31 (return) [ Saraceni... mulieres aiunt in eos regnare, (Expositio totius Mundi, p. 3, in Hudson, tom. iii.) The reign of Mavia is famous in ecclesiastical story Pocock, Specimen, p. 69, 83.] 32 (return) [ The report of Agatharcides, (de Mari Rubro, p. 63, 64, in Hudson, tom. i.) Diodorus Siculus, (tom. i. l. iii. c. 47, p. 215,) and Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1124.) But I much suspect that this is one of the popular tales, or extraordinary accidents, which the credulity of travellers so often transforms into a fact, a custom, and a law.] 33 (return) [ Non gloriabantur antiquitus Arabes, nisi gladio, hospite, et eloquentia (Sephadius apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 161, 162.) This gift of speech they shared only with the Persians; and the sententious Arabs would probably have disdained the simple and sublime logic of Demosthenes.] 34 (return) [ I must remind the reader that D’Arvieux, D’Herbelot, and Niebuhr, represent, in the most lively colors, the manners and government of the Arabs, which are illustrated by many incidental passages in the Life of Mahomet. * Note: See, likewise the curious romance of Antar, the most vivid and authentic picture of Arabian manners.—M.] In the study of nations and men, we may observe the causes that render them hostile or friendly to each other, that tend to narrow or enlarge, to mollify or exasperate, the social character. The separation of the Arabs from the rest of mankind has accustomed them to confound the ideas of stranger and enemy; and the poverty of the land has introduced a maxim of jurisprudence, which they believe and practise to the present hour. They pretend, that, in the division of the earth, the rich and fertile climates were assigned to the other branches of the human family; and that the posterity of the outlaw Ismael might recover, by fraud or force, the portion of inheritance of which he had been unjustly deprived. According to the remark of Pliny, the Arabian tribes are equally addicted to theft and merchandise; the caravans that traverse the desert are ransomed or pillaged; and their neighbors, since the remote times of Job and Sesostris, 35 have been the victims of their rapacious spirit. If a Bedoween discovers from afar a solitary traveller, he rides furiously against him, crying, with a loud voice, “Undress thyself, thy aunt (my wife) is without a garment.” A ready submission entitles him to mercy; resistance will provoke the aggressor, and his own blood must expiate the blood which he presumes to shed in legitimate defence. A single robber, or a few associates, are branded with their genuine name; but the exploits of a numerous band assume the character of lawful and honorable war. The temper