ion--that special
administrators were appointed to oversee and keep an account of the
necessary outlay. Besides these officers, several stewards and overseers
were appointed to control the revenues devoted to the hospital by
different institutions. Under the dome of the tomb the Koran and
traditional charters were taught, and both teachers and scholars
received their payment from the state. A large adjacent hall contained
a library of many works on the Koran, tradition, language, medicine,
practical theology, jurisprudence, and literature, and was kept in good
condition by a special librarian and six officials. The school building
contained four audience-halls for the teachers of the Islamite schools,
and in addition to these a school for children, into which sixty poor
orphans were received without any charge and provided with board,
lodging, and clothes.

Khalil, the son of Kilawun, who succeeded him, with the title of
El-Malik el-Ashraf, was able to begin operations in the spring of 1291
against Acre, and on the 18th of May, after an obstinate resistance, the
town was taken by storm. Those who could not escape by water were either
cut down or taken prisoner; the town was plundered, then burnt, and the
fortifications razed to the ground.

[Illustration: 043.jpg WINDOW IN THE MAUSOLEUM OF KILAWUN]

After the fall of Acre, towns such as Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and others,
which were still in the hands of the Christians, offered no resistance,
and were either deserted by their inhabitants or given up to the enemy.
El-Ashraf, now that he had cleared Syria of the Crusaders, turned his
arms against the Mongols and their vassals. He began with the storming
of Kalat er-rum, a fortress on the Upper Euphrates in the neighbourhood
of Bireh, the possession of which was important both for the defence of
Northern Syria and for attacks on Armenia and Asia Minor. In spite of
many pompous declarations that this was only the beginning of greater
conquests in Asia Minor and Irak, he retired as soon as the Ilkhan
Kaikhatu sent a strong detachment of troops against him. Later on he
threatened the Prince of Armenia-Minor with war, and obliged him to hand
over certain border towns. He also exchanged some threatening letters
with Kaikhatu. But neither reigned long enough to make these threats
good, for Kaikhatu was soon after dethroned by Baidu, and Baidu in
his turn by Gazan (1295), after many civil wars which had continually
hindered him f