--Emir
al-Muminin--religious authority over all Mohammedans from
Spain to India. At a later time the vizier arrogated all
authority to himself, and the Caliph spent his time either
in the mosque or in the seraglio.]

[Footnote 124: _Lebrecht_, p. 391, states that this was a
scarf of black velvet, generally a portion of the hangings
of the mosque of Mecca, which was suspended from a balcony
of the Palace and was called the Sleeve of the Caliph.]

[Footnote 125: The statements here made are strangely
contradictory; see a suggestive article by Dr. Goldziher in
_Z.D.P.G._, 1905, p. 151.]

[Footnote 126: A valuable work, _Bagdad during the Abbaside
Caliphate, from Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources_,
appeared in 1900, written by Mr. Guy Le Strange, which helps
to explain Benjamin's account of the Moslem metropolis. The
Caliph Mansur in 762 selected it as the Capital of the
Empire. Numerous references in the Talmud prove that a
Jewish settlement was there long before. Mansur built a
double-walled Round City two miles in diameter on the
western side of the Tigris. It formed the nucleus of
suburbs, which spread over both banks of the Tigris. A very
fair idea of the metropolis may be obtained if we imagine
the Round City as situated on the Surrey side of the Thames,
having the "Elephant and Castle" for its centre. At this
spot stood the great Mosque of Mansur, where the Friday
services were held, and where the Caliph took a prominent
part in the service on the Bairam, at the close of the
Ramazan fast. The Round City being subject to periodical
inundations, the government buildings were gradually
transferred to the eastern side of the river. The Royal
Palaces, in the grounds called the Harim, which were fully
three miles in extent, occupied the site similar to that
from Westminster to the City. At one time there were as many
as twenty-three palaces within the royal precincts. The
Caliph, when visiting the Mosque in state, left the palace
grounds, and proceeded over the main bridge, corresponding
to Westminster Bridge, along a road which in Benjamin's time
led to the Basrah Gate quarter. At the close of the ceremony
in the Mosque, the Caliph returned, crossing the bridge of
boats, and proceeded to his palace by a road corre