Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part I

The Conquest Of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, And Spain, By The
Arabs Or Saracens.—Empire Of The Caliphs, Or Successors Of
Mahomet.—State Of The Christians, &c., Under Their Government.

The revolution of Arabia had not changed the character of the
Arabs: the death of Mahomet was the signal of independence; and
the hasty structure of his power and religion tottered to its
foundations. A small and faithful band of his primitive disciples
had listened to his eloquence, and shared his distress; had fled
with the apostle from the persecution of Mecca, or had received
the fugitive in the walls of Medina. The increasing myriads, who
acknowledged Mahomet as their king and prophet, had been
compelled by his arms, or allured by his prosperity. The
polytheists were confounded by the simple idea of a solitary and
invisible God; the pride of the Christians and Jews disdained the
yoke of a mortal and contemporary legislator. The habits of faith
and obedience were not sufficiently confirmed; and many of the
new converts regretted the venerable antiquity of the law of
Moses, or the rites and mysteries of the Catholic church; or the
idols, the sacrifices, the joyous festivals, of their Pagan
ancestors. The jarring interests and hereditary feuds of the
Arabian tribes had not yet coalesced in a system of union and
subordination; and the Barbarians were impatient of the mildest
and most salutary laws that curbed their passions, or violated
their customs. They submitted with reluctance to the religious
precepts of the Koran, the abstinence from wine, the fast of the
Ramadan, and the daily repetition of five prayers; and the alms
and tithes, which were collected for the treasury of Medina,
could be distinguished only by a name from the payment of a
perpetual and ignominious tribute. The example of Mahomet had
excited a spirit of fanaticism or imposture, and several of his
rivals presumed to imitate the conduct, and defy the authority,
of the living prophet. At the head of the fugitives and
auxiliaries, the first caliph was reduced to the cities of Mecca,
Medina, and Tayef; and perhaps the Koreish would have restored
the idols of the Caaba, if their levity had not been checked by a
seasonable reproof. “Ye men of Mecca, will ye be the last to
embrace, and the first to abandon, the religion of Islam?” After
exhorting the Moslems to confide in the aid of God and his
apostle, Abubeker resolved, by a vigorous attack, to prevent the
junction of the rebels. The women and children were safely lodged
in the cavities of the mountains: the warriors, marching under
eleven banners, diffused the terror of their arms; and the
appearance of a military force revived and confirmed the loyalty
of the faithful. The inconstant tribes accepted, with humble
repentance, the duties of prayer, and fasting, and alms; and,
after some examples of success and severity, the most daring
apostates fell prostrate before the sword of the Lord and of
Caled. In the fertile province of Yemanah, 1 between the Red Sea
and the Gulf of Persia, in a city not inferior to Medina itself,
a powerful chief (his name was Moseilama) had assumed the
character of a prophet, and the tribe of Hanifa listened to his
voice. A female prophetess 1111 was attracted by his reputation;
the decencies of words and actions were spurned by these
favorites of Heaven; 2 and they employed several days in mystic
and amorous converse. An obscure sentence of his Koran, or book,
is yet extant; 3 and in the pride of his mission, Moseilama
condescended to offer a partition of the earth. The proposal was
answered by Mahomet with contempt; but the rapid progress of the
impostor awakened the fears of his successor: forty thousand
Moslems were assembled under the standard of Caled; and the
existence of their faith was resigned to the event of a decisive
battle. 3111 In the first action they were repulsed by the loss
of twelve hundred men; but the skill and perseverance of their
general prevailed; their defeat was avenged by the slaughter of
ten thousand infidels; and Moseilama himself was pierced by an
Aethiopian slave with the same javelin which had mortally wounded
the uncle of Mahomet. The various rebels of Arabia without a
chief or a cause, were speedily suppressed by the power and
discipline of the rising monarchy; and the whole nation again
professed, and more steadfastly held, the religion of the Koran.
The ambition of the caliphs provided an immediate exercise for
the restless spirit of the Saracens: their valor was united in
the prosecution of a holy war; and their enthusiasm was equally
confirmed by opposition and victory.

