religions agree, is therefore of itself a sufficient proof, without other, of the Divine authority of the scripture.
Mahomet prohibited all pork, and wine; two articles which must have been, before, very little used in Arabia. Grapes, here, grow in the mountains of Yemen, but never arrive at maturity enough for wine. They bring them down for this purpose to Loheia, and there the heat of the climate turns the wine sour before they can clear it of its fæces so as to make it drinkable; and we know that, before the appearance of Mahomet, Arabia was never a wine country. As for swine, I never heard of them in the peninsula, of Arabia, (unless perhaps wild in the woods about Sana,) and it was from early times inhabited by Jews before the coming of Mahomet. The only people therefore that ate swine's flesh must have been Christians, and they were a sect of little account. Many of these, however, do not eat pork yet, but all of them were oppressed and despised every-where, and there was no inducement for any other people to imitate them.
Mahomet then prohibiting only what was merely neutral, or indifferent to the Arabs, indulged them in that to which he knew they were prone.
At the several conversations I had with the English merchants at Jidda, they complained grievously of the manner in which they were oppressed by the sherrifFe of Mecca and his officers. The duties and fees were increased every voyage; their privileges all taken away, and a most destructive measure introduced of forcing them to give presents, which was only an inducement to oppress, that the gift might be the
greater
