The historical Geography of Arabia, and an appendix containing translations, with an alphabet and glossary of the Hamyaritic inscriptions recently discovered

Front matter

THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA; OR, THE PATRIARCHAL EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION : A MEMOIR, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE MAPS; AND AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING TRANSLATIONS, WITH AN ALPHABET AND GLOSSARV, OF THE HAMYARITIC INSCRIPTIONS RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN HADRAMAUT. ttV THE REV. CHARLES FORSTER, B.D. ONE OF THE SIX PREACHEns IN THE CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST, CANTERBURY ; AND RECTOR OF STISTED, ESSEX : AUTHOR OF " MAHOMETAMSM UNVEILED." They call their lands after their own names. — Psalm xlix. 11. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: DUNCAN AND MALCOLM, 37. PATERNOSTER-ROW. MDCCCXL1V. LUHliV I u5YB«li°°HÆ°-Hs/iX"I'l'l/i?isV°B •HI i!^ aihHI-SmAI IA3N »I"VilY-°I«VXlA IlI-VF»IstIXI,-JHJ YxiBa-i-vxii^a Over us presided kings far removed from baseness, And stern chantisers of reprobate and wicked men : And they noted down for us, according to the doctrine of Heber, good judgments, written in a book, to be kept ; And we believed in miracles, in the resurrection, in the return into the nostrils of the breath of life.

Adite inscription, engraven on the rock at Hisn Ghorab. Oh that my words were now written I oh that they were printed in a book ! That they were graven with an iron pen, and lead, in the rock for ever 1 For I know that my Redeemer liveth ; and that He shall stand, at the latter day, upon the earth : And though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet, in my flesh, shall I see God : Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job. London : Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square. TO HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. MY LORD, In submitting the following pages to Your Grace's censure and indulgence (and to whom can the fruits of Oriental studies be inscribed mofe appropriately, than to the venerated successor of their first and most illustrious patron in this country ?)

I would avail myself of the privilege of again publicly addressing you, to say a few words upon the origin and design of the work itself, as well as upon some results most unex pectedly arrived at, during its progress through the press. The present work, like that on the authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews, was commenced under the auspices of Bishop Jebb ; and, like it also, has been brought to its close, and before A the public, under Your Grace's countenance and protection. It was with feelings which they alone are competent to understand, who have known what it is to possess a friend " closer than a brother," that, within the last two years, I resumed the prosecution of researches, which (under Providence) had contributed to preserve the elasticity of the mind during the last years of that friend's long and great affliction, and which had been interrupted only by his last ill ness and death.

Part I

Section I. Settlements of Cush - - - - - 3 Section II. Settlements of Joktan - - - - -77 Section III. Settlements of Ishmael - - - - 176 Section IV. Settlements of Kettirab - - - the HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY DF ARABIA.

Introduction

. The colonization of Arabia, while it forms a sub ject of inquiry, not, it may be hoped, unattractive to the general reader, has peculiar claims on the attention of the geographical student, the scholar, and the divine. The geography of a country, so celebrated by the writers of antiquity, so venerable from its patriarchal character and scriptural associations, and so illustrious in the history of the world in more recent times, is rendered only the more interesting to men of science, by the physical and moral impediments, which have limited the pro gress of geographical research along its coasts, and effectually barred against European curiosity all access to the interior. The physical and moral obstacles to a free in tercourse with the Arabian peninsula, presented, in all ages of the world, by its climate, its deserts, the night marches of its caravans, and the fierce manners of its roving tribes, . . . have, within the last twelve centuries, been unspeakably augmented and aggravated, by the bigotry of an exclusive superstition.

If, in earlier times, the stranger had to encounter the ordinary risks and hardships of Arab life, he shared those risks and hardships with the natives themselves. But, under the iron sway of Islamism, the aspect was wholly changed. Commerce ceased to be a pass port to the curiosity of science. Mahometan Arabia was accessible only to Mussulman guests. However at variance, still, among themselves, the settled Arab and the Bedouin, the " people of the towns," and the " people of the tents," became thenceforward banded together, in a national league of exclusion, against "the unbe liever." Nor were the midland districts of the peninsula more securely guarded from foreign in trusion, by their fiery winds and burning sands, than were the cities of the coast, by the intoler ance of superstition. In these unfavourable circumstances, the in vestigations of modern science have been un avoidably restricted to the scanty and dubious

INTRODUCTION.

