Ethnography · 19th century
€ 650
One of a kind: this is the sheet in the photographs. Ships from Langweer, the Netherlands.
Original/contemporary hand coloring. General age-related toning, some foxing. Minor wear and soiling, blank verso. Please study image carefully.
PETREA, which is the smallest of the three Arabias, is barren. Deserta, obtains its name from the poverty of its soil, excepting the vicinity of the Euphrates, the country being a sandy desert. Felix, is named from the fertility of its soil, which, compared with the others, is rich and worthy cultivation; the inhabitants, nevertheless, lead wandering lives for the purpose of pasturing their flocks, or become robbers, as the caravans passing between Bassora and Aleppo, or Egypt and Mecca, frequently experience. The celebrated Mahomet was a native of this country, by whose arms, and those of his followers, the faith which he inculcated has been spread over so large a portion of the globe. The chief who has the government of Arabia Felix, has in his guard numbers of infantry armed as in the annexed print. The troops obtained from these provinces are not useful in the modern system of warfare, yet archery is practised in Constantinople, and some of the Asiatic troops still carry bows and arrows as part of their military equipment.
illustrated by a series of engravings, from drawings made on the spot. Dedicated, by permission, to His Excellency the Minister of the Ottoman Porte to His Britannic Majesty. Published By Thomas McLean, London, 1818.
