Ja´bal (a stream), a descendant of Cain, son of Lamech and Adah, who is described in , as 'the father of such as dwell in tents, and have cattle.' This obviously means that Jabal was the first who adopted that nomad life which is still followed by numerous Arabian and Tartar tribes in Asia. Abel had long before been a keeper of sheep; but Jabal invented such portable habitations (formed, doubtless, of skins) as enabled a pastoral people to remove their dwellings with them from one place to another, when they led their flocks to new pastures.