1 (return) [ See the description of the city and country of Al
Yamanah, in Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiae, p. 60, 61. In the xiiith
century, there were some ruins, and a few palms; but in the
present century, the same ground is occupied by the visions and
arms of a modern prophet, whose tenets are imperfectly known,
(Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 296-302.)]

1111 (return) [ This extraordinary woman was a Christian; she was
at the head of a numerous and flourishing sect; Moseilama
professed to recognize her inspiration. In a personal interview
he proposed their marriage and the union of their sects. The
handsome person, the impassioned eloquence, and the arts of
Moseilama, triumphed over the virtue of the prophetesa who was
rejected with scorn by her lover, and by her notorious unchastity
ost her influence with her own followers. Gibbon, with that
propensity too common, especially in his later volumes, has
selected only the grosser part of this singular adventure.—M.]

2 (return) [ The first salutation may be transcribed, but cannot
be translated. It was thus that Moseilama said or sung:—

Surge tandem itaque strenue permolenda; nam stratus tibi thorus est. Aut in propatulo tentorio si velis, aut in abditiore cubiculo si malis; Aut supinam te humi exporrectam fustigabo, si velis, Aut si malis manibus pedibusque nixam. Aut si velis ejus (Priapi) gemino triente aut si malis totus veniam. Imo, totus venito, O Apostole Dei, clamabat foemina. Id ipsum, dicebat Moseilama, mihi quoque suggessit Deus.

The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to
idolatry; but under the reign of Moawiyah, she became a
Mussulman, and died at Bassora, (Abulfeda, Annal. vers. Reiske,
p. 63.)]

3 (return) [ See this text, which demonstrates a God from the
work of generation, in Abulpharagius (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p.
13, and Dynast. p. 103) and Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 63.)]

3111 (return) [ Compare a long account of this battle in Price,
p. 42.—M.]

From the rapid conquests of the Saracens a presumption will
naturally arise, that the caliphs 311 commanded in person the
armies of the faithful, and sought the crown of martyrdom in the
foremost ranks of the battle. The courage of Abubeker, 4 Omar, 5
and Othman, 6 had indeed been tried in the persecution and wars
of the prophet; and the personal assurance of paradise must have
taught them to despise the pleasures and dangers of the present
world. But they ascended the throne in a venerable or mature age;
and esteemed the domestic cares of religion and justice the most
important duties of a sovereign. Except the presence of Omar at
the siege of Jerusalem, their longest expeditions were the
frequent pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca; and they calmly
received the tidings of victory as they prayed or preached before
the sepulchre of the prophet. The austere and frugal measure of
their lives was the effect of virtue or habit, and the pride of
their simplicity insulted the vain magnificence of the kings of
the earth. When Abubeker assumed the office of caliph, he
enjoined his daughter Ayesha to take a strict account of his
private patrimony, that it might be evident whether he were
enriched or impoverished by the service of the state. He thought
himself entitled to a stipend of three pieces of gold, with the
sufficient maintenance of a single camel and a black slave; but
on the Friday of each week he distributed the residue of his own
and the public money, first to the most worthy, and then to the
most indigent, of the Moslems. The remains of his wealth, a
coarse garment, and five pieces of gold, were delivered to his
successor, who lamented with a modest sigh his own inability to
equal such an admirable model. Yet the abstinence and humility of
Omar were not inferior to the virtues of Abubeker: his food
consisted of barley bread or dates; his drink was water; he
preached in a gown that was torn or tattered in twelve places;
and the Persian satrap, who paid his homage to the conqueror,
found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the mosch of
Medina. Oeeconomy is the source of liberality, and the increase
of the revenue enabled Omar to establish a just and perpetual
reward for the past and present services of the faithful.
Careless of his own emolument, he assigned to Abbas, the uncle of
the prophet, the first and most ample allowance of twenty-five
thousand drachms or pieces of silver. Five thousand were allotted
to each of the aged warriors, the relics of the field of Beder;
and the last and meanest of the companions of Mahomet was
distinguished by the annual reward of three thousand pieces. One
thousand was the stipend of the veterans who had fought in the
first battles against the Greeks and Persians; and the decreasing
pay, as low as fifty pieces of silver, was adapted to the
respective merit and seniority of the soldiers of Omar. Under his
reign, and that of his predecessor, the conquerors of the East
were the trusty servants of God and the people; the mass of the
public treasure was consecrated to the expenses of peace and war;
a prudent mixture of justice and bounty maintained the discipline
of the Saracens, and they united, by a rare felicity, the
despatch and execution of despotism with the equal and frugal
maxims of a republican government. The heroic courage of Ali, 7
the consummate prudence of Moawiyah, 8 excited the emulation of
their subjects; and the talents which had been exercised in the
school of civil discord were more usefully applied to propagate
the faith and dominion of the prophet. In the sloth and vanity of
the palace of Damascus, the succeeding princes of the house of
Ommiyah were alike destitute of the qualifications of statesmen
and of saints. 9 Yet the spoils of unknown nations were
continually laid at the foot of their throne, and the uniform
ascent of the Arabian greatness must be ascribed to the spirit of
the nation rather than the abilities of their chiefs. A large
deduction must be allowed for the weakness of their enemies. The
birth of Mahomet was fortunately placed in the most degenerate
and disorderly period of the Persians, the Romans, and the
Barbarians of Europe: the empires of Trajan, or even of
Constantine or Charlemagne, would have repelled the assault of
the naked Saracens, and the torrent of fanaticism might have been
obscurely lost in the sands of Arabia.

