anguage. * Note: Dr. Clarke, (Travels, vol. ii. p.
491,) after expressing contemptuous pity for Gibbon's ignorance, derives
the word from Zara, Zaara, Sara, the Desert, whence Saraceni, the
children of the Desert. De Marles adopts the derivation from Sarrik, a
robber, (Hist. des Arabes, vol. i. p. 36, S.L. Martin from Scharkioun,
or Sharkun, Eastern, vol. xi. p. 55.)--M.]

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.--Part II.

The slaves of domestic tyranny may vainly exult in their national
independence: but the Arab is personally free; and he enjoys, in some
degree, the benefits of society, without forfeiting the prerogatives
of nature. In every tribe, superstition, or gratitude, or fortune,
has exalted a particular family above the heads of their equals. The
dignities of sheick and emir invariably descend in this chosen race; but
the order of succession is loose and precarious; and the most worthy or
aged of the noble kinsmen are preferred to the simple, though important,
office of composing disputes by their advice, and guiding valor by their
example. Even a female of sense and spirit has been permitted to command
the countrymen of Zenobia. [31] The momentary junction of several tribes
produces an army: their more lasting union constitutes a nation; and
the supreme chief, the emir of emirs, whose banner is displayed at their
head, may deserve, in the eyes of strangers, the honors of the kingly
name.

If the Arabian princes abuse their power, they are quickly punished by
the desertion of their subjects, who had been accustomed to a mild and
parental jurisdiction. Their spirit is free, their steps are unconfined,
the desert is open, and the tribes and families are held together by a
mutual and voluntary compact. The softer natives of Yemen supported
the pomp and majesty of a monarch; but if he could not leave his palace
without endangering his life, [32] the active powers of government must
have been devolved on his nobles and magistrates. The cities of Mecca
and Medina present, in the heart of Asia, the form, or rather the
substance, of a commonwealth. The grandfather of Mahomet, and his lineal
ancestors, appear in foreign and domestic transactions as the princes of
their country; but they reigned, like Pericles at Athens, or the
Medici at Florence, by the opinion of their wisdom and integrity;
their influence was divided with their patrimony; and the sceptre was
transferred from the uncles of the p