easingly the need for their exodus from the
city of his birth. It is not evident from the chroniclers that he had any
definite political aims whatever when he first considered the plan of
evacuation. His motive was simply to obtain peace in which he might
worship in his own fashion, and win others to worship with him. With this
idea in mind he cast about for a suitable resting-place for his small
flock, and discovered what he imagined his goal in Taif, a village
south-east of Mecca, upon the eastern slopes of Jhebel Kora.

Taif is situated on the fertile side of this mountain range, the side
remote from the sea. It stands amid a wealth of gardens, and is renowned
for its fruits and flowers. Thither in 620 Mahomet set out, filled with
the knowledge of his invincible mission, strong in his power to conquer
and persuade. Zeid, his slave and foster-child, was his only companion,
and together they had resolved to convert Taif to the one true religion.
But their adventure was doomed to failure, and though we have necessarily
brief descriptions of it, all Mahomet's biographers naturally passing
quickly over so painful a scene, there is sufficient evidence to show how
really disastrous their venture proved.

The chief men of the city remained unconvinced, and at last the populace,
in one of those blind furies that attack crowds at the sight of
impotence, egged on the rabble to stone them. Chased from the city, sore,
bleeding and despairing, Mahomet found shelter in one of the hill gardens
of the locality. There he was solaced with fruit by some kindly owners of
the place, and there he remained, meditating in profound dejection at his
failure, but still with supreme trust in the support of his God.

"O Lord, I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance;
It is Thine to cleanse away the darkness,
And to give peace both for this world and the next."

In this valley of Nakhla, too, so runs the tale, he was consoled by
genii, who refreshed him, after the fashion of angels upholding the weary
prophets in the wilderness. Mahomet was now in dire straits; he could not
return to Mecca at once, because the object of his Taif journey was
known; as Taif had spurned him, so he was forced to halt in Hira until he
obtained the protection of Mutaim, an influential man in Mecca, and after
some difficulty made his way back to the city, discredited and solitary,
except for his former followers. For some months he rested in obscurity
and c