awks, a suit of silk hangings, or some pounds
of musk and amber. [103]

[Footnote 102: Hyde, Syntagma Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 57, in Hist.
Shahiludii.]

[Footnote 103: The dynasties of the Arabian empire may be studied in the
Annals of Elmacin, Abulpharagius, and Abulfeda, under the proper years,
in the dictionary of D'Herbelot, under the proper names. The tables of
M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i.) exhibit a general chronology
of the East, interspersed with some historical anecdotes; but his
attachment to national blood has sometimes confounded the order of time
and place.]

After the revolt of Spain from the temporal and spiritual supremacy of
the Abbassides, the first symptoms of disobedience broke forth in the
province of Africa. Ibrahim, the son of Aglab, the lieutenant of the
vigilant and rigid Harun, bequeathed to the dynasty of the Aglabites
the inheritance of his name and power. The indolence or policy of the
caliphs dissembled the injury and loss, and pursued only with poison the
founder of the Edrisites, [104] who erected the kingdom and city of Fez
on the shores of the Western ocean. [105] In the East, the first dynasty
was that of the Taherites; [106] the posterity of the valiant Taher,
who, in the civil wars of the sons of Harun, had served with too much
zeal and success the cause of Almamon, the younger brother. He was
sent into honorable exile, to command on the banks of the Oxus; and the
independence of his successors, who reigned in Chorasan till the fourth
generation, was palliated by their modest and respectful demeanor, the
happiness of their subjects and the security of their frontier. They
were supplanted by one of those adventures so frequent in the annals
of the East, who left his trade of a brazier (from whence the name of
Soffarides) for the profession of a robber. In a nocturnal visit to the
treasure of the prince of Sistan, Jacob, the son of Leith, stumbled over
a lump of salt, which he unwarily tasted with his tongue. Salt, among
the Orientals, is the symbol of hospitality, and the pious robber
immediately retired without spoil or damage. The discovery of this
honorable behavior recommended Jacob to pardon and trust; he led an army
at first for his benefactor, at last for himself, subdued Persia, and
threatened the residence of the Abbassides. On his march towards Bagdad,
the conqueror was arrested by a fever. He gave audience in bed to the
ambassador of the caliph; and beside him o