Moizz had hurriedly despatched under Ibn-Ammar to
the succor of Gawhar; and the Karmati fleet, which attempted to recover
this fort, was obliged to slip anchor, abandoning seven ships and five
hundred prisoners. Jaffa, which still held out resolutely against the
besieging Arabs, was now relieved by the despatch of African troops from
Cairo, who brought back the garrison, but did not dare to hold the post.
The enemy fell back upon Damascus, and the leaders fell out among
themselves.

The Karmati chief was not crushed, however, by his defeat. In the
following year he was collecting ships and Arabs for a fresh invasion.
Gawhar, who had long urged his master to come and protect his conquest,
now pointed out the extreme danger of a second attack from an enemy
which had already succeeded in boldly forcing his way to the gate of
Cairo. Moizz had delayed his journey, because he could not safely trust
his western provinces in his absence; but on the receipt of this grave
news, he appointed Yusuf Bulugin ben Zeyri, of the Berber tribe of
Sanhaga, to act as his deputy in Barbary, left Sardaniya--the
Fontainebleau of Kayrawan, as Mansuriya was its Versailles--in November,
972, and making a leisurely progress, by way of Kabis, Tripolis,
Agdabiya, and Barka, reached Alexandria in the following May. Here the
Caliph received a deputation, consisting of the cadi of Fustat and other
eminent persons, whom he moved to tears by his eloquent and virtuous
discourse. A month later he was encamped in the gardens of the monastery
near Giza, where he was reverently welcomed by his devoted servant,
Gawhar, content to efface himself in his master's shadow.

The entry of the new Caliph into his new capital was a solemn spectacle.
With him were all his sons and brothers and kinsfolk, and before him
were borne the coffins of his ancestors. Fustat was illuminated and
decked for his reception; but Moizz would not enter the old capital of
the usurping caliphs. He crossed from Roda by Gawhar's new bridge, and
proceeded direct to the palace-city of Cairo. Here he threw himself on
his face and gave thanks to God.

There was yet an ordeal to be gone through before he could regard
himself as safe. Egypt was the home of many undoubted sherifs or
descendants of Ali, and these, headed by a representative of the
distinguished Tabataba family, came boldly to examine his credentials.
Moizz must prove his title to the holy imamate inherited from Ali, to
the satis