places of ablution, before the people enter the mosque. Near every mosque are six high towers, or steeples, called minarets, each of which has three little open galleries, one above another. These steeples and mosques, are covered with lead, and adorned with gilding, and other ornaments. From these, the people are called to prayer, not by a bell, but by officers appointed for the purpose. Near most of the mosques is the tomb of the founder, and a place of entertainment for strangers, with apartments for prayer and reading the Koran. No man is allowed to enter a mosque without pulling off his shoes and stockings. Women are never allowed to enter these sacred buildings.

In former times the Arabs were celebrated for their progress in the sciences; but they are now far from being a learned people. Yet education is not entirely neglected. Many of the common people learn to read and write. Girls are instructed apart by women. In the chief cities are colleges for astronomy, medicine, philosophy, and astrology. In Arabia the knowledge of medicine is at a low ebb.

The Arabians inherit the land of their fathers, the first proprietors of the country. It

was prophesied in scripture that they should be invincible, and though apparently a defenceless people, they have never been subdued by any invader. Their millions of inhabitants are so many witnesses for the truth of revelation. Every man's hand is against them, and theirs against every man's, yet they shall dwell securely among their brethren. The body of the nation has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies. The arms of Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey and Cæsar, of Trajan and Bonaparte, have never achieved the conquest of Arabia. The present sovereign of the Turks may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction; but his pride is reduced to solicit the friendship of a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack. Their domestic fueds, are suspended on the approach of a common enemy; and in their last hostilities, against the Turks the caravan of Mecca was attacked and pillaged by four score thousand of the confederates. When they advance to battle the hope of victory is in the front; and in the rear, the assurance of retreat. Their horses and camels, which in eight or ten days can perform a march of four or five hundred miles,

disappear before the conqueror; the secret waters of the desert elude his search, and his victorious troops are consumed with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, in pursuit of an invincible foe, who scorns his efforts, and safely reposes in the heart of the burning solitude. The Arabs are robbers on the land, and pirates on the sea; they have this character from the sands of Morocco to the shores of Madagascar, from the banks of the Indus to the plains of Gambia, yet they are remarkable for their hospitality. They were the most ancient civilized people. The merchants of Tyre had explored the Islands of Britain, before the Chinese had discovered Japan. When the literati of India or China can show us a volume as ancient as the writings of Moses, they may with more confidence boast of their high antiquity. The Arabs are in general Mahometans, some of them are Pagans. This country was the birth place of Mahomet; he taught the necessity of believing in God, the existence of angels, the resurrection, and future judgment, and the doctrine of absolute decrees. The duties which he enjoined were prayer five times a day, fasting, charity, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. Their religion forbids

the use of images, though anciently they were idolaters, and the same rites, which are now practised by Mahometans were invented and practised by idolaters. At an awful distance they cast away their garments; seven times with hasty steps they encircled the temple of Mecca; built as they said by Abram and Ishmael, and kissed the black stone which they believed was brought from heaven by Gabriel; seven times they visited and adored the adjacent mountains; seven times they threw stones into the valley of Mina, and the pilgrimage was then concluded, as at the present day, by a sacrifice of sheep and camels, and the burial of their hair and nails in consecrated ground. The temple was adorned or defiled, with. 360 idols of men, eagles, lions, and antelopes. Most conspicuous was the statue of Hebal, of red agate, holding in his hand seven arrows without heads or feathers, the instruments and figures of profane divination. The devotion of the ruder ages was content with a pillar or a tablet, and the rocks of the desert, were hewn into gods or altars in imitation of the black stone at Mecca. From Japan to Peru, all round the globe, the use of sacrifices. has prevailed, and the votary

has expressed his gratitude or his fear by destroying or consuming in honor of the gods, the most precious of their gifts. The life of man is the most precious oblation to deprecate any calamity, therefore the altars of Phoenicia and Egypt, of Rome and Carthage, have been polluted with human gore. The Arabs long continued the practice. In the third century, a boy was annually sacrificed by the tribe of the Dumatians; and a royal captive was impiously slaughtered by the prince of the Saracens. The father of Mahomet himself, was devoted to the altar by a rash vow, and with difficulty ransomed by a hundred camels. The Arabs, like the Jews, abstain from swine's flesh, and circumcise their children.

The Banians are a sect tolerated here. They profess to love very thing, which breathes, to assist every thing, which is in pain, to abhor the spilling of blood, and to abstain from food, which has enjoyed life. Milk, butter, cheese, rice, and vegetables, are their only food. By their dress, which is a white robe, and rose colored turban, they are known to the birds, which instead of flying, flock round them to be fed. The Europeans trust them to do all their business with the Arabs,

and they are always found honest.

