'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎660] (759/905)

660
LANGUAGE OF THE CUSHITES. [CHAP. XXV.
Greatest extent able portion of Asia, the northern shores of Africa, and even
empke Arabian to enter Europe itself. The Arabian empire then extended
from the confines of Tartary to the interior of Africa, and from
the western part of India to the shores of the Atlantic. But,
with the exception of the bold attempt of the Wahhabi Ibn
Sihoud, Arabia has since exercised no influence beyond its
own boundaries.
The Cushites having been the first people who emigrated
from Mesopotamia, their language was necessarily one of the
most ancient which has been used by mankind ; and there are
fair grounds for believing that this is what is now known as
The Himyantic the Himyaritic, which is understood to be still spoken by the
spokenf 6 8ti11 tribe of Ehhkeli, in the country near Mirbat and Zhafur, 1 and
is almost identical with the dialect in use amongst the inha
bitants of Mahre and Shehri. 2 It is exceedingly rich in the
articulations and sounds ; 3 and has a character of a square
form, to which much similarity may be traced in that which
is used in the languages of Phoenicia and Abyssinia, both of
which are derived from the Aramaic.
The inscriptions in the Musnad, which have been found
at Nakb-el-Hajar, also at Hisn Ghorab and Jebel Hamum,
three miles from the village of Mayoki in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sheikawi,
sufficiently connect the inhabitants of this part of the country
with the ancient Tobbai. The language here spoken is sup
posed to be the remains of that which was used by the
Aadites, who, according to general belief, occupied Hadra-
maut, Shehr, Mahrah, and some of the territory more
northward.
The followers It appears to have been adopted by the followers of Kaktan
spokeadialect instead of their own, which was the Souriyyanih branch of
of the Aramaic, Aramaic ; this last is supposed to have been used by that
people when they quitted the plains of Mesopotamia; and also
at the period when Abraham migrated from thence. The
1 Qaatrieme Lettre sur I'Histoire des Arabes avant I'lslamism, par Fulgence
Fresnel, p. 39.
8 Arabic Geo. MS. in the British Museum, translated by Dr. Aloys Sprenger;
Edrisi, ed. Jaubert, tome V., p. 150, Recueil de Voyages, &c.
3 Fulgence Fresnel, Quatrieme Lettre sur I'Histoire des Arabes avant
I'lslamism, p. 37.