311 (return) [ In Arabic, “successors.” V. Hammer Geschichte der
Assas. p. 14—M.]

4 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 251. Elmacin, p.
18. Abulpharagius, p. 108. Abulfeda, p. 60. D’Herbelot, p. 58.]

5 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 264. Elmacin, p. 24.
Abulpharagius, p. 110. Abulfeda, p. 66. D’Herbelot, p. 686.]

6 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 323. Elmacin, p. 36.
Abulpharagius, p. 115. Abulfeda, p. 75. D’Herbelot, p. 695.]

7 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 343. Elmacin, p. 51.
Abulpharagius, p. 117. Abulfeda, p. 83. D’Herbelot, p. 89.]

8 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 344. Elmacin, p. 54.
Abulpharagius, p. 123. Abulfeda, p. 101. D’Herbelot, p. 586.]

9 (return) [ Their reigns in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 360-395.
Elmacin, p. 59-108. Abulpharagius, Dynast. ix. p. 124-139.
Abulfeda, p. 111-141. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 691,
and the particular articles of the Ommiades.]

In the victorious days of the Roman republic, it had been the aim
of the senate to confine their councils and legions to a single
war, and completely to suppress a first enemy before they
provoked the hostilities of a second. These timid maxims of
policy were disdained by the magnanimity or enthusiasm of the
Arabian caliphs. With the same vigor and success they invaded the
successors of Augustus and those of Artaxerxes; and the rival
monarchies at the same instant became the prey of an enemy whom
they had been so long accustomed to despise. In the ten years of
the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience
thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand
churches or temples of the unbelievers, and edified fourteen
hundred moschs for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One
hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign
of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean, over
the various and distant provinces, which may be comprised under
the names of, I. Persia; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV. Africa; and,
V. Spain. Under this general division, I shall proceed to unfold
these memorable transactions; despatching with brevity the remote
and less interesting conquests of the East, and reserving a
fuller narrative for those domestic countries which had been
included within the pale of the Roman empire. Yet I must excuse
my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and
insufficiency of my guides. The Greeks, so loquacious in
controversy, have not been anxious to celebrate the triumphs of
their enemies. 10 After a century of ignorance, the first annals
of the Mussulmans were collected in a great measure from the
voice of tradition. 11 Among the numerous productions of Arabic
and Persian literature, 12 our interpreters have selected the
imperfect sketches of a more recent age. 13 The art and genius of
history have ever been unknown to the Asiatics; 14 they are
ignorant of the laws of criticism; and our monkish chronicle of
the same period may be compared to their most popular works,
which are never vivified by the spirit of philosophy and freedom.

The Oriental library of a Frenchman 15 would instruct the most
learned mufti of the East; and perhaps the Arabs might not find
in a single historian so clear and comprehensive a narrative of
their own exploits as that which will be deduced in the ensuing
sheets.

