And more of them might be employed to great advantage in the Church. But in such cases, the evidences of the call should be clear and decisive, leaving no doubt in the mind of the individual himself: and we think, in this case, the public estimation of his character should be well considered. It is a good rule for such a man to adopt, that unless the path of duty is made very plain before him, he should remain in the employment where providence has placed him. When once a man has arranged his plan, entered upon his course of business, formed, and adjusted his habits to his employment for several years, he should have very substantial reasons for leaving a lawful employment, and undertaking so entire a change. Examples of most disastrous character are not wanting in the ministry, where the experiment has been made, with complete failure.

With these remarks, we commend this whole subject to the most careful and devout attention of all such as think of dedicating themselves to the gospel ministry. We commend it to the fervent prayers of the church; and record our earnest supplication, that the Lord would call, qualify, and send forth able and faithful ministers of the New Testament, to supply the great deficiency of spiritual labourers in his vineyard.

ART. IV.-ARABS OF THE DESERT.

Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, collected during his travels in the East, by the late JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. London: 1830. 4to. pp. 439.

THESE notes of the persevering Burckhardt relate chiefly to the Arabs of the desert, and furnish an account of their condition as late as 1816, soon after which the author died in Egypt, whilst contemplating the exploration of the interior of Africa. They are mere memoranda, which might have formed an appropriate appendix to his volume of travels in Arabia; but as they embody a larger number of particulars respecting these interesting Nomades, than any other traveller has been able to furnish, we shall undertake to condense them for our pages.

The volume commences with a classification of the Bedouin tribes of the Syrian desert. Of these the most powerful are the Aenezes, who live in the northern part of Arabia; generally passing the winter on a plain bordered by the Euphrates;

sometimes crossing it and encamping near Bagdad; and in the spring usually found towards the frontiers of Syria, stretching their line of tents from Aleppo to Damascus. They seldom, however, remain on the same spot a longer time than while the scanty herbage supplies pasture for their camels and flocks. The population of the northern Aenezes is estimated at about three hundred and fifty thousand, spread over an extent of forty thousand square miles. The number of tents in an encampment varies from ten to eight hundred. The tents are covered with stuff manufactured from black goat's hair, which is impervious to rain: they are divided into apartments for each sex, of which the men's may be designated as the parlour, the women's as the kitchen.

The Bedouin's summer dress consists of a cotton shirt, over which a woollen mantle, or a long cotton or silk gown, is worn. A turban, made of a square handherchief or shawl, completes the male costume. The Aenezes never shave their hair, but suffer it to hang in tresses to the breast. They wear leathern girdles around their naked waists. In winter they put on a pelisse of sheep-skins. The females dress in cotton gowns, have large handkerchiefs around their heads, puncture their lips, cheeks, and arms, and dye them blue; they are adorned with rings in their noses and ears, and with glass or

silver necklaces and bracelets.

The most usual weapon of the Arabs is the lance, which they procure from Gaza in Palestine, and from Bagdad; sabres, knives, clubs, guns and pistols are also in their armoury. Many of them have shields and steel coats of mail, with hel

mets.

Flour boiled with water, or camel's milk; or with butter and dates, bread, and dried wheat boiled with butter and oil, constitute their main diet. Of animals, they eat the gazelle and the jerboa; (probably the mouse of Levit. xi. 29. 1 Sam. vi. 4. Isa. lxvi. 17;) on extraordinary occasions, a lamb or camel is killed. Wild asses, ostriches, and lizards, are eaten by some tribes. The stork, partridge, wild goose, and a species of eagle, are also found in the desert.

Blacksmiths and saddlers are the only mechanics among the Arabs, and their's are regarded as degrading occupations, unfit for a native. The men tan their own leather, and the women weave their cloth. Their water and milk bottles or bags, are universally made of leather. Their property consists principally in horses and camels: the wealth of individuals varying from the

abject poverty of possessing one camel, to the easy circumstances of thirty or forty, or the opulence of hundreds. The fortunes, however, of a race against whom every man's hand is raised, as well as theirs against every man, are necessarily precarious: and the invasion of a hostile tribe, an unsuccessful attack, or a midnight robbery, often reduces the most wealthy to indigence in a single hour.

"It may be almost said that the Arabs are obliged to rob and pillage. Most families of the Aenezes are unable to defray the annual expenses from the profits on their cattle, and few Arabs would sell a camel to purchase provisions; he knows, from experience, that to continue long in a state of peace, diminishes the wealth of an individual: war and plunder, therefore, become necessary. The sheikh is obliged to lead his Arabs against the enemy, if there be one; if not, it can easily be contrived to make one. But it may be truly said, that wealth alone does not give a Bedouin any importance among his people. A poor man, if he be hospitable and liberal according to his means, always killing a lamb when a stranger arrives, giving coffee to all the guests present, holding his bag of tobacco always ready to supply the pipes of his friends, and sharing whatever booty he gets among his poor relations, sacrificing his last penny to honour his guest or relieve those who want, obtains infinitely more consideration and influence among his tribe, than the miser who receives a guest with coldness, and lets his poor friends starve. As riches among this nation of robbers do not confer influence or power, so the wealthy person does not derive from them any more refined gratification than the poorest individual of the tribe may enjoy. The richest sheikh lives like the meanest of his Arabs: they both eat every day of the same dishes, and in the same quantity, and never partake of any luxury unless on the arrival of a stranger, when the host's tent is open to all his friends. They both dress in the same kind of shabby gown and messhlakh. The chief pleasure in which the chief may indulge, is the possession of a swift mare, and the gratification of seeing his wife and daughters better dressed than the other females of the camp."

