after joining the Giallab, loses itself in a small lake, about 25 miles below the town. Orfa is built on parts of two hills and in the valley between them, and is about three miles in circumference, being surrounded with walls defended by square towers. Some parts of the town are tolerably well built, though on the whole it is not well laid out; it's great beauty consists in some fine springs which rise very plentifully between the two hills, and even at the very walls of the city, and which probably furnished the ancients with the name of Callirhoe, by which they also distinguished this place. It derives considerable importance from being the only town of the least magnitude in this part of the country, and from it's being a great thoroughfare from Asia Minor and Syria to Bagdad and the Persian provinces. Racca, the other town from which the pachalic likewise derives it's name, lies to the South of Orfa, on the Northern, or left bank of the Euphrates, where it receives the waters of the little R. Beles. It is a very inconsiderable place, though once the favourite residence of the celebrated calif Haroun al Raschid, the ruins of whose palace may be still seen here: the whole of the neighbouring country is occupied by various tribes of Arabs. 61. IRAK ARABI, or the Arabian Irak, so called in contradistinction to the Persian province of Irak Ajemi, is the South Eastern, and one of the most valuable, of all the Ottoman provinces, though it is nearly independent of the Grand Seignor. It corresponds generally with the ancient Babylonia, and is bounded on the N. by Al Gesira and Kourdistan, on the W. and S. by Arabia, and on the E. by Irak Ajemi and Khuzistan. It is a beautiful and productive country, being watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, and their tributary streams; some parts indeed are barren and uncultivated, and the hordes of lawless brigands by whom it is allowed to be ravaged, contribute mainly to the neglect into which it is fallen. It's metropolis is Bagdad, the capital of a pachalic of the same name, situated on both sides of the Tigris, but chiefly on the Eastern bank of the river. It was founded A. D. 766, by the calif Abu Jaafar Almansor, and it continued the seat of the califs and the capital of the Moslem Empire for about 500 years. The famous Al Raschid reigned here in the ninth century; under his auspices, and those of his queen Zobeida and his vizier Barmakead, so celebrated in Eastern story, it rose to splendour and renown, and became such a great and magnificent city, that it is said to have once contained 2,000,000 inhabitants. In the year 1258 it was taken by Hulaku, the grandson of Genghiz Khan, who abolished the caliphate. The famous Turkish emperor Amurath IVth. besieged it in 1638, with an army of 300,000 men, and after having obtained possession of it, he gave it up to plunder, when a great proportion of the inhabitants were inhumanly massacred. Since this period it has greatly declined in extent and magnificence, but it still is one of the most important cities in the Ottoman Empire. It is of an oblong form, about five miles in circuit, and surrounded by a high brick wall; the houses are generally of one story, with no windows towards the streets, and the streets themselves are unpaved and dirty, and so narrow that in most of them two horsemen can scarcely pass each other abreast. On the whole, it possesses but few great edifices; and, notwithstanding it's celebrity, is very far inferior to many of the other Eastern cities. It is still, however, a place of great wealth and power, and a noted emporium for the products of India, Persia, and Arabia, as well as for many European manufactures: the bazars consist of a magnificent display of 1,200 shops, where every description of Eastern merchandize may be found. It is likewise a great place of thoroughfare, and is resorted to by all kinds of travellers, not only for the purposes of commerce and to satisfy curiosity, but to visit the tombs of the many saints which it contains: amongst these is the reputed tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel. It's population is estimated at about 80,000 persons; of whom 50,000 are supposed to be Arabs, 25,000 Turks, 2,500 Jews, 1,500 Christians, and 1,000 Kourds." The other pachalic of Irak Arabi is Bassora, or Basrah, as it is also called, so named from it's capital Bassora. This city stands on the Shut ul Arab, about midway between the Persian Gulf and the junction of the Euphrates with the Tigris, about 60 miles from the former it is about six miles in circuit, and is surrounded by a wall. The houses are exceedingly mean, and the bazars, though containing the richest productions of the East, are but miserable buildings. Bassora is the grand emporium for all the produce of India sent to the Turkish empire: hence nearly all it's inhabitants are connected with trade, and it has become the residence of many merchants from India, Arabia, Turkey, Armenia, and Greece, as well as of many wealthy and enterprising Jews. Vessels of tolerable burden can sail up the river to Bassora, whence their cargoes are conducted into the interior by means of caravans to Bagdad and Aleppo, and so to Constantinople. The English and Dutch have consuls at Bassora, and many of their ships trade regularly to it with merchandize from India. The Turks have but little power in Bassora; indeed the authority of the Grand Seignor is scarcely acknowledged: the language chiefly spoken is that of the Arabs, whose ascendency is submitted to in many other respects, from the town being situated within the limits of their country. Besides Mahometans, there are Syrian Jacobites and Nestorians in the city, as well as many monks from Europe, and a number of Sabeans. 