both of his old enemies, the Meccans and the Jews,
exiling the latter. He was generally successful; and after one battle he
caused 700 prisoners to be beheaded, and their women and children to be
sold into slavery. But in 625 the Meccans defeated him; and he was
dangerously wounded in the face by a javelin, some of his teeth having
been knocked out. The enemy then besieged Medina; but Mohammed defeated
them with the aid of earthworks and a ditch. In the sixth year of the
Hegira, he proclaimed a pilgrimage to Mecca; and though the Meccans
prevented it from being carried out, it led to a treaty of peace with
them for ten years.

"This event enabled him to send out missionaries all over Arabia; and
the next year he conducted a pilgrimage to Mecca with 2,000 followers,
remaining there undisturbed for three days. After this he carried on war
vigorously against more potent powers, whose rulers he summoned to
become converts. Some yielded, and others scorned him, one of them
beheading the Prophet's messengers. This brought on battles of greater
magnitude, and in one he was badly beaten.

"He accused the Meccans of taking part against him, and marched against
their city at the head of 10,000 men. It surrendered, and Mohammed was
publicly recognized as ruler, and prophet of God. I will read one of his
sayings, that you may better understand the man and his religion: 'The
sword is the key of heaven and hell: a drop of blood shed in the cause
of God, or a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of
fasting and prayer. Whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven him,
and at the day of judgment the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by
the wings of cherubim.'

"In one of his expeditions against the Jews, a Jewess who had lost a
relative in a fight against him placed a piece of poisoned roast meat
before him. He barely tasted it, but he carried the effects of the
poison to his grave.

"His religion seemed to be firmly established, not only in Arabia, but
it had been carried to foreign lands by the sword or by missionaries. He
had it in his mind to conquer Syria; but the want of a sufficient army
deterred him, and he was forced to content himself with the homage of a
few inferior princes. In the tenth year of the new calendar he made his
last solemn pilgrimage to Mecca, and then fixed for all future time the
ordinance of the pilgrimage with its ceremonial, which is still observed
in all Moslem countries.

"On hi