Description
ARABIA is one of those countries which belong to sacred geography. It is the land of Ishmael, the country of the Edomites, the Amalekites, and the Midianites,-the scene of those wonderful transactions which immediately followed the exodus of Israel. Mount Sinai and Mount Nebo rank among its mountains, and the Red Sea, the Jordan, and the Euphrates form its western and northern boundaries. Combined with these sacred associations, others of a romantic kind attach to the name of this almost unknown country. For if, as the native land" of the Arabian Impostor, it has no claims on the veneration of the Christian, to his successors in the khalifate, literature and science were greatly indebted; and the link between ancient literature and the revival of letters was supplied by Arabian learning.