. XXXI materials supplied by the Orientals ; for, until the middle of the eighteenth century inclusive, there existed no more authentic sources of in formation. From these sources, accordingly, the most eminent of modern geographers, M. d'Anville, compiled his very learned and elabo rate Map of Arabia ; which, as we learn from the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, was formed, chiefly, from the geographies of Abulfeda and El Edrisi, together with that entitled Gehan- Numa, or " The Mirror of the World ;" of which last-named work a French translation is, or was, to be found in the King's Library at Paris.* Since the date, however, of M. d'Anville's map, two most valuable accessions, results of competent inquiry and observation in the country itself, have accrued to geographical science.

In 1763, * " La Geographic peut tirer de grands avantages d'un voyage en trepris dans 1'Yemen, par des personnes habiles et eclairees. — On a la description de publiques routes, de Molca vers Sanaa, ville principale dans l'intericur de l'Yemcn ; le Voyage de Bartema, dans le recucil de Ramusio ; et les Geographies Orientales d'Edrisi, d'Aboulfeda, et cellc qui est intitulee Gthan-Numa, Miroir du Monde, dont il y a une tra duction Francoise a la Bibliotheque du Roi. — C'cst principalement de ces trois dernieres pieces, plus m£thodiques et plus completes que les autres, queM. d'Anville a tire ce que contient l'Arabie, d ,ns la premiere partie de sa carte d'Asie, donnee au public en 1751 ; comme on n'en connoit pas de plus ample, et de plus detailLee, on seroit oblige a Messieurs les Academiciens Danois [M. Niebuhr and his associates, then about to pro ceed on their Arabian expedition], s'ils vouloient bien la comparer avec le local, pour en reconnoitre les sautes et les omissions." — Hist, de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, torn. xxix. p. 20. a scientific expedition, for the improvement of our very imperfect knowledge of Arabia, set on foot under the munificent patronage of the king of Denmark, and ably conducted by the learned Niebuhr and his associates, brought back to Eu rope the first accurate information obtained, respecting the true positions of some of the principal towns and localities of Yemen.

Limited as this information was, it sufficed to expose several capital errors of M. d'Anville, or of his autho rities, in laying down this part of the country ; and to establish, at the same time, the decided superiority of prior sources of information, which had been too long neglected.* From the time of Niebuhr, an eventful pause of half a century intervened, before the re-awakened spirit of European inquiry was again di rected towards Arabia. At length, in the years 1814. .. 1816, the unscrupulous zeals and en terprize of John Lewis Burckhardt unlocked the forbidden gates of the Hedjaz ; verified the sites of its chief cities and towns ; measured the in land routes, and surveyed the outline of the coasts ; ascertained, on the spot, the names and * For example, M. d'Anville's course of the Caua-Canim river, and his consequent positions of Sanaa and other places in Yemen, are at variance with Ptolemy : but Ptolemy was right, and d'Anville wrong. f Love of science can never justify the compromise of religious prin ciple.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXXIII geographical situations of the various tribes ; and, extending his indefatigable inquiries far beyond the sphere of his personal observation, procured, from natives of those parts, much valuable intelligence, respecting the provinces of Nedjd, Iemama, and Yemen. What this accomplished traveller saw with his own eyes, extends, however, to a comparatively small portion of his " Travels in Arabia," and " Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys : " the whole of his interesting details, respecting the districts beyond the Mussulman sacred territory of Mekka and Medinah, being derived from oral communication with individual inhabitants ; or with travellers, who had accompanied the " Hadj el Kebsy," or pilgrim caravan, which passes, periodically, between Mekka, and Sanaa, in Yemen. These details bear, indeed, the strongest internal marks of fidelity and exactness : but they stand in need of further corroboration, to render them available for the purposes of strict geographical science ; and they fall so short of completing our general acquaintance with the peninsula, that, to the present hour, many districts remain not only unvisited, but undescribed.

" All to the eastward and northward of Sanaa," observes a well informed writer, " the territories of Sahaun, Djof, and Yafa, the whole of Hadramaut and El vol. i. b HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. Nedjed, and the greater part of Omaun and Lachsa, are terra incognita:''* And so defec tive, on the whole, is the present state of our information, that scientific geographers (as the author has been assured by an eminent artist), when constructing improved maps of the sur rounding countries of Asia, are content to pass over Arabia as a blank ; republishing merely, with occasional corrections, the details furnished by their predecessors. In the absence of contemporary materials, to any adequate amount, it seems not unnatural that we should revert to the past ; to those minute and copious delineations which have been left by the most celebrated geographers of antiquity.

