[452] “Tous les pays,” it is said in the French translation of the Babylonian Talmud, “sont comme de la pâte relativement à la Palestine, mais ce pays l’est relativement à la Babylonie.” Cf. Géographie du Talmud, p. 320 (by A. Neubauer, Paris, 1868).
[453] The clever Ottoman author, Halil Halid, pertinently writes in reference to this subject: “In the language of diplomacy the French term ‘action civilisatrice’ may still have an impressive sound, but owing to the free use made of it by every politician and journalist, the sense of the term has been much contaminated with vulgarity. The dignified charm of the English political literature dealing with the affairs of the East has also begun to degenerate into something like a commonplace. The notion intended by the term is this, that when one of the mighty Powers of Christendom finds it incumbent upon itself to take under its patronizing ægis the internal affairs of a Muslim nation, which is incapable of holding its own, freedom, justice and the spread of civilization will either immediately or gradually follow the introduction of its good rule and signs of the public well-being will spring up here, there and everywhere.
“There is no necessity to cite here any examples of the astounding work which the civilizing Powers are doing in Eastern countries, as any one who studies the political settlement of these countries can find ample instances for himself. It should only be remarked that all the pains taken in this direction are at the expense of the sovereign rights and national independence of the people which submit to the civilizing tutelage.” The Crescent versus the Cross, pp. 184, 185 (London, 1907).
[454] “Neejdee horses are especially esteemed for great speed and endurance of fatigue; indeed in this latter quality none can come up to them. To pass twenty-four hours on the road without drink and without flagging is certainly something; but to keep up the same abstinence and labor conjoined under the burning Arabian sky for forty-eight hours at a stretch is, I believe, peculiar to animals of the breed.” Personal Narrative of a Journey Through Central and Eastern Arabia, p. 310 (by W. G. Palgrave, London, 1869).
[455] The most prized horses in Arabia belong, it is said, to the Khamsa, namely, to one of the Kehilan breeds, which, according to tradition, are descended from Mohammed’s five favorite mares.
[456] Cf. E. Reclus, Asia, Vol. IV, p. 466 (New York, 1855).
[457] Op. cit., pp. 25, 26.
[458] See La Province de Bagdad, p. 108 (by Habib K. Chicha, Cairo, 1908).
[459] “Who is so foolish as to suppose that God, after the manner of a husbandman, planted a paradise, in Eden towards the East, and placed in it a tree of life, visible and palpable, so that one tasting of the fruit by the bodily teeth obtained life?” De Principiis, Bk. IV, Chap. I.
[460] De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. VIII, Cap. I.