The Arabs of Sinai are the only tribe who are not robbers by profession. An article of dress or furniture may be left without risk in the open field. Some years ago one of that race bound his own son, and precipitated him from the summit of a mountain, because he had been convicted of stealing corn from a friend.

VOL. III. No. II.-2 E

"Bankruptcy, in the usual acceptation of the word, is unknown among the Arabs. A Bedouin either loses his property by the enemy, or he expends it in profuse hospitality. In the latter case he is praised by the whole tribe; and as the generous Arab is most frequently endued with other nomadic virtues, he seldom fails to regain, by some lucky stroke, what he had so nobly lost."

The state of science among them is very low. It is extremely rare to find an Arab who can read or write. Most of them know the names of the constellations and planets, but are not farther advanced in astronomy. Heroic and amatory poetry are in high esteem, and is often recited by their minstrels to the accompaniment of a sort of guitar. Singing constitutes a favourite amusement in their religious and other festivals, the principal of which is that on the occasion of circumcision.

Medical knowledge is rare: written charms are in principal vogue, and some few indigenous herbs are used. The small-pox makes frequent ravages, but vaccination is now adopted in Syria, and will probably soon be resorted to by the tribes of the desert. The treatment of fevers and diseases of the stomach is abandoned, if the application of red-hot wire, or heated wood is not successful. They never practise venesection; but in cases of headache draw a few drachms of blood from the forehead by incisions. A species of leprosy is still occasionally found and is deemed incurable. Some are born with the disease. The Arabs declare, that if it once commences its ravages in a family, it is never eradicated, but that it does not descend from the parent to the child, but passing the intermediate generation, attacks the grand-child. The leper is as much abhorred and avoided as he was under the Levitical law, and this share of the misfortune involves even the uninfected members of his family. Old age is rare.

The children are trained from their infancy to the independence, toil, and cunning, which will make them distinguished thieves and freebooters. The profession of robbery is considered honourable, and the term robber is one of the most flattering distinctions that can be conferred on their youth. They are at the same time indoctrinated in the Wahaby religion, which our author calls the Puritanism of Islam; the ceremonies of which the Bedouins strictly observe; reciting the daily prayer, and observing the fast of Ramazan with due austerity. They dare not touch swine, blood, or corpses. Each

family usually sacrifices a camel or seven sheep, for each adult person of their number who has died during the year.

With respect to the peculiarities of the creed of this new sect of Mohammedism, Burckhardt was not able to procure full information, but has collected a hundred and fifty pages of 'materials for its history.' It was introduced among the Aenezes about thirty years ago, from the Wahaby Arabs, who take their name from Abd el Wahab, who, under the impression that the true Moslem faith had become corrupted, undertook, towards the end of the last century, to restore its pristine purity. Saoud was his first convert, married his daughter, and became the political chief of the new sect. After the manner of the great Prophet, they raised an army to correct the theological errors of his backslidden disciples, and their orthodox arms spread dismay in Arabia. The aberrations charged upon Mohammedans were principally these: that they offered veneration, almost divine, to the prophet and to many saints; invoking them, and paying sacred honours at their tombs. The graves of many sheikhs had been covered with small oratories, in which the Mussulmans assembled, and at length offered sacrifices in honour of the dead, as saints. The Wahabys made these buildings the first objects of destruction in their progress, crying out whilst thus engaged, "God have mercy upon those who destroyed, and none upon those who built them!" Even the tomb of Mohammed himself, at Medina, was attacked, but its solid structure defied the efforts of the soldiers. The Wahabys charged their apostate brethren with a Pharisaic punctuality in prayer, purifications, and fastings, whilst they neglected the poor, indulged in forbidden pleasures, disregarded the administration of justice, were too lenient to infidels, indulged in inebriating drink and lewdness, and departed grossly from the pure morals required by their religion. Wahab did not pretend to add to, or alter, any of the principles of Islam, but was resolutely bent on effecting a return to the strict requisitions of the Koran and the Sunne.

Fanaticism is the same in Arabia as in America. The followers of Wahab went on in their zeal of reformation, until they found mortal heresy in the most insignificant innovations. Their zeal was directed against the smoking of tobacco, and the wearing of rich clothing: the former practice being disapproved of by the olemas-the "Fathers" of Moslem-and the latter contravening the sumptuary precepts of the prophet himself.

These rigorous changes, combined with the political power