62. The superficial contents of the whole Ottoman Empire in Europe and Asia amount to 520,200 square miles, the population of which, in 1828, was estimated at 23,394,000 souls. During the height of the Turkish power, it's dominions in Africa were almost as extensive as those in Asia; but at present the Sublime Porte can hardly be said to have any footing in this continent. It still, however, extends it's pretensions over Egypt, and the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, although the pachas and governors of those countries are independent of it's control; the total territory thus claimed, together with it's possessions in Europe and Asia, amount to a superficial extent of 806,700 square miles, inhabited by about 35,894,000 souls. CHAPTER XXIII. ARABIA. 1. Arabia1 Arabia was bounded on the E. by the Persian Gulf, on the S. by the Erythræan Sea, and on the W. by the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea: to the N. it touched upon Babylonia and Syria, and was only separated from Egypt by the narrow Isthmus of Suez. It's peninsular shape has led the natives to call it Geziret el Arab, i. e. the island of Arabia; it contains 834,400 square miles, or about as many as the modern countries of Great Britain, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. It was divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Felix, and Arabia Deserta, which names are still used by us Europeans to distinguish the same portions of country. 2. Arabia took it's name from it's inhabitants being a mixed race, composed of the Cushites, Ishmaelites, Madianites, and Amalekites, the word Arab signifying, in the Hebrew language to mix or mingle; it is hence that they are sometimes denoted in Holy Writ as The Mingled people who dwell in the desert. It was at first applied by the Greeks only to the Southern portion of the country; but, finding in the course of time that it's inhabitants were related to those of the whole peninsula, they extended the appellation, and included in it, not only what may be called Arabia 1 Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem, 2 Jer. xxv. 20. 24. Virg. Georg. II. 113. Proper, but all those portions of the neighbouring countries in which they found the same race of people, such as parts of Babylonia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. 3. Arabia is called Cush in the Scriptures, from it's having been peopled chiefly by Cush, the son of Ham, and his descendants. In our translation the name Cush is rendered Ethiopia, but this must be understood as the Asiatic Ethiopia, and not as the African; although it is very probable that some of the descendants of Cush passed into Africa, in the same manner that others of them had likewise settled beyond the limits of Arabia in Babylonia, and Susiana; in this last their name has been extraordinarily preserved to the present day in that of Khuzistan. Cush had several sons, whose names may be readily traced in those of some of the Arabian towns. From Aram and Arphaxad, the descendants of Shem, sprung Uz and Joktan, whose sons also dwelled in various parts of the peninsula: Uz being established in the North, on the confines of Syria, where was the Land of Uz; and the descendants of Joktan occupying the Southern part of the country, where one of them, Hazarmaveth, seems to have given rise to the Adramite of the profane authors, and Hadramaut of our own times. Many centuries after the settlement of Cush and his descendants in Arabia, Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, came to dwell in the wilderness of Paran near M'. Sinai; here he married a wife out of Egypt, and became the father of twelve sons, whose posterity took possession of the Northern part of the peninsula from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. They are called Ishmaelites and Hagarens in the Bible, and it is from the latter name that the heathen writers derived the appellation Agareni, or Agræi, by which they distinguished one of the Arab tribes adjacent to Syria. From Nebaioth, Ishmael's eldest son, were descended the Nabathæi, a very powerful people, whose dominions were in Arabia Petræa, and on the borders of the Red Sea; near them settled Kedar, another son of Ishmael, whose descendants were afterwards known to the heathen writers as the Cedreni, or Sideni. The children of Abraham by Keturah, also obtained settlements in Arabia adjacent to those of Ishmael: the principal of these were the Midianites, or descendants of Midian, whose lot fell from the border of Palestine to the Red Sea, upon the shores of which stood Modiana, mentioned by the profane authors; the Land of Midian was the country of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Besides these, Moab and Ammon, the two sons of Lot, took possession of a part of the country upon the borders of the Dead Sea, and became the fathers of the two great nations, the Moabites and Ammonites. Some time after this, Esau, the son of Isaac, quitted Canaan, and came to dwell in Mount Seir, where his possessions and those of his posterity were known by the name of Edom, or (as the Greeks called it) Idumæa. The Åmalekites, or the descendants of Esau's son Amalek, dwelled hard by on the borders of Palestine. It is from these mixed races that the Arabians have sprung, and to the present day they preserve the tradition of their descent from Joktan, or Kahtan, as the name is also written, and the out-cast Ishmael. Such of the inhabitants as were not engaged in trade lived a wandering life, pillaging whom they could, and driving the little flocks which they possessed from one region to another, for the convenience of pasturage: from this mode of life they were called Nomades, a name which was afterwards given to some inhabitants of Africa, Sarmatia, and Scythia, who followed the same manner of living. 