Mecca is the principal city, and is supported by the resort of pilgrims, 70,000 of whom, visit the place every year. The buildings are mean. It is 34 miles from Judda. Lat. 21,45; long. 40,55 east. It is an inland town surrounded by hills, a day's journey from the Red Sea. On one of the hills is a cave, where they suppose Mahomet retired for his devotions, and where he received the Koran from Heaven, brought by Gabriel. It is the holy city of Mahometans; no Christian is allowed to enter it. The temple of Mecca has 42 doors, and is said to be nearly 670 yards in length, and 570 in breadth. In the centre is a paved court, on all sides of which are cells, for those who consecrate themselves to a life of devotion. The Caaba, in the middle of the temple, is 20 paces square, and 24 feet high, covered with rich silk, and the centre is adorned with large letters of gold. The door is covered with plates of silver, before it is a curtain thick with gold embroidery. This sacred Caaba is the principal object of the pilgrim's devotion, and is open but two days in six weeks, one for the men, and one for the women. Its walls are marble,

hung round with silk, and lighted by four silver lamps. Twelve paces from the Caaba, they pretend to show Abraham's Sepulchre. After performing their devotions, the pilgrims retire to a hill, where, after various ceremonies, they are pronounced hadgies and saints, and suppose heaven is sure. The next morning they go two miles from the city, where they suppose Abram offered up Isaac. Here they pitch their tents, and throw seven small stones against a little stone building. This is done in defiance of the devil. Those who are able, then make an entertainment, to which the poor are admitted.

In the Caaba is one relic, sacred as the cross is to the Catholics. It is a black stone, brought by Gabriel from Heav. en, for the construction of this edifice. This stone, they say, was first of a clear, white color, dazzling the eyes of people at the distance of four day's journey. By weeping so long and so abundantly for the sins of mankind, it became opaque, and finally black. This tenderhearted stone, every Mahometan must kiss, or touch, every time he goes round the Caaba. They suppose the temple founded on the stone upon which Jacob rested his head at Bethel,

when flying from the wrath of Esau. Aden is a seaport of Arabia Felix, on a coast of the Indian Ocean. It has a good harbor, and was formerly a mart of extensive commerce, which is now inconsiderable. It is the capital of a country to which it gives name. Medina is a small, poor place, surrounded with walls. In the temple is the tomb of Mahomet surrounded by curtains and lighted by lamps.

Muskat is a considerable town with a good harbor, much visited by English ships. Mocha on the Red Sea, near the strait of Babelmandel, has 10,000 inhabitants, and is celebrated for its excellent coffee.

Arabia is governed by a number of petty princes, styled sheriffs, or imams, king and priest are united in the same person. These are absolute in temporals and spirituals; the succession is hereditary; the laws are found in the Koran and its commentaries.

The Tehama is a region of sand, about two day's journey in breadth, which surrounds the peninsula of Arabia, from near Suez to the mouth of the Euphrates. This circle of desolation was probably once the bed of the sea, which is still retreating. Strata of salt, and in some places hills of salt, are

plains.

Written mountain, or mountain of inscriptions, is a mountain or chain of mountains, in the wilderness of Sinai, on which for a great extent, the marble of which the mountain consists, is incribed with innumerable characters, reaching from the ground, in some places to the height of twelve or fourteen feet. In the third century these were mentioned by a Greek, and some of them have been copied by Pocoke and other travellers. The vast number of these inscriptions, the place in which they are found, and of course the length of time for executing the task, have induced a notion by no means unnatural, that they are the work of the Israelites, during their 40 years wandering in the wilderness. The translator of Volney's travels as cribes these inscriptions to the pilgrims, who visit mount Sinai. But until this part of the world shall become more accessible to travellers, nothing of certainty will be obtained concerning these mountains.

It would be unpardonable not to mention the present state of the Arabians. About the year 1758 Abd al Vehab began to promulgate a new religion; though at first he kept some

country, he soon presented a religion entirely new. He accused the whole Mahometan church of being infidels and idolaters. By degrees his followers increased, and he began to destroy the shrines of Mahomet, and the tombs of the saints, and before his death his fame and his riches were great. He was succeeded by his son Mohammed, who being blind remains always at home, but he has assumed the title of supreme pontiff of their religion; and employs, as his deputy, Abd al Azir, and though eighty years of age, he prophecies that he shall not die, till the Wahaby religion is completely established in Arabia. He waits on Mohammed twice in a week to receive his orders. All Arabia, it may be said, is subject to their control, and so are they reverenced by their followers, that when going to battle, they solicit passports to the porters of paradise, which they suspend round their necks, and then proceed with daring valor. Although the Wahabees, as they are called, possess the power and riches of the country, they retain all their ancient simplicity of manners. They sit on the ground, dates are their food, and a cloak is their bed and their clothing. For many