The prominence given to the Arabian peninsula, in the pages of the Greek and Latin classics ; the graphical descriptions of its various tribes, and territorial subdivisions, supplied by Ptolemy and Pliny, by Strabo and Diodorus SicuLs, by Dio nysius, Agatharchides, Arrian, and Marcian, must render its geography not less interesting to the classical scholar f , than to the man of science. * Modern Traveller, vol. iv. p. 47. f Much stress has been laid on the classical attainments of Burck hardt, as peculiarly qualifying him for researches in the East : very gra tuitously, however, if we may form a judgment from results. In his " Travels in Syria and the Holy Land," his perspicacious judgment, in deed, has done much to illustrate Scripture history. But, towards the

INTRODUCTION.

. XXXV But the interest of both will be naturally and materially heightened, if it shall appear, on closer inquiry, that, upon this, as upon many other subjects, the writers of antiquity possessed, both more extensive, and more accurate, information than ourselves. It has been alleged, indeed, that their accounts are, to say the least, greatly over charged ; that the Arabia of the ancients, . . . the land of gold, and frankincense, and precious stones, . . . bears little, if any, resemblance to the country in its present state. It might, however, have been well, had the learned framers of these objections pleased to recollect, that such also is the Arabia of Scripture ; and that there seems no juster ground for questioning the general fidelity of the classic writers, in their glowing descriptions of its wealth and products, than there exists for impugning the equally concurrent illustration of the classics, he has, in his Syrian and Egyptian voyages, contributed comparatively little ; and absolutely nothing, in his visit to Arabia ; to the ancient geography of which country, he has scarcely a single allusion.

The fact of his silence on classical topics, but augments the value of his undesigned testimonies, to the extent and accuracy of the geographical knowledge possessed by the Greeks and Romans. Had the rich materials accumulated in his Arabian travels, been collected with any reference to the ancient geography of the country, the object in view might, naturally enough, be suspected of having given, however undesignedly, a colouring to his information. But as it is, the extraordinary correspondence which will be exhibited in the following Maps and Memoir, between the classic writers and Burckhardt, has all the force of two wholly independent witnesses. b HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. testimonies of the Scriptures, and the classics, when they unite in describing the long-forgotten fruitfulness of the now waste and desolated hills of Judea.

The geographical acquaintance with Arabia, actually possessed by the ancients, is properly, however, a question, not of theory, but of fact. And our first legitimate step towards ascertain ing the extent of their knowledge, will be, to form a correct estimate of their opportunities and means of acquiring it. Now it is certain, in the first place, that far greater facilities of intercourse must have existed throughout the peninsula in its pagan state, than could possibly, from the nature of the case, obtain in Mahometan Arabia. From the uniform testimony of antiquity, it seems further certain, that a free intercourse with the Arabian peninsula, both on the coasts, and in the interior, was, from their first rise as a commercial j>eople, carried on by the Greeks. Thus Agatharchides, when speaking of the hospitable character of the Dedebæ, a nation on the coast of Hedjaz, adds, that their hospitality was not indiscriminate ; that it was peculiarly exercised towards the Peloponnesians and Bœotians, on account, as he further states, of a certain tradition, affirming their descent from one com-

INTRODUCTION.

. XXXVII mon stock.* And Pliny notices the existence of a similar tradition, relating to the inland nations of the Minæi and Rhadamæi ; who, according to his authorities, deduced their names from Minos and Rhadamanthus, and their fabled origin from Crete.f In both instances we easily recognize, under the thin veil of classical fiction, the im portant historical fact, of the existence of an open trade, between the Greeks and Arabs, from very remote times, and of all the facilities im plied by commercial intercommunity. Neither were the opportunities of acquiring information, enjoyed by the Greeks, limited to naval commercial intercourse ; since we learn, from unexceptionable authorities, that this enterprizing people early founded flourishing colonies, and erected prosperous seats of commerce, in various parts of the peninsula.

