555 •;«* LANGUAGES OF AFRICA.

Various Dialects of the Arabic Language, — Difference • between the Berebber and Shelluh Languages,— Specimen of the Mandinga, — Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the Canary hlandsy and Similitude of Customs.

Yareb, the son of Kohtan *, is said to have been the first who spoke Arabic, and the Muhamedans contend that it is the most eloquent language spoken in any part of the globe, and that it is the one which will be used at the day of judgment. To write a long dissertation on this copious and energetic language, would be only to repeat what many learned men have said before ; a few observations, however, may not be superfluous to the generality of readers. The Arabic language is spoken by a greater proportion of the inhabitants of the known world than any other: a person having a practical knowledge of it, may travel from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding that in such a journey he must pass through many kingdoms and empires of blacks, speaking distinct languages, yet he would find men in all those * This Kohtan is the Joktan, son of Eber, brother to Phaleg,,txientioned in Genesis. Chapter x, verse 25.

A A 2