4. Arabia is in general exceedingly desert, producing so few things to maintain life, that the inhabitants were glad to exchange for them those commodities for which their country was so famous; these were gold, precious stones, pearls 3, myrrh, frankincense, aloes, balsam, and some spices. The best kind of frankincense being white, was called by the natives Liban, or Olibanon; and from this name the Greeks derived that of Libanos, and the moderns that of Olibanum. But Arabia was still more remarkable for the trade it carried on with India, and for the knowledge of that country which it's merchants seem to have possessed from the very earliest periods of history: it was chiefly through their connection with these nations, that the people on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea were supplied with all the productions and luxuries of the East. The Indians are said to have first furnished the Arabians with the numerical figures 1, 2, 3, &c., which have received the name of Arabic figures, owing to the latter people having communicated them to the Europeans; we are also indebted to them for the invention of Algebra. 5. Arabia was often invaded by the great Asiatic powers, but it was never conquered. Alexander the Great, it is said, wished to place in it the seat of his empire, but died at Babylon before he could carry his project into execution. The only expedition which the Romans ever made into the interior of Arabia, was undertaken during the reign of Augustus", who appears to have been spurred on by the enormous wealth which the Arabians were said to possess. He gave his governor of Egypt, Ælius Gallus, orders to proceed into the country with 10,000 men, 1,000 of whom were Nabathæan Arabs, under the command of their prince; this prince was to guide the Roman army through the trackless wastes which they had to traverse, and he fulfilled his commission in such a politic manner that only a few of those who composed this unfortunate expedition ever returned home. They were carried over the Red Sea in transports, and landed on the coast of Arabia at Albus Portus, near Iambia, whence they proceeded into the interior of the country; after a march of many days they came to the district Ararena, and subsequently to the city Negran, of which, together with one or two inconsiderable towns, they obtained possession. After a battle with the Arabs they proceeded to the Southward, within two days' journey from the regions of frankincense, and attacked Marsyabæ, er Sabatha, in the country of the Rhamanitæ; but, after having besieged it for six days, they were compelled to retreat from want of water. This retreat was continued through Negran to the coast, which they reached in two months, their march thither having occupied them six months; they were so weakened from the numbers of men whom they had lost, as well as from their sick, that their booty was easily taken from them by the natives, and they themselves hunted out of the country. 6. The Sinus Arabicus or Arabian Gulf, which bounded the whole Western coast of Arabia, was 1,200 miles long, and 170 miles across in it's broadest part; it was considered as an arm of the Erythræum Mare, for which reason it is often called by this name. It is otherwise known as the Mare Rubrum, or the Red Sea, from it's having been erroneously supposed that the appellation Erythræum was gived it on account of the redness of it's sands or waters, 'Epv0pòs, in Greek signifying red: it's navigation was rendered very dangerous and difficult on account of the sand-banks and sunken rocks, with which it abounded. It's Northern part was divided into two arms or heads, the Eastern one of which, called Ælaniticus Sinus, from the town Elana which stood at the head of it, is now known as the G. of Akaba. The Western arm bordered upon Egypt, and was called Heroopoliticus Sinus Sea of Suez, from the city Heroopolis at it's Northern extremity, although the native name of it was Æant. It was over this latter arm of the Red Sea that it pleased God to show his Almighty power, by causing the Children of Israel to pass through it on dry ground, after he had divided the waters so that they were as a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left; whilst the Egyptains, who pursued after them, were utterly destroyed, by the sea returning to it's strength 7. 7. This miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea is alluded to by Diodorus Siculus, who states, that amongst the Ichthyophagi dwelling upon the Northern part of the Red Sea, there existed a tradition handed down to them from their ancestors, of the sea having formerly parted and the waters fallen back, some on one side and some on the other opposite to it, so that the gulf became dry, and the bottom of it appeared of a green colour; but some time afterwards the sea returned again to it's natural place. The appellation by which the natives now know the Sea of Suez, is The Sea of Kolsum, so called from the Egyptian town Clysma upon it's Western shore; which word Clysma has been explained to signify an overwhelming with waters, as though it were derived from the Greek Xú inundo, and is therefore thought to have had the name imposed upon it in memory of the Egyptians, who perished here. With respect to the name Erythræum, it is thought to have been a corruption of Edom, this word signifying red in Hebrew, as Erythros does in Greek; and it is hence very probable that the hero Erythræus, after whom the heathen writers state the Erythræan Sea to have been called, was no other than Esau, or Edom, whose descendants became a great nation upon this part of it's shores. 8. The Persicus Sinus Persian Gulf, which bounded Arabia on it's Eastern side, was so called from it's washing the coast of Persis, or Persia; it is 520 miles long, and generally about 120 miles broad. It was also considered as an arm of the Erythræan Sea, and hence this name is frequently applied to it: Seneca has called it Fretum Rubens; and Theophrastus, Sinus Arabicus; appellations, which must not cause it to be confounded with the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, properly so called. 9. Mount Seir, still called Shehr, is the continuation of M. Lebanon in Syria, in the North Western part of Arabia, on the confines of Egypt and Palestine; it was formerly called M'. Hor, and was the dwelling of the Horites, till they were destroyed by Esau and his children. The name of Hor was 7 when with fierce winds Orion arm'd Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcases * Diodor. Sic. III. p. 208. Milton, Par. Lost, Book I. 305. |