Pliny, in par ticular, specifies three Grecian marts on the Per sian Gulf, as having, long before his time, fallen victims to the ravages of war : the cities, namely, of Arethusa, Larissa, and Chalcis ; names indi cating, severally, the emigrations of colonists from Sicily, Thessaly, and Eubœa. J * Agatharcb. de Rubro Mari, apud Geograph. Vet. Script. Min. torn. i. p. 59. ed. Oxon. 1698. f Hist. Nat. lib. vi. s. 32. torn. ii. pp. 718, 719. ed. Paris, 1828. 8vo. | It may throw light, historically, on these alleged Grecian settlements, to notice the fact, that Strabo makes mention of an Arab colony, b XXXVIII HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. The particulars here briefly adverted to, may, in some measure, serve as a clue to the superior advantages possessed by the ancients, for acquir ing a correct geographical knowledge of Arabia ; and of the names, characters, and habits of the divers races which composed its mingled population.

We proceed to inquire, whether the geographers of Greece and Rome used those advantages ; and with what success. For the present writer, however, scientific re searches would have no charm, were they not connected with subjects of a far higher strain. Arabia opens a field for better things than curious speculations : it is the country of the first post-diluvian patriarchs, . . . the nursery of the earliest ancient prophets, . . . the soil in which the primitive families of mankind were originally planted, by the finger of God. Whatever interest, therefore, Arabian geography may possess, in the eyes of the scholar, or of the votary of science, it has paramount claims on the attention of the Christian theologian. In this aspect it which accompanied Cadmus into Greece, and settled in Eubrea. But Chalcis was the capital of Eubœa ; a circumstance, directly connecting with Eubœa the Greek city of the same name, on the Persian Gulf.

Strabo's account seems to explain satisfactorily the friendly commercial relations between the Greeks and Arabs, as well as strikingly to elucidate the national traditions of their common origin, noticed by nearly all the ancient geographers. On this subject, see Part I. § vi.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXXIX was, that the present subject first engaged the thoughts of the writer, in connection with a former work. The wanton cavils of infidelity, against the Mosaic account of the peopling of Arabia, induced him to direct, so far as the nature and limits of that work permitted, his serious attention to a comparative survey of the historical authorities, sacred and profane, with a view to the establishment of one great point, contested by Mr. Gibbon and his imitators, . . . the " Descent of the Arabs from Ishmael." The satisfactory results obtained, even from so limited an investigation, together with the favourable reception which this codicil to " Ma hometanism Unveiled " * experienced from the public, naturally led him on, at leisure intervals, to a more extended collation of those wholly in dependent witnesses, the sacred, and the classic writers.

And accordingly, as, in the progress of this inquiry, the Scriptures of the Old Testament were gradually compared with the Greek and Roman geographers, and both authorities with the materials supplied by the Oriental geographers, and by modern atlases and travels, . . . the author found opening upon him a consent of evidences, and a concurrence of testimonies, al together beside and beyond anticipation. All, * Appendix, Nos. I. II. b HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. or nearly all, the names and nations mentioned, in the Mosaic records, and in the later Scriptures, as springing from the five great patriarchal stocks of Cush, Joktan, Ishmael, Keturah, and Esau, successively disclosed themselves, in the pages of Ptolemy and Pliny, when disencum bered, only, of their Greek or Latin terminations, as the names of the chief tribes and nations, which, in their day, still inhabited Arabia.

Nor did the triumphant testimony thus borne to the truth of Scripture history, rest or pause here. On a more exact scrutiny, it plainly appeared, further, that the great majority of Arab tribes enumerated by classic writers, and not mentioned in Scripture, were nothing more than branches and subdivisions of the great patriarchal families ; whose " local habitation," and whose generic names, the sacred penman and the heathen authorities unite in recording and hand ing down : while, on comparison, lastly, of the classical nomenclature, with that supplied by modern geographers and travellers, the subor dinate names, just alluded to, re-appear on the scene, as the actual denominations, at the present hour, of the chief existing tribes and families of the peninsula.* * The names of the Arab tribes are of very various origin : sometimes patronymic, sometimes territorial, and sometimes characteristic. In

INTRODUCTION.

. The object, which, originally, engaged the au thor in the studies that have conducted to these tracing the tribes themselves to their primitive sources, the greatest care is necessary in order to discriminate between these different kinds of names; which not unfrequently unite in one and the same tribe : thus, the Sobh Bedouins, so called from the Sobh mountain which they in habit, are properly one of the branches of the great tribe of Harb; an appellative, again, denoting, not the pedigree, but the warlike propen sities, of the race which peoples the Hedjaz. A similar appellation, Beni Kelb (sons of the dog), borne by the kindred tribe of Dumah, and de rived plainly from the peculiar war-cry of this tribe, alluded to in the 59th Psalm, . . . receives striking elucidation from a practice of the Mahratta horse, mentioned by Major Thorn, in his Memoir of the "War in India, conducted by General Lord Lake. ..."

