ndent prince.

_Arabian Modes of Writing_.

The Arabs have various modes of writing, the principal of which is
that used by the Koreish, the most learned of all the Western
tribes, and is denominated the _Niskhi_, or upright character: if
this is understood, the others may be easily comprehended. This is
the character in which the Koran was originally written. In the
seventh century, the Arabs adopted the invention of Moramer ben
Morra, a native of Babylonian Irak, which was afterwards improved
by the Kufik. The Kufik and the Niskhi are synonymous. Richardson,
in his Arabic Grammar, p. 4. say, "The Mauritannick character,
which is used by the Moors of Marocco and Barbary, descendants of
351 the Arabians, differs in many respects _considerably_ from the
other modes of writing." But this is incorrect; for the
Mauritannick alphabet, excepting in the order of the letters, is
precisely the same with the Oriental, as now written and spoken,
with the exception only of the letters _Fa_ and _Kaf_, and the
formation even of these characters are alike. The punctuation only,
differs in the West, that is, west of the Egyptian Nile. The
Western punctuation of _Fa_, is one point below the letter, and the
punctuation of the letter _Kaf_ is one point above. In the East,
the former letter has one point above, the latter has two. This is
the only difference between the Eastern and the Western alphabets.
Richardson, (see his Grammar, page 5,) also says, that "the purest
Arabic is spoken at Grand Cairo," but this is not correct: the
language of Grand Cairo and of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Marocco
are much alike, but none of them are the pure Koraisch or Korannick
Arabic, which is only spoken at Mekka, and among some of the tribes
of Bedouins in the West. The language of the Woled Abbusebah, of
the Howara, and of the Mograffra is the pure Arabic. Finally, in a
note in Richardson's Grammar, page 18, it is said, "Some of our
European writers, and amongst others Voltaire, substitute _Koran_
for _Alcoran_, but perhaps improperly, as D'Herbelot and other
learned Orientalists, write uniformly _l'Alcoran, il Alcorano_, the
Alcoran." We have been too apt to copy the orthography of Oriental
names from the French, whose pronunciation of the Roman or European
352 characters diffe