hundred
years, they reckon thirty instead of seventy-five generations. 2d. That
the modern Bedoweens are ignorant of their history, and careless of
their pedigree."

Abdallah, though of high lineage, was possessed of little wealth; and as
he died while his son was yet an infant, we may easily suppose that
little to have been diminished by the rapacity of his kindred. At the
early age of six years Mahomet lost his mother, Amina; and two years
after, his grandfather, Abd al Motalleb, who when dying, earnestly
confided the helpless orphan to the care of Abu Taleb, the eldest of his
sons, and the successor to his authority. From him, though treated with
kindness, Mahomet received a scanty education; but whether that
education was equal or inferior to that of his countrymen, it is not
easy to discover. Tradition states that at the time of Mahomet's first
declaration concerning his mission, only one man in Mecca could write.
If so, it is nothing wonderful that Mahomet, like the rest of his
kindred, should also he unable to write. At thirteen years of age, he is
said to have made a journey to Syria, in the caravan of his uncle, and,
some years after, to have performed the same journey in the capacity of
factor to his mistress, Cadijah.

The next remarkable event in the life of Mahomet, is his appearance in
the character of a soldier. At the early age of fourteen, he served
under his uncle, who commanded the troops of his tribe, the Koreish, in
their wars against the rival tribes of Kenan and Hawazan. The
circumstance is worthy of remark, as illustrative of the perfect
compatibility between the business of a merchant and that of a soldier,
among the Arabian people, and upon the constant and rapid transition
from one to the other.

By the assistance of his uncle he became soon after the factor of a rich
trading widow in his native city. The animosity of his enemies has
degraded the confidential agent into a driver of camels. It has been
confidently and constantly asserted that he was a menial servant in the
household of his mistress, Cadijah; while, in truth, he was employed to
carry on her mercantile transactions, and to superintend her affairs. In
this situation of factor, his conduct and integrity gained him the
affections of his mistress. Cadijah was not, in the eyes of her people,
degraded by an alliance with the grandson of their prince; and in her
own estimation, by bestowing her hand and fortune upon Mahomet, she
ga