Page 471 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

430 NAKAB EL HAJAR. [CH.

those fragments of pottery, coloured glass, or

metals, which are always found in old Egyp­

tian towns, and which I also saw on those

we discovered upon the north-west coast of

Arabia. Except the attempts to deface the

inscriptions I have before noticed, there is no

other appearance of the building having suf­

fered from any ravages besides those of time;

and owing to the dryness of the climate, as

well as the hardness of the material, every

stone, even to the marking of the chisel, re­

mains as perfect as the day it was hewn.

We were naturally anxious to ascertain if the

Arabs had preserved any tradition concerning

their buildings, but they refer them, in com­

mon with the others we have fallen in with,

to their Pagan ancestors. “ Do you believe,”

said one of the Bedowins to me, upon my

telling him that his ancestors were then ca­

pable of greater works than themselves,

“ that these stones were raised by the unas­

sisted hands of the Kafirs ? No ! no ! they

had devils, legions of devils, (God preserve
us from them!) to aid them.” A superstition

generally credited by others.
The guides followed us during our stroll