Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

700 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
1763, to that of Halevy's and Heinrich von Maltzan's
travels, we most heartily recommend the first 318 pages 1
of Zehme's work, which proceeds, however, upon a geographical
rather than upon a chronological basis.
In the following let us proceed to give briefly our own
account of the work done during the same period, differing,
however, from Zehme's in being arranged in chronological
order and with special reference to that which throws light
upon the Old Testament.
The scientific exploration of Arabia began with the expedition,
in 1761-64, of the famous scholar Carsten Niebuhr,
which was undertaken according to the desire and at the
cost of the Danish government. With a number of followers,
among them the botanist
Forskal, all of whom, however,
died on the way, Niebuhr travelled especiallv in
South
Arabia (Feb. to Aug., 1763). In two publications 2 he gave
the first
remarkably exact and scientific account of the country.
His work is not yet obsolete ; even at present it is a
real pleasure to read it, and the accompanying map of all
the southwest territory of Yemen as far inland as San'a
was prepared with such extraordinarv care that it has been
hardly improved by the later travels of others. We should
also mention especially his travels along the coast of Hijaz
and of South Arabia as far as the Sakhalitic Gulf, 3 where he
gathered interesting information about Hadhramot, or the
"Frankincense Country" mentioned in
(Gen. chap, io). 4
1
the table of nations
Pp. 3 1
9 to end give a resume of the political history of Arabia from the
rise of Wahhabism (about 1750) to 1874. Unfortunately the book has no
index, so that much time is wasted in finding the proper names.
2
Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien, 2 vols., and Beschreibung von Arab ien,
1 vol., the latter published also in French.
3
The large bay between Ras Fartak and Mirbat (comp. the accompanying
map). — The Editor.
4
In this connection we ought to remark that the name Sakhalitic Gulf can
hardly be derived from such a general term as the Arabic sahil, "coast "