Note 20 — Chapter II

Note 20.—On the Distribution of Virtues and Vices among Mankind. I have heard Arabs confess that their nation possesses nine-tenths of the envy that exists among all mankind collectively; but I have not seen any written authority for this. Ibn-'Abbás assigns nine-tenths of the intrigue or artifice that exists in the world to the Copts; nine-tenths of the perfidy, to the Jews; nine-tenths of the stupidity, to the Maghrabees; nine-tenths of the hardness, to the Turks; and nine-tenths of the bravery, to the Arabs. According to Kaạb-El-Aḥbár, reason and sedition are most peculiar to Syria; plenty and degradation, to Egypt; and misery and health, to the Desert. In another account, faith and modesty are said to be most peculiar to El-Yemen; fortitude and sedition, to Syria; magnificence, or pride, and hypocrisy, to El-'Eráḳ; wealth and degradation, to Egypt; and poverty and misery, to the Desert.—Of women, it is said, by Kaạb-El-Aḥbár, that the best in the world (excepting those of the tribe of Ḳureysh mentioned by the Prophet) are those of El-Baṣrah; and the worst in the world, those of Egypt."163