tock was
struck into the earth, and the trenches were opened. It was an unlucky
hour; the planet Mars (El-Kahir) was in the ascendant; but it could not
be undone, and the place was accordingly named after the hostile planet,
El-Kahira, "the Martial" or "Triumphant," in the hope that the sinister
omen might be turned to a triumphant issue. Cairo, as Kahira has come to
be called, may fairly be said to have outlived all astrological
prejudices. The name of the Abbasside caliph was at once expunged from
the Friday prayers at the old mosque of Amr at Fustat; the black
Abbasside robes were proscribed, and the preacher, in pure white,
recited the Khutba for the imam Moizz, emir el-muminin, and invoked
blessings on his ancestors Ali and Fatima and all their holy family. The
call to prayer from the minarets was adapted to Shiah taste. The joyful
news was sent to the Fatimite Caliph on swift dromedaries, together with
the heads of the slain. Coins were struck with the special formulas of
the Fatimite creed--"Ali is the noblest of [God's] delegates, the wazir
of the best of apostles"; "the Imam Maadd calls men to profess the unity
of the Eternal"--in addition to the usual dogmas of the Mahometan faith.
For two centuries the mosques and the mint proclaimed the shibboleth of
the Shiahs.

Gawhar set himself at once to restore tranquillity and alleviate the
sufferings of the famine-stricken people. Moizz had providently sent
grain ships to relieve their distress, and as the price of bread
nevertheless remained at famine rates, Gawhar publicly flogged the
millers, established a central corn-exchange, and compelled everyone to
sell his corn there under the eye of a government inspector. In spite of
his efforts the famine lasted for two years; plague spread alarmingly,
insomuch that the corpses could not be buried fast enough, and were
thrown into the Nile; and it was not till the winter of 971-972 that
plenty returned and the pest disappeared. As usual, the viceroy took a
personal part in all public functions. Every Saturday he sat in court,
assisted by the wazir Ibn-Furat, the cadi, and skilled lawyers, to hear
causes and petitions and to administer justice. To secure impartiality,
he appointed to every department of state an Egyptian and a Maghrabi
officer. His firm and equitable rule insured peace and order; and the
great palace he was building, and the new mosque, the Azhar, which he
founded in 970 and finished in 972, not only adde