The Ishmaelite tribes, in fact, spoke dialects in which Canaanitish and Arabic elements were mingled together.

They are the dialects we term Aramaic, and represent a mixture of Arabic with Canaanitish or Hebrew.

As we go northwards into Syria the Canaanitish element predominates; southward the Arabic element is the more pronounced.
The Ishmaelites were merchants and traders.

They lived on the caravan-road which brought the spices of southern Arabia to Canaan and Egypt, and the trade was largely in their hands.

In the history of Joseph we hear of them carrying the balm of Gilead and the myrrh of the south on their camels to Egypt, and in the second century before the Christian era the merchant princes of Petra made their capital one of the wealthiest of Oriental cities.