This, From A Man Of Science Who Is
Not Writing Up To A Theory, May Be Considered Strong Evidence In Favour
Of Variety In The Arabian Family.
The fact has long been suspected, but
few travellers have given their attention to the subject since the
downfall of Sir William Jones’ Indian origin theory.
I am convinced that
there is not in Arabia “one Arab face, cast of features and expression,” as
was formerly supposed to be the case, and I venture to recommend the
subject for consideration to future observers.
[FN#4] Of this Mesopotamian race there are now many local varieties.
The subjects of the four Abyssinian and Christian sovereigns who
succeeded Yusuf, the Jewish “Lord of the Pit,” produced, in Al-Yaman, the
modern “Akhdam” or “Serviles.” The “Hujur” of Al-Yaman and Oman are a mixed race
whose origin is still unknown. And to quote no more cases, the “Ebna”
mentioned by the Ibn Ishak were descended from the Persian soldiers of
Anushirwan, who expelled the Abyssinian invader.
[FN#5] That the Copts, or ancient Egyptians, were “Half-caste Arabs,” a
mixed people like the Abyssinians, the Gallas, the Somal, and the
Kafirs, an Arab graft upon an African stock, appears highly probable.
Hence the old Nilotic race has been represented as woolly-headed and of
negro feature. Thus Leo Africanus makes the Africans to be descendants
of the Arabs. Hence the tradition that Egypt was peopled by AEthiopia,
and has been gradually whitened by admixture of Persian and Median,
Greek and Roman blood. Hence, too, the fancied connection of Aethiopia
with Cush, Susiana, Khuzistan or the lands about the Tigris. Thus
learned Virgil, confounding the Western with the Eastern Aethiopians,
alludes to
“Usque coloratos Nilus devexus ad Indos.”
And Strabo maintains the people of Mauritania to be Indians who had
come with Hercules. We cannot but remark in Southern Arabia the
footprints of the Hindu, whose superstitions, like the Phoenix which
flew from India to expire in Egypt, passed over to Arabia with Dwipa
Sukhatra (Socotra) for a resting place on its way to the regions of the
remotest West. As regards the difference between the Japhetic and
Semitic tongues, it may be remarked that though nothing can be more
distinct than Sanscrit and Arabic, yet that Pahlavi and Hebrew (Prof.
Bohlen on Genesis) present some remarkable points of resemblance. I
have attempted in a work on Sind to collect words common to both
families. And further research convinces me that such vocables as the
Arabic Taur [Arabic] the Persian Tora [Persian] and the Latin “Taurus”
denote an ancient rapprochement, whose mysteries still invite the
elucidation of modern science.
[FN#6] The Sharif families affect marrying female slaves, thereby
showing the intense pride which finds no Arab noble enough for them.
Others take to wife Badawi girls: their blood, therefore, is by no
means pure. The worst feature of their system is the forced celibacy of
their daughters; they are never married into any but Sharif families;
consequently they often die in spinsterhood.
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