When we halted, they did the same, rallied, and stood gazing at us; and, when we turned our backs to return home, they dashed on, attacking our rear and flanks, tiring long shots with their matchlocks ; while those who were armed with spears and tolwars flourished their weapons, making, at the same time, a noise like jackalls, byway of bravado." — Thorn, p. 372. Compare Vol. I. pp. 282 — 284, of the present work. The above remark may serve to throw light upon a question of great difficulty and obscurity, . . . the name and origin of the Chaldeans; who are always denominated Chasdim (D'HC3) in the Hebrew Scriptures, but Chaldeans in every other language. With the clue here before us, the explanation of this variety is perfectly easy and clear. This famous people of antiquity went by both names : being called Chasdim (from the root T^3» Tribus digitis mulsit camelam — Defœcavit butyrum) most pro bably from their pastoral habits ; and Chaldeans, as being the settled branch of the great Bedouin tribe of Beni Khaled, who occupy the ancient Chaldea, and the parts adjoining it, to this day. — On this subject, see Vol. I. pp. 54 — 56.

In Arabia, where national usages have never changed, the prevalence, at this day, of local and territorial denominations, distinguishing the in habitants of the respective towns or districts, — as Mekkawys, Yembawys, Shammarys, — becomes, when duly adverted to, a master-key to many of the classical appellations. For example, the Cassaniti from Mount Gazuan; the Alilæi from Haly (the Æli vicus of Ptolemy); and the Doreni and Mocritæ, from the districts of Zohran and Mekhra : these names being wholly distinct from those belonging to the several tribes, as patronymics. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. results, has been already intimated. He hoped to augment the general evidences of revealed religion, by vindicating the authority, and illus trating the historical fidelity, of the Sacred Scrip tures of the Old Testament, in their account of the primitive settlements of mankind, subsequently to the deluge.

In pursuit of this object, however, he found himself, insensibly, drawn on beyond his original intentions. In the process of verifying the geography of the Hebrew Scrip tures, so far as it involved the question of the colonization of Arabia, many points of classical geography forced themselves on his consideration. And here, also, no less than in the case of Scrip ture, obscurities and difficulties were found to disappear, before the lights obtained by a strict, and comprehensive scrutiny ; supposed errors of the ancient geographers, proved to be only real mistakes of their modern emendators ; and a large and patient induction of facts, led, irre sistibly, to the conclusion, that Ptolemy and Pliny may become not less intelligible, and often times more faithful, guides of the modern geographer, than Rennell and d'Anville.

Thus impressed, the writer felt it a duty owing to truth and science, to enlarge his plan : not insensible, he will freely confess, when coming to this decision, that every fresh confirmation

INTRODUCTION.

. XLIII given to the general authority of the ancients, must augment the value of their testimony, where it happens to coincide with the geogra phical details of Scripture. Upon this base, accordingly, were constructed the following Memoir and Maps : the maps being given, and the memoir being divided into two parts, with a view to include, without embarrass ment, both the scriptural and classical geography of Arabia. The first Map, and the first part of the Memoir, will comprize the settlements of the great pa triarchal stocks ; every particular of the scriptural geography being established, independently, from the concurrent evidences of the classics, the Ori ental writers, and modern maps and travels. The second Map and number will aim to render the Arabian geography of the Greeks and Romans as intelligible, and as accessible, as is the Arabia of d'Anville or Burckhardt ; to resolve their hitherto unexplained perplexities, and reconcile many supposed errors, and seem ing contradictions, by careful analysis of the whole; and to bring the greater part of their de tails to moral certainty, and the remainder, within the bounds of different degrees of probability, by an exact collation of them with the best mo- HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. dern authorities, and with the ascertained geography of the country, at this day.

In entering upon this double field of investigation, the author is not insensible, either of his own deficiencies, or of the intrinsic difficulties of the subject. Few questions have seemed wrapt in more impenetrable obscurity, than that respecting the connection between the tribes and localities of ancient, and those of modern Arabia. According to some learned men, not a trace, or scarcely a trace, of its ancient cities and districts, now remains in that celebrated country * ; while any approximations to the opposite opinion have been doubtfully entertained, and, of course, im perfectly argued. Even the illustrious d'Anville, in his admirable " Geographie Ancienne," adven tured no further on this debateable ground, than to assign a few conjectural verifications, wholly unsustained by proofs, beyond the mere agree ment between names.