10 (return) [ For the viith and viiith century, we have scarcely
any original evidence of the Byzantine historians, except the
chronicles of Theophanes (Theophanis Confessoris Chronographia,
Gr. et Lat. cum notis Jacobi Goar. Paris, 1665, in folio) and the
Abridgment of Nicephorus, (Nicephori Patriarchae C. P. Breviarium
Historicum, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1648, in folio,) who both lived in
the beginning of the ixth century, (see Hanckius de Scriptor.
Byzant. p. 200-246.) Their contemporary, Photius, does not seem
to be more opulent. After praising the style of Nicephorus, he
adds, and only complains of his extreme brevity, (Phot. Bibliot.
Cod. lxvi. p. 100.) Some additions may be gleaned from the more
recent histories of Cedrenus and Zonaras of the xiith century.]

11 (return) [ Tabari, or Al Tabari, a native of Taborestan, a
famous Imam of Bagdad, and the Livy of the Arabians, finished his
general history in the year of the Hegira 302, (A.D. 914.) At the
request of his friends, he reduced a work of 30,000 sheets to a
more reasonable size. But his Arabic original is known only by
the Persian and Turkish versions. The Saracenic history of Ebn
Amid, or Elmacin, is said to be an abridgment of the great
Tabari, (Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. preface, p.
xxxix. and list of authors, D’Herbelot, p. 866, 870, 1014.)]

12 (return) [ Besides the list of authors framed by Prideaux,
(Life of Mahomet, p. 179-189,) Ockley, (at the end of his second
volume,) and Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 525-550,)
we find in the Bibliotheque Orientale Tarikh, a catalogue of two
or three hundred histories or chronicles of the East, of which
not more than three or four are older than Tabari. A lively
sketch of Oriental literature is given by Reiske, (in his
Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae librum memorialem ad calcem
Abulfedae Tabulae Syriae, Lipsiae, 1776;) but his project and the
French version of Petit de la Croix (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i.
preface, p. xlv.) have fallen to the ground.]

13 (return) [ The particular historians and geographers will be
occasionally introduced. The four following titles represent the
Annals which have guided me in this general narrative. 1. Annales
Eutychii, Patriarchoe Alexandrini, ab Edwardo Pocockio, Oxon.
1656, 2 vols. in 4to. A pompous edition of an indifferent author,
translated by Pocock to gratify the Presbyterian prejudices of
his friend Selden. 2. Historia Saracenica Georgii Elmacini, opera
et studio Thomae Erpenii, in 4to., Lugd. Batavorum, 1625. He is
said to have hastily translated a corrupt Ms., and his version is
often deficient in style and sense. 3. Historia compendiosa
Dynastiarum a Gregorio Abulpharagio, interprete Edwardo Pocockio,
in 4to., Oxon. 1663. More useful for the literary than the civil
history of the East. 4. Abulfedoe Annales Moslemici ad Ann.
Hegiroe ccccvi. a Jo. Jac. Reiske, in 4to., Lipsioe, 1754. The
best of our chronicles, both for the original and version, yet
how far below the name of Abulfeda! We know that he wrote at
Hamah in the xivth century. The three former were Christians of
the xth, xiith, and xiiith centuries; the two first, natives of
Egypt; a Melchite patriarch, and a Jacobite scribe.]

14 (return) [ M. D. Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. pref. p.
xix. xx.) has characterized, with truth and knowledge, the two
sorts of Arabian historians—the dry annalist, and the tumid and
flowery orator.]

15 (return) [ Bibliotheque Orientale, par M. D’Herbelot, in
folio, Paris, 1697. For the character of the respectable author,
consult his friend Thevenot, (Voyages du Levant, part i. chap.
1.) His work is an agreeable miscellany, which must gratify every
taste; but I never can digest the alphabetical order; and I find
him more satisfactory in the Persian than the Arabic history. The
recent supplement from the papers of Mm. Visdelou, and Galland,
(in folio, La Haye, 1779,) is of a different cast, a medley of
tales, proverbs, and Chinese antiquities.]

