a, he ordered the
building of a bridge over the canal, recognising the importance of this
communication between the town and country.

Benefiting by the religious liberty that Mussulman sovereignship had
secured them, the Kopts no longer attended to the quarrels of their
masters. They only occupied themselves in maintaining the quiet
peaceful-ness they had obtained by regular payment of their taxes, and
by supplying men and commodities when occasion demanded it. During the
reign of Abd el-Malik in Egypt the only remarkable event there was the
election, in 688, of the Jacobite Isaac as patriarch of Alexandria. The
Koptic clergy give him no other claim to historical remembrance than
the formulating of a decree ordaining "that the patriarch can only be
inaugurated on a Sunday."

[Illustration: 335.jpg MOSQUE OF AMR]

Isaac was succeeded by Simon the Syrian, whom the Koptic church looks
upon as a saint, and for whom is claimed the power of reviving the dead.
He nevertheless died from the effects of poison given him at the altar
by some jealous rival. Arab historians relate how deputies came to Simon
from India to ask for a bishop and some priests. The patriarch refused
to comply with this request, but Abd el-Aziz, thinking that this
relation with India might prove politically useful, gave the order to
other and more docile priests.

The patriarchal seat was empty for three years after the death of Simon.
The Kopts next appointed a patriarch named Alexander, who held the
office for a little over twenty years. The Koptic writers who recount
the history of this patriarch mention their discontent with the governor
Abd el-Aziz. The monks and other members of the clergy had grown very
numerous in Egypt and claimed to be exempt from taxation. Abd el-Aziz,
whose yearly tax was fixed, thought it unjust that the poorest classes
of the people should be made to pay while the priests, the bishop,
and the patriarch, all possessing abundance, should be privileged by
exemption. He therefore had a census made of all the monks and put
on them a tax of one dinar (about $2.53), while he exacted from the
patriarch an annual payment of three thousand dinars, or about $7,600.
This act of justice was the cause of many complaints among the clergy,
but they were soon suppressed and were without result.

[Illustration: 337a.jpg COIN OF ABU BEKR]

After more than twenty years of a prosperous government of Egypt, Abd
el-Aziz ibn Merwan died at F