with jewels that outshone the light of day. The ambassadors and their interpreter were not permit ted to approach nearer than within nine hundred cubits of the kalif. When the interview was concluded, they were taken through the palaces and were shown elephants, a giraffe, lynxes, and other animals richly caparisoned; after which they were themselves clad in costly robes of honor, and were given presents of fifty thousand dirhems each. It should be said that they were brought to the palace at the hour of mid-day worship, through "the streets of the minarets," and their visit was so timed, that the muezzins chanted the call to prayer simultaneously, and with such effect that the earth almost quaked at the sound, and the strangers were struck with mortal fear. It is difficult to say how far from reality this extravagant description is, but that it gives some idea of the barbaric display of the court. of the kalifs at the time, there can be but little doubt.*

The exhibition brought peace, but scarcely had it been effected when the terrible Karmathians burst forth again in Syria, and the faltering kalif proved utterly incompetent to make head against them.

*This account, which is to be found in a number of books on the subject, is taken from the great work of Abulfeda, the most celebrated Saracenic author, who was a native of Damascus, where he was born about 1273. His "Abridgment of the History of Mankind," covers the history of many Eastern nations, besides that of the Saracens from the birth of Mohammed to 1328, the date at which it was prepared, three years before the author's death. Abulfeda was a prince and warrior as well as an author, and was present at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in 1281. For the period of the Crusades his history is valuable.

THE KARMATHIANS ATTACK MECCA.

421

No person but one of the eunuchs of the court seemed to have presence of mind at the moment, and he, though a supporter of the sovereign, deposed him for his incapacity, and placed his brother Kaher on the throne at Bagdad. For three days Kaher enjoyed his exaltation, and then his fickle masters cast him down because forsooth he did not their desire for the bounties customary to be distributed among the soldiers at the accession of a kalif. The irons were broken from the limbs of Moktader, and he was replaced on the throne of Mohammed! At this juncture Mosul declared itself independent, and there was not force enough in the kalifate to restrain the city from breaking the slight bond that held it to its allegiance. Then, again, the Karmathians. made a dash upon Mecca, and captured it, massacring many pilgrims as they had during the former kalifate; pillaging the Kaaba; carrying off the black stone, and leaving the well Zem-zem obstructed by heaps of dead bodies.

Encouraged by these disorders a soldier of fortune ventured a revolution in Persia, and re-ëstablished the worship of the magi in the region that he conquered. Bagdad was thrown in the utmost confusion by this irruption so near home, fearing that the days of Yacub, the coppersmith, were to be repeated; but the usurper took himself off in the direction of Tabaristan, and the city breathed more. freely. The relief was but temporary, however, for an intrigue broke out in the palace, which led to the disgrace of that eunuch who had deposed Moktader, and he was so irritated that he raised an army and

laid siege to the capital, which at the time was the capital of only a small territory lying just about it. At the suggestion of his attendants, Moktader cast about him the cloak of the prophet and advanced upon the revolters accompanied by a number of councillors each carrying a copy of the Koran in his hand. Instead of respecting the sacred habit and the once honored volume, the besiegers forced the kalif and his companions to flight, and when at last he fell into their hands and demanded that they should respect the successor of Mohammed, they exclaimed, as they pierced him with their poignant swords: "We know thee well! thou art not the representative of the prophet, but of the devil!" Thus fell the kalif Moktader, and thus did the grip of the Turks tighten upon the weakening kalifate, in the year 932.

THE FATAL BLOW.

HISTORIANS are agreed that the downfall of the kalifate was caused by the rivalries of opposing rulers, the growth of anarchical and destructive sects, the falling away from their allegiance of remote provinces, and the increasing power and ambition of the Turkish mercenaries, all of which are easily shown to date from the reigns of Mamun and Motasim.* The prophet had given his followers as their guide a book which contained many valuable counsels adapted to the conditions in which he found them; he had told them to go forth and conquer the earth to the religion of Islam; and they had followed his instructions; but their kingdom had grown to an extent of which Mohammed could scarely have dreamed; and had thus grown in a period of time so brief that no opportunity had been allowed the rulers to learn how to manage regions so extensive and people so diverse.

The Berbers of Africa; the barbarians of Turkestan; the lively Saracens of the Arabian deserts; the proud Syrians with their Biblical memories; the

* See Freeman's "Lectures on the Saracens "; Marigny's "Révolutions," vol. i., page xxxix.; and Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter lii.

rich and powerful Persians; the dwellers in Armenia and Mesopotamia; the Egyptians and the tribes on the borders of Kathay; the inhabitants of the peninsula of Spain;-all these were not to be moulded into a homogeneous nation under one religious faith in the short space of a single century.* Nor was it to be expected that a series of kalifs wielding absolute power, and using the sword and the art of the poisoner to uphold their authority, could endure for any considerable length of time without giving rise to jealousies and intrigues, especially in an Oriental land where cunning and deceit, duplicity and guile, were the usual principles of action in court circles.

We have seen that the later kalifs were incapable of performing properly the onerous duties of their positions, and that they were wont to call upon one strong neighbor to help them against another. We have seen a powerful ally become in turn an equally powerful antagonist, so soon as he had learned that the kalif depended upon him; and we know that faith was never kept with a sovereign when there seemed to be any thing to be gained by treachery. We have seen that weak and luxurious kalifs called to their counsels strong ministers who took advantage of their positions to overthrow the masters

*"The original legislation of Mohammed being made for the Arabs of the desert, it was necessarily narrow in its scope, and there is some difficulty in applying it to the wants of more developed and civilized communities. To accomplish this, it has been necessary to call in tradition, casuistry, and special pleading; but there are too few broad principles and too many practical applications and petty details in the Mussulman code to make casuistry an easy matter." Schuyler's "Turkistan, " vol. i., page 171.