Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/36



During the latter part of the first Lulf i'j' wore first brought to Emvpu frum tiie southern part of Arabia, hazy notion* worn UDl ribon* ihcm. If wna not oven nertain whutbvr right to left, as all thu Semitic languages, or in tho contrary direction, ami conjectures wore har-ardod about thnir jnian, Eihh>plc. or brno iMuPuiuian origin, h Consul far Jcddnb, made ft .nblished, anil gradually scholar*, like ' "cd to read and to interpret thorn, The number of these inscriptions, small and large— the shortest eon- of tunny linos, engraved on Atone, hut hdd aUo on metal plates— amounts now to more than hundred . lint as thn language ceased to ho epoken, probably sboal tli- U ginning of thu Christian era, and am othur written mo- tsmuuuUi of it exist, considerable difficulty is experienced in eliciting thu truo sense of these records, though at present tho mode of decipher- hxut become bo well Used licit I heir reading presents not much difficulty, exr co$0£ where tho latter* am indistinct either igtaaljl or tho copies. There is also a blacksmith iu Marvb why, id lured i; profit arising own the raJu of copper tablet*, tiiniiT -inns aims from old inscrip- tion*, and has been exposed in tbc Jonnutl of he (forma u Oriental Society as a forger ; some fabricated text.* also were published there by Prvtorhu in 1873 ft). cognate languages but ci.pediilly the Arabic, Ethiopie, and Hebrew, afford the most valine oholnrrt who havo signalized Ibmnaclve* in this field of Oriental research ; as yet riiey do not all quite agree in their transla- tion*, but they may nnterthclcss bo depended is safe guides in researches of this kind* The number of such men at present is small; leholars are Pmtorius, l#normant, Socin, Levy, and HaleVy.—tho latter or whom waa hold enough to go personally to Southern Arabia and copy nearly seven hundred of these >hich arc by the Arabs called a y a ri ti c. Aoeording to Mnhnmtnadnn • tho town of HiMuyur wiw uv% originally thu scat of empire ; it was Subu, tliu prusnnt M a r e b , which was annihilated by the breaking of a dam* not only husbanding tho witters flowing from tho mountains fir the irrigation of the lii'i'1. but ahu> on] Lho power or the monarch, who thus kept in his luwdtt the k Wlti enabled to grunt n withhold it as he listed. The memory of this catastrophe, considered as a elm* I iVora God, in which many inhabitants peri* hod, and in conseqmmco whereof the *» I .em- mant waa transferred t. i i. i' II e in y a r , survived tdl the (JerA a, and is U and 15, as the confined the water; — l-i '.if B i*if If tt U/l u i Jt (&J tSjj ^ jtt JW J^y* ' /i,t/ g,*r if/ ft'mf e , i*-oj±i | • jjoc ^) £«J» i^L if lj^*f /o ru i u utt bi " 14. The people of Saba had mduod in their Dg-places u wo gardens, on the and on that loll ! [ll vat ■ i* the bounty of yonr I*^rd and be thiuikfol unto liini! [Yvurt ••] a goodly 00) and a grnoious lioni. 15. But they mrned aside [from (hi* inj and we sent upon th^m tby inundation of Ala"! The names H o m y a r aud Saba are also of frequent ocenrrence hi the inwriptions Uiem- sdIvcs, but it appeani thai thu expmiRiou Hem- pritio Instead of •SoUean language, whii:h haa liitUertobeencnrreol, wi ' ''une ha*e to give way to tl a* lieing peritapv iwaveaud oomprd Thu I- There is e^oat probability that the hintrusgn ■ St* ». {.'vmht df hrsnsL ««*! d*» imW*, Tuoia IU Uv sad JL firm ia ta« ■etnail esatarr l.u.—Ko. fiicyafnntn Bnsr *«• flnul at
 * 1 7 of a few words, and the longest
 * itiuu of A I u'r t« m r i.e. of thi- dum.