Whether, and how far, a writer unspeakably less competent, may prove more successful in disentangling the web, ... in lifting the veil of * " It is singular enough, that a country, whose language and inhabit ants have ever been the same, should scarcely retain a vestige of its an cient geography." — Decline and Fall, vol. ix. p. 222. After this specimen from the pen of one of our most frequently-quoted authorities, it surely is high time that the mists should be dispelled, in which modern ignorance and presumption would thus involve the lights transmitted to us from ancient times.

INTRODUCTION.

. XLV ages, ... it must remain with the impartial judgment of readers, conversant with subjects of this nature, to determine. Patient investigation, close comparative criticism, implicit faith in the his torical details of Scripture, and a strong disposi tion, grounded on experiment, to place reliance on the general trustworthiness of the ancient geographers, are the only qualifications which he can pretend to bring to a geographical dis cussion. And he would altogether shrink from the responsibilities of an undertaking, which has been left unessayed by the first names in geographical science, had he not been led, in the course of private study, fully to satisfy his own mind, and did he not hope, as fully, to satisfy the judgment of scientific readers, respecting the existence of causes, which, hitherto, have com bined, both to disguise the proper nomenclature of the land, and to throw a veil of seemingly impenetrable mystery over the descriptions of Strabo, Ptolemy, and Pliny.

A summary enumeration of these obstructing causes, will be the next aim of the present introductory remarks. Whether they have, or have not, been justly assigned, the Maps and Memoir must be referred to, for evidence. Before approaching the subject more nearly, the writer, perhaps, ought not to leave unnoticed HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA. the single advantage, (an advantage of some moment in this species of research,) to which he may fairly lay claim, over his predecessors, . . . that of having concentrated his attention on the geography of a single country. For it is obvious, that much which must escape the most scientific composer of a general atlas, may be easily dis cernible by the constructer of an insulated map. But to proceed to the causes of the existing obscurity and confusion : . . . 1.

The cause which may but too justly be as signed as the root of all our perplexities, in ad justing the classical to the modern topography of Arabia, is the prevalence of an unwarrantable scepticism, growing out of imperfect examination, and narrow inductions, with regard to the means of information possessed, and to the skill and ac curacy employed in its acquirement and application, by the ancient geographers. It is impos sible to consult the learned commentators on Ptolemy, or Pliny, without meeting, at every step, deep traces of this scepticism ; from the injurious influences of which, M. d'Anville him self is by no means free. Upon this head, indeed, it is but very recently, that the judgment of the scientific world has begun to be disabused. In repeated instances, where truth had been corrected into error, a

INTRODUCTION.

. juster examination, or new lights, have confirmed the text, and confuted the commentary ; which has too often served only to " darken counsel, by words without knowledge." Accordingly, one of the highest testimonies ever borne to the science of antiquity, has been borne by the most experienced and accomplished geographer of our own times. " M. d'Anville," observes Major Rennell, in his posthumous work on Western Asia, speaking of the great lake Ascanias, (now Nicæa, or Is- Nik,) " M. d'Anville, and others of the modern writers, thought that this lake had no discharge. This is even the idea of Kauffer, so late as 1776. But Ptolemy was right, in this, as well as in many other particulars, in which the moderns have ventured to differ from him. It appears, that the man who resided at Alexandria, in Egypt, knew more respecting the neighbourhood of the Propontis, than the man who surveyed it." * * Rennell, Geogr. of West.

Asia, vol. ii. p. 108. note I. — For similar high testimony, from the results of actual survey, to the fidelity of Arrian, see the late Dean Vincent's t; Commerce and Navigation of the Indian Ocean," vol. ii. p. 319. note 159; also p. 330. Our latest and most authoritative information pays a similarly high tribute to another ancient. " Diodorus Siculus [observes Mr. Wellsted, in his account of the Gulf of Akaba] has furnished a good description of this gulf. Let any one, to be satisfied with [of] this, compare his description with modern maps, and then with the result of our survey." — Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 108. note. — The ancient authorities will be so largely drawn upon, in the following pages, that it seems but right, to impress ourselves, at the HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA.