the south. They seem to have stood in much the
same relation to the rulers of Yemen, as the people of Hira to the
Persians and the Ghassanids to Rome. Abraha in his invasion of the Hejaz
was accompanied by chiefs of Kinda. Details of their history are not
known, but they seem to have gained power at one time even over the
Lakhmids of Hira; and to have ruled over Bahrein as well as Yemama until
the battle of Shi'b ul Jabala, when they lost this province to Hira. The
poet Amru'ul Qais was a member of the princely family of Kinda.

Other parts of Arabia.

Outside the territory of the powers mentioned above, Arabia in the 6th
century was in a state of political chaos. Bahrein, inhabited chiefly by
the Bani'Abd Qais and the Bani Bakr, was largely subject to Persian
influence near its coast, and a Persian governor, Sebocht, resided in
Hajar, its chief town. In Oman the Arabs, who were chiefly engaged in
fishing and seafaring, were Azdites mixed with Persians. The ruling
dynasty of Julanda in their capital Suhar lasted on till the Abbasid
period. No Persian officials are mentioned in this country; whether
Persians exercised authority over it is doubtful. On the west coast of
Arabia the influence of the kingdom of Yemen was felt in varying degree
according to the strength of the rulers of that land. Apart from this
influence the Hejaz was simply a collection of cities each with its own
government, while outside the cities the various tribes governed
themselves and fought continual battles with one another.

_Time of Mahomet._--Thus at the time of Mahomet's advent the country was
peopled by various tribes, some more or less settled under the
governments of south Arabia, Kinda, Hira and Ghassan, these in turn
depending on Abyssinia, Persia and Rome (i.e. Byzantium); others as in
the Hejaz were ruled in smaller communities by members of leading
families, while in various parts of the peninsula were wandering Arabs
still maintaining the traditions of old family and tribal rule, forming
no state, sometimes passing, as suited them, under the influence and
protection of one or another of the greater powers. To these may be
added a certain number of Jewish tribes and families deriving their
origin partly from migrations from Palestine, partly from converts among
the Arabs themselves. Mahomet appealed at once to religion and
patriotism, or rather created a feeling for both. For Mahomet as a
religious teacher and for the details o