122 THE AMORITES.

Brebber Kabyl, the Amorites or Ite-amor, said to be the descendants of the ancient*" Amorites, whose country was situated east of Palestine. These people retain their ancient warlike spirit, but they are a faithless tribe, and intolerable thieves, unlike the other Kabyles (who are, at least, faithful to one of their own Kabyl) ; but these marauders are exceedingly mistrustful of their own brethre;i, so that their habitations consist of two or three tents only, in one encampment ; and even these are sometimes at variance with each other. The lamentable result of this affairs ! Our knowledge of Hebrew, in Europe I apprehend, is almost as much confined and as imperfect as that of Arabic !

By the assistance, however, of the latter, what store of learning might we not expect from complete Arabic translations of many of the Greek and Latin authors, viz. of the complete works of Livy, Tacitus, and many others. I recollect conversing with Abdrahaman ben Nassar, bashaw of Abda, (a gentleman deeply versed in Arabian literature,) about the close of the last century, who mentioned circumstances, which gave me reason to suppose that there is extant a complete Arabic translation of Livy as well as of Tacitus, as the bashaw assured me there was, and that he had read them, and they were to be found in the recondite chests of the Imperial library at Fas, in which it is more than probable that there are many valuable transcripts in Arabic of ancient authors, quite lost to erudite Europe ! A knowledge of the Arabic language in this country is so indispensable, and is held in such high estimation, that every one who does not understand it, is denominated ajemmy i. e. barbarian or European.— St. Paul in the same spirit says, 1 Corinth, ch. xiv. v. 11., " He that speaketh unintelligibly, is unto us a barbarian."

« See Genesis, xv. 16. Deuteron. xx. 17. Judges, i. SU