where famines were very common. Down to the present time the nomads of Arabia suffer constantly from hunger during a great part of the year.[1]
The custom of infanticide was inveterate among the Arabs, and Mahomet was obliged to condemn it over and over again in the Koran:—"They who from folly or ignorance kill their children shall perish.[2] Kill not your children on account of poverty.[3] Kill not your children for fear of poverty; we will feed them, and you also.[4] When it shall be asked of the girl buried alive for what crime she is put to death . . . every soul will then acknowledge the work that she had done."[5]
In this last verse the Koran bears witness to the custom of killing the girls, and it indicates the process in use, which actually consisted in burying them alive. This was done openly, and often the grave of the newly-born infant was dug by the side even of the couch of the mother who had just given birth to it. According to the morality of the primitive Arabs, these acts were not only very simple, but even virtuous and generous,[6] which seems to indicate that they were indeed only precautions against famine. An Arab legend, quoted by Mr. R. Smith, paints in lively colours these atrocious customs. It relates to a chief of Tamin, who became a constant practitioner of infanticide in consequence of a wound given to his pride. He was called Caïs, and was contemporary with Mahomet. The daughter of his sister was carried off in a razzia and given to the son of her captor, as was the usage in Arabia, where the captured women made part of the booty and were divided with it. This time, when Caïs came to reclaim his niece by offering to pay her ransom, the latter, being well pleased with the adventure, refused to quit her husband. Caïs, the uncle, was mortally offended, and from that moment he interred alive all his daughters, according to the ancient custom. But one day, during his absence, a daughter was born to him, whom the mother secretly sent to a relative to save her, and then declared to her husband that she
