459, 462
—- - productions, 443, 445
—— revenues, 456
— Sukrah, 466
—— synagogues, 467
— wailing-place, 467
— women, 451
Thebes, 168, 169, 205, 207,
217, 222, 238
Theodorus (Abyssinia), 614
Theogony of Egypt, 202
Thermutis, 216
This, 166
Thmei, 211, 232
Thora rolls, 136
Thoth, 207, 211, 218
Thrace, 8, 167, 170
Thuro, 16
Thutmes I., 168 and f. n.
Thutmes III., 169, 210 f. n.
Tiberias, 148
Tiglathi-N in, 19
Tiglath-Pileser, 1, 20
Tigré, 591
Tigris, 42 f. 72., I62
Titus 90, 124, 461
Tmu, 203 f. 92., 209
Tombs, see Disposal of the
Dead
Tooloon, 580
Trajan, 90, 124
Trarzas, 647
Tribal divisions, see Popu-
lations
Triphis, 206, 207
Tripoli (Africa), 148, 499,
522
Tripoli (Syria), I8, 79, 445,
493
Tshudo-Turanians, xiv
Turanians, xii, 32 f. n.
Tumeilet, Wady, 535
Tunis, I48, 499, 518, 519
Turks, 123, 456, 538
Typhon, 210, 213
UMYAYA, 343
Uraeus, 202, 208

Usous, 14
Ustur, 55
Usurtarsen, 167
VANDALS, 291, 328, 499
Vipera cerastus (deiﬁed), 20 5
Virgin Mary, 408, 610
Visigoths, 499
VH1, 34
Vulcan, 16, 170, 205
Vulture (deiﬁed), 221
WAGGERA, 591, 629
\Vahabees, 388
— agriculture, 391
_ army, 395
— commerce, 392
—— country, 388
— disposal of the dead, 394
—- dress, 390
— etiquette, 393
— food, 391
—- government, 394
— habitations, 390
— hunting, 392
—— industrial pursuits, 398
— justice, 395
—1ans11ase, 393
—— marriage, 394
—— moral character, 389
— pasturage, 392
—— physical character, 389
— religion, 395
—- revenues, 395
—— Riad, 389
— slavery, 394
-— woman, 393
Wailing-place of J ews, 467
Walkeit, 629
War, see Military Affairs
\Varmita, 35
\Vasy guardian), 373
Weapons, see Military Af~
fairs
Wolf (deiﬁed), 222
\Voman, social position of,
49, 98, 200, 263, 268,
282, 288, 293, 319, 336,
337, 362, 393, 439, 451,
479, 495, 508, 520, 529,
565, 566, 602, 633, 645,
650
Worship, religious, 36, 55,
66, 202 f. '11., 220, 225,
254, 489, 612, 630
Woshem, 388
Writing, art of, see Language
XoIs, 168
YAFFI mountains, 415
Yaiﬁa, 415
Yathrib, 41I f. 'n.
Yemanah, 388
Yemen, 346, 349, 398, 4H
f- w, 415, 419, 423 f- w,
424, 426
664 _ INDEX.
t
Yezd, 63, 64 ‘ Yezedees, history, 60 Zaw'i'a, 304
Yezedees, 5, 6o —— marriage, 62 Zebulon, 96
-— agriculture, 62 '— moral character, 61 Zeidism, 423 f. 'n.
—— country, 60 P — pasturage, 62 Zemzen, well of, 6.6, 407,
-— disposal of the dead, 63 g —- physical character, 61 410
-— dress, 61 I — polygamy, 63 Zenegas, 647
-— festivals, 68 i — religion, 63 Zeno, emperor, 71
— food, 62 Zeyton, 284
—- government, 69 ZARPANIT, 53f. '22., 54 Zophasemine, I3
—- habitations, 61 Zat Arowat, 408 Zoroastrian creed, 63

APR 7 4 1915
THE END.

PRINTED BY BALLAN'I'YNIE, HANSON AND CO.
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