I. In the first year of the first caliph, his lieutenant Caled,
the Sword of God, and the scourge of the infidels, advanced to
the banks of the Euphrates, and reduced the cities of Anbar and
Hira. Westward of the ruins of Babylon, a tribe of sedentary
Arabs had fixed themselves on the verge of the desert; and Hira
was the seat of a race of kings who had embraced the Christian
religion, and reigned above six hundred years under the shadow of
the throne of Persia. 16 The last of the Mondars 1611 was
defeated and slain by Caled; his son was sent a captive to
Medina; his nobles bowed before the successor of the prophet; the
people was tempted by the example and success of their
countrymen; and the caliph accepted as the first-fruits of
foreign conquest an annual tribute of seventy thousand pieces of
gold. The conquerors, and even their historians, were astonished
by the dawn of their future greatness: “In the same year,” says
Elmacin, “Caled fought many signal battles: an immense multitude
of the infidels was slaughtered; and spoils infinite and
innumerable were acquired by the victorious Moslems.” 17 But the
invincible Caled was soon transferred to the Syrian war: the
invasion of the Persian frontier was conducted by less active or
less prudent commanders: the Saracens were repulsed with loss in
the passage of the Euphrates; and, though they chastised the
insolent pursuit of the Magians, their remaining forces still
hovered in the desert of Babylon. 1711

16 (return) [ Pocock will explain the chronology, (Specimen Hist.
Arabum, p. 66-74,) and D’Anville the geography, (l’Euphrate, et
le Tigre, p. 125,) of the dynasty of the Almondars. The English
scholar understood more Arabic than the mufti of Aleppo, (Ockley,
vol. ii. p. 34: ) the French geographer is equally at home in
every age and every climate of the world.]

1611 (return) [ Eichhorn and Silvestre de Sacy have written on
the obscure history of the Mondars.—M.]

17 (return) [ Fecit et Chaled plurima in hoc anno praelia, in
quibus vicerunt Muslimi, et infidelium immensa multitudine occisa
spolia infinita et innumera sunt nacti, (Hist. Saracenica, p.
20.) The Christian annalist slides into the national and
compendious term of infidels, and I often adopt (I hope without
scandal) this characteristic mode of expression.]

1711 (return) [ Compare throughout Malcolm, vol. ii. p. 136.—M.]

The indignation and fears of the Persians suspended for a moment
their intestine divisions. By the unanimous sentence of the
priests and nobles, their queen Arzema was deposed; the sixth of
the transient usurpers, who had arisen and vanished in three or
four years since the death of Chosroes, and the retreat of
Heraclius. Her tiara was placed on the head of Yezdegerd, the
grandson of Chosroes; and the same aera, which coincides with an
astronomical period, 18 has recorded the fall of the Sassanian
dynasty and the religion of Zoroaster. 19 The youth and
inexperience of the prince (he was only fifteen years of age)
declined a perilous encounter: the royal standard was delivered
into the hands of his general Rustam; and a remnant of thirty
thousand regular troops was swelled in truth, or in opinion, to
one hundred and twenty thousand subjects, or allies, of the great
king. The Moslems, whose numbers were reenforced from twelve to
thirty thousand, had pitched their camp in the plains of Cadesia:
20 and their line, though it consisted of fewer men, could
produce more soldiers, than the unwieldy host of the infidels. I
shall here observe, what I must often repeat, that the charge of
the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the effort
of a firm and compact infantry: their military force was chiefly
formed of cavalry and archers; and the engagement, which was
often interrupted and often renewed by single combats and flying
skirmishes, might be protracted without any decisive event to the
continuance of several days. The periods of the battle of Cadesia
were distinguished by their peculiar appellations. The first,
from the well-timed appearance of six thousand of the Syrian
brethren, was denominated the day of succor. The day of
concussion might express the disorder of one, or perhaps of both,
of the contending armies. The third, a nocturnal tumult, received
the whimsical name of the night of barking, from the discordant
clamors, which were compared to the inarticulate sounds of the
fiercest animals. The morning of the succeeding day 2011
determined the fate of Persia; and a seasonable whirlwind drove a
cloud of dust against the faces of the unbelievers. The clangor
of arms was reechoed to the tent of Rustam, who, far unlike the
ancient hero of his name, was gently reclining in a cool and
tranquil shade, amidst the baggage of his camp, and the train of
mules that were laden with gold and silver. On the sound of
danger he started from his couch; but his flight was overtaken by
a valiant Arab, who caught him by the foot, struck off his head,
hoisted it on a lance, and instantly returning to the field of
battle, carried slaughter and dismay among the thickest ranks of
the Persians. The Saracens confess a loss of seven thousand five
hundred men; 2012 and the battle of Cadesia is justly described
by the epithets of obstinate and atrocious. 21 The standard of
the monarchy was overthrown and captured in the field—a leathern
apron of a blacksmith, who in ancient times had arisen the
deliverer of Persia; but this badge of heroic poverty was
disguised, and almost concealed, by a profusion of precious gems.
22 After this victory, the wealthy province of Irak, or Assyria,
submitted to the caliph, and his conquests were firmly
established by the speedy foundation of Bassora, 23 a place which
ever commands the trade and navigation of the Persians. As the
distance of fourscore miles from the Gulf, the Euphrates and
Tigris unite in a broad and direct current, which is aptly styled
the river of the Arabs. In the midway, between the junction and
the mouth of these famous streams, the new settlement was planted
on the western bank: the first colony was composed of eight
hundred Moslems; but the influence of the situation soon reared a
flourishing and populous capital. The air, though excessively
hot, is pure and healthy: the meadows are filled with palm-trees
and cattle; and one of the adjacent valleys has been celebrated
among the four paradises or gardens of Asia. Under the first
caliphs the jurisdiction of this Arabian colony extended over the
southern provinces of Persia: the city has been sanctified by the
tombs of the companions and martyrs; and the vessels of Europe
still frequent the port of Bassora, as a convenient station and
passage of the Indian trade.

