, and commanded
the preservation of the churches. Then remounting his camel, the
representative of the Prophet returned to Medina, to perform the duties
of the high-priest of his religion.

The Mussulmans now advanced towards Egypt. That country was soon
subdued. Alexandrea was taken by Amrou, one of the most distinguished
generals of Omar. It was then that the famous library was destroyed,
whose loss still excites the profound regrets of the learned. The
Arabians, though such enthusiastic admirers of their national poetry,
despised the literature of all the rest of the world. Amrou caused the
library of the Ptolemies to be burned, yet this same Amrou was
nevertheless celebrated for his poetical effusions. He entertained the
sincerest affection and respect for the celebrated John the Grammarian,
to whom, but for the opposing order of the caliph, he would have given
this valuable collection of books. It was Amrou, too, who caused the
execution of a design worthy of the best age of Rome, that of
connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean by means of a navigable
canal, at a point where the waters of the Nile might be diverted from
{30} their course for its supply. This canal, so useful to Egypt, and
so important to the commerce of both Europe and Asia, was accomplished
in a few months. The Turks, in more modern times, have suffered it to
be destroyed.

Amrou continued to advance into Africa, while the other Arabian
commanders passed the Euphrates and conquered the Persians. But Omar
was already no more, and Othman occupied his place.

It was during the reign of this caliph that the Saracens, banishing for
ever its enfeebled Greek masters, conquered Mauritania, or the country
of the Moors of Africa, A.D. 647, Heg. 27.

The invaders met with serious resistance only from the warlike tribes
of the Bereberes.[9] That bold and pastoral people, the descendants of
the ancient inhabitants of Numidia, and preserving, even to this day, a
species of independence, intrenched as they are in the Atlas Mountains,
long and successfully resisted the conquerors of the Moors. A Moslem
general named Akba finally succeeded in subjugating them, and in
compelling them to adopt the laws and faith of his country.

{31}

After that achievement Akba carried his arms to the extreme western
point of Africa, the ocean alone resisting him in his progress. There,
inspired by courage and devotion with feelings of the highest
enthus