to their cattle; in fact a full-blooded horse was given more and better care than a wife. Marriage and divorce were simplicity itself: depending entirely on the desire or lack of desire on the part of the "husband."
Their religion was Sabaeanism—which comprised a worshipping of a plurality of gods, idols, spirits, jinns, to the total number of 365. It may be truthfully said that the ancient Arabs had a new god, or idol, for every day of the year!
One of the greatest idols venerated by them was, and still is, the famous black stone, now inserted in one of the walls of the Kaabah at <ecca, and an object of the deepest adoration to all "True Believers." This black stone is generally described as having originally been white, and as having been one of the stones brought out of Paradise. Its black color is explained by claiming that because of the thousands of millions of kisses implanted upon it by sinful and repentant lips, its color gradually became darker and darker as it absorbed the "sins forgiven by repentance."
The Kaabah, which contains the holy black stone, dates back to a very remote antiquity; in fact there is no record of the placing of this stone in any of the early histories. Legend claims that it was built by Adam; that after its destruction at one time it was rebuilt by Abraham. But these legends are so closely interwoven with the personages of the Jewish Bible, that one cannot go far astray by supposing them to have been brought to Arabia by some of the oldest of the Israelites, wan-
