authors
stretch, even to the prejudice of truth, from an affectation of
elegance of style.

The following facts, therefore, will form the materials for a
history, rather than a history itself.

The study of the _language and customs of the Arabs is the best
comment upon the Old Testament_. The language of the modern Jews is
little to be regarded; their dispersion into various nations,
277 having no fixed habitation, being _wholly_ addicted to their own
interest, their conformation to the respective customs of the
various nations through which they are dispersed; have caused them,
in a great measure, to forget their ancient customs and original
language, except what is preserved in the Bible and in the exercise
of their religion. Whereas the Arabs have continued in the constant
possession of their country many centuries, and are so tenacious of
their customs and habits, that they are, at this day, the same men
they were three thousand years ago. Accordingly, many of their
customs, at this day, remind us of what happened among their
ancestors in the days of Abraham.

_Trade with Sudan_.

1795, June 14th. Two (_Akkabas_) accumulated caravans of Gum Sudan,
called in England "Turkey[182] Gum Arabic," have reached the Arab
encampment of Dikna, not far from the northern confines of the
Sahara; and will be at Santa Cruz, in the province of Suse, in a
fortnight.

[Footnote 182: This gum is conveyed from Sudan to Alexandria,
in Egypt; there it is shipped off for Smyrna, or
Constantinople, and from thence imported into England.]

_Wrecked Ships_.

278 A large ship, supposed to be Spanish, bound to Lima, has been
wrecked near Cape Noon; the cargo consists of lace, silks, linens,
superfine cloths, and is estimated by the Jews, at Wedinoon, to be
worth half a million of dollars.

_Wrecked Ships on the Coast_.

Extract of a Letter from James Jackson, and Co. at Mogodor, to
their correspondents in London. January, 1801.

The wine and dollars per the Perola de Setubal, wrecked on the
coast of Suse, have been recovered from the Arabs, by Alkaid Hamo,
the governor of Santa Cruz; and we have just received them safe by
a boat. If this vessel had been wrecked on the coast of Cornwall,
it is more than probable that the cargo woul