Page:Early Christianity in Arabia.djvu/77

Rh of Libanus and the Jordan belongs physically to Arabia, and we find accordingly that it was always occupied by wandering tribes, who continually infested the border districts of Syria, whilst that country was subject either to native princes or foreign conquerors. The interior has always been a sterile sandy desert, interspersed however by frequent green and fertile oases, which were occupied by villages and small towns, as was the case with Palmyra, which rose to power and opulence by being the centre of the trade from the Persian gulf. On the east the Arabs were often in possession of the rich plains of the Hauraun and Damascus; towards the north the districts of Edessa and Emessa, as well as Irak and part of Mesopotamia towards the east, were long ruled by Arabian dynasties.

The Arabs of the northern desert, during the revolution of centuries, have changed little more than their religion. Distinguished from all their neighbours by their sinewy limbs, and their dark and