Page 474 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XXVI.] NAKAB F.L HAJAR. 433

their kingdom, possessed dominion along the
whole of the southern frontier of Arabia. We
are expressly informed that they planted
colonies in situations eligible for trade, and

fortified their establishments.
The commerce was not confined to any

particular channel; on the contrary, we learn
from an early period, of the existence of seve­
ral flourishing cities, at or near the sea-shore,
which must have shared in it. We know

nothing of the interior of this remarkable
country, but there is every reason to believe,
as is most certainly the case with Nakab el

Hajar, that these castles will not only point
out the tracks which the caravans formerly
pursued, but also indicate the natural passes

into central Arabia.
The inscription which it has been my good
fortune to discover will create considerable

interest among the learned.
Burckhardt, while regretting the absence of
any information connected with the origin of

the civil institutions of the Bedowins, re­
marks, “ that perhaps the discovery of an­
cient monuments and inscriptions in Nejd

and Yemen might lead to a disclosure of new
vol. i. 2 F