The servile veneration due to kings everywhere in the Orient, the crawling up to him, kissing the ground before him (p1. 99, fig. 1; pl. mo, fig. I), etc., have their origin in this notion. Such rulers could attain perfectly unlimited power, but, the separate families of the tribe having equal power, an aristocratic constitution (Tuarick, Berbers, Hebrews) was the necessary consequence, or the nations dissolved into separate tribes, as was the case with the Berbers, the Tuarick (Azdjer, Ahaggar), the Arabians, and the Gallas.
administration of justice belonged among the Egyp tiaras, and still belongs among the Berbers and Tuarick, to the priests; among other nations, as the Arabians, it has passed into the hands of the nobility or of the king. Thus, among the Abyssinians we see the latter addressing the people (fil. ioo, f, . r) from his house of judgment, while in the foreground to the left two condemned criminals are led away. The punishments are generally barbarous, but fines are accepted for many crimes.
Religions.—Most Semites now profess a monotheistic religion, being either Mohammedans, Jews, or Christians. Christianity among the Abys sinians is rude and vague, the Islamism of the Berbers and Tuarick is no better, and among both an infinite number of pagan ideas have been retained. The original religion of all Semites consisted in a veneration of the heavens and of the heavenly bodies, but the worship of these soon changed to that of inferior deities, especially of the guardian spirits and local divinities. Thus, the \Vakuafi (Krapf) venerate the heavens, Ens-ai; but even in the ancient period there dwelt on the " White Mountain " a supernatural being called Areiterkob or Neilentkob, who gave children to the first couple of mankind and promulgated necessary rules of life. To him the Wakuafi pray; he presents their prayer to the Engai; and, as among the neighboring Wanika, who belong to the Bantu, the souls of the dead act as mediators with heaven, so we see in Neiterkob the guard ian spirit of the Wakuafi.
The religion of the Gallas is similar (\Vaitz): lUak, heaven, created man of clay; to him men pray; but between man and heaven there are two deities, one male, the other female (the latter the symbol of fecund ity), who bring all blessings—just as, in Egypt, Osiris and Isis were sometimes supposed to stand between the heavenly god Ra and man.
There are also inferior spirits, believed to be either good or evil; and the men, women, and children each have a separate god, no doubt a guardian god. The Tuarick are now converted to Mohammedanism, but only superficially, as they yet profess their old pagan religion: they have a god in heaven, a devil in hell, and innumerable ghosts in human shape who dwell in rocky regions and are much feared.
The oldest Arabian religion, as it can be reconstructed from pre Mohammedan times, coincides very closely with this. The fundamental religious view of the Arabs was monotheistic, and it seems as though the veneration of heaven was the basis of their monotheism. 13ut the deity had mediators—either the sun, who was thought to be masculine and im pregnating, or the moon, who was feminine and receiving: the stars also served as mediators. The different tribes had different objects of ven eration. Trees and sacred stones were worshipped, and offerings were brought and pilgrimages made to them; they were girded with swords and anointed with oil, but they were never considered as being themselves gods; for the Arabians frequently declared that the stones and the stars are not sacred, but only God, who is enthroned on them and whose power is partly infused into them. As each tribe had its special mediator besides the sun and moon, we find guardian spirits prominent here, like those among the Gallas, who have the same veneration of stones and trees. On these old monotheistic views Mohammedanism was erected; and they still prevail among the Arabians of the Southern Desert.
Among some Arabic tribes the souls of the deceased are considered as mediating spirits or deities; nay, even a humanizing of the ancient gods is found among them, as among the Hottentots. There is no scarcity of haunting spirits, genii, etc.; the soul is believed to be winged and to abide near the grave. That the old Hebrew religion coincided in its main traits with these ideas is shown by some passages of the Bible, nar ratives, prohibitions of pagan usages, etc.; also by the religion of the most closely-related nations, among which the cult of the sun and moon was predominant. We know less about the ancient character of this religion because it was early converted into a monotheism, and the wor shippers of Jehovah destroyed everything pagan.