ed cuirasses, five hundred piles, a thousand lances, composed the
most useful portion of the spoil. Six days' journey to the north-east
of Medina, the ancient and wealthy town of Chaibar was the seat of the
Jewish power in Arabia: the territory, a fertile spot in the desert,
was covered with plantations and cattle, and protected by eight castles,
some of which were esteemed of impregnable strength. The forces of
Mahomet consisted of two hundred horse and fourteen hundred foot: in
the succession of eight regular and painful sieges they were exposed to
danger, and fatigue, and hunger; and the most undaunted chiefs despaired
of the event. The apostle revived their faith and courage by the example
of Ali, on whom he bestowed the surname of the Lion of God: perhaps we
may believe that a Hebrew champion of gigantic stature was cloven to the
chest by his irresistible cimeter; but we cannot praise the modesty of
romance, which represents him as tearing from its hinges the gate of a
fortress and wielding the ponderous buckler in his left hand. After the
reduction of the castles, the town of Chaibar submitted to the yoke. The
chief of the tribe was tortured, in the presence of Mahomet, to force
a confession of his hidden treasure: the industry of the shepherds
and husbandmen was rewarded with a precarious toleration: they were
permitted, so long as it should please the conqueror, to improve their
patrimony, in equal shares, for _his_ emolument and their own. Under the
reign of Omar, the Jews of Chaibar were transported to Syria; and the
caliph alleged the injunction of his dying master; that one and the true
religion should be professed in his native land of Arabia.

Five times each day the eyes of Mahomet were turned towards Mecca, and
he was urged by the most sacred and powerful motives to revisit, as a
conqueror, the city and the temple from whence he had been driven as an
exile. The Caaba was present to his waking and sleeping fancy: an idle
dream was translated into vision and prophecy; he unfurled the holy
banner; and a rash promise of success too hastily dropped from the lips
of the apostle. His march from Medina to Mecca displayed the peaceful
and solemn pomp of a pilgrimage: seventy camels, chosen and bedecked for
sacrifice, preceded the van; the sacred territory was respected; and
the captives were dismissed without ransom to proclaim his clemency and
devotion. But no sooner did Mahomet descend into the plain, within
a d