18 (return) [ A cycle of 120 years, the end of which an
intercalary month of 30 days supplied the use of our Bissextile,
and restored the integrity of the solar year. In a great
revolution of 1440 years this intercalation was successively
removed from the first to the twelfth month; but Hyde and Freret
are involved in a profound controversy, whether the twelve, or
only eight of these changes were accomplished before the aera of
Yezdegerd, which is unanimously fixed to the 16th of June, A.D.
632. How laboriously does the curious spirit of Europe explore
the darkest and most distant antiquities! (Hyde de Religione
Persarum, c. 14-18, p. 181-211. Freret in the Mem. de l’Academie
des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 233-267.)]

19 (return) [ Nine days after the death of Mahomet (7th June,
A.D. 632) we find the aera of Yezdegerd, (16th June, A.D. 632,)
and his accession cannot be postponed beyond the end of the first
year. His predecessors could not therefore resist the arms of the
caliph Omar; and these unquestionable dates overthrow the
thoughtless chronology of Abulpharagius. See Ockley’s Hist. of
the Saracens, vol. i. p. 130. * Note: The Rezont Uzzuffa (Price,
p. 105) has a strange account of an embassy to Yezdegerd. The
Oriental historians take great delight in these embassies, which
give them an opportunity of displaying their Asiatic
eloquence—M.]

20 (return) [ Cadesia, says the Nubian geographer, (p. 121,) is
in margine solitudinis, 61 leagues from Bagdad, and two stations
from Cufa. Otter (Voyage, tom. i. p. 163) reckons 15 leagues, and
observes, that the place is supplied with dates and water.]

2011 (return) [ The day of cormorants, or according to another
reading the day of reinforcements. It was the night which was
called the night of snarling. Price, p. 114.—M.]

2012 (return) [ According to Malcolm’s authorities, only three
thousand; but he adds “This is the report of Mahomedan
historians, who have a great disposition of the wonderful, in
relating the first actions of the faithful” Vol. i. p. 39.—M.]

21 (return) [ Atrox, contumax, plus semel renovatum, are the
well-chosen expressions of the translator of Abulfeda, (Reiske,
p. 69.)]

22 (return) [ D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 297, 348.]

23 (return) [ The reader may satisfy himself on the subject of
Bassora by consulting the following writers: Geograph, Nubiens.
p. 121. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 192. D’Anville,
l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 130, 133, 145. Raynal, Hist.
Philosophique des deux Indes, tom. ii. p. 92-100. Voyages di
Pietro della Valle, tom. iv. p. 370-391. De Tavernier, tom. i. p.
240-247. De Thevenot, tom. ii. p. 545-584. D Otter, tom. ii. p.
45-78. De Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 172-199.]