ese wonderful people were filled
with the most rare and costly works of art. An illustration of how
necessary all these luxuries of life finally became to the Mohammedans
is found in the statement that the sheik of a tribe on a pilgrimage to
Mecca carried with him a whole caravan of dependents and slaves. He had
silver ovens in which to bake fresh bread every day, and his camels bore
leathern bags filled with snow that he might drink iced sherbet in the
midst of the desert. A Moorish general carried to his camp an immense
following of women, slaves, musicians, and court poets, and in his
pavilioned tent, on the very eve of a battle, there were often feasting
and dancing and much merriment, just as if he had been in his sumptuous
home at Cordova.

The Moors were generous and public-spirited, and much given to display.
The marriage feast which was prepared by Almanzor the Invincible, for
his son, in the year 1000, presents a picture of glittering splendor
which has been described more than once. Abd-el-Malek was the son's
name, and he was being married to his own cousin, one of the most
beautiful of the Moorish maidens. The feast took place in the gardens
about Almanzor's beautiful country place, Almeria, where at night the
whole estate was illuminated by means of lamps which were fastened to
every tree and shrub. Musicians, far out upon the lakes, discoursed
sweet music from boats which were hung with silken tapestries, and the
whole night was given over to pleasures. As a reminder of the customs of
the desert tribes, who used to carry off their wives by force, the bride
was placed in a spacious pavilion of white silk, where she was carefully
guarded by her maids in waiting, each armed with a cunningly wrought
wand of ivory and gold. The bridegroom and his attendants came upon them
suddenly, however, brandishing gilt maces, and after a mimic struggle,
where all was mirth and laughter, the guard of love was overcome and the
bride was won. This wedding feast brought joy, not only to those who
actively participated in its pleasures, but also to many of the common
people; for Almanzor gave dowries to a large number of orphan girls,
endowed a large number of schools and colleges, and put new uniforms
upon all the members of his bodyguard.

With the death of the great Kalif Al Hakem II.--976--the power of Islam
in Spain began slowly to decline. His son and heir, Heschem II., was but
a youth of ten, and the Arabs called him Al