of any traveller, however
accomplished and indefatigable.

Of history the ancient Arabs were strangely negligent; but, by the more
modern, this {254} department of knowledge has been cultivated with
greater care and success. Annals, chronicles, and memoirs, almost
numberless, are extant among them: kingdoms, provinces, and towns are
described, and their history is narrated in volumes, a bare catalogue
of which would extend to a wearisome length. They abound, however,
more in the fanciful than in the substantial and correct. Of this, the
titles of some of the most approved works of this kind may be taken as
specimens: A Chronology of the Caliphs of Spain and Africa is
denominated "A Silken Vest, embroidered with the Needle;" a History of
Grenada, "A Specimen of the Full Moon;" Ibu Abbas and Abu Bakri are
authors of historical collections, entitled respectively, "Mines of
Silver," and "Pearls and picked-up Flowers." Yet some of their
writers, as Ibn Katibi, are chiefly remarkable for the extent and
accuracy of their historical knowledge; and some of their works are
exceedingly voluminous. A full history of Spain occupied six authors
in succession, and cost the labour of one hundred and fifteen years to
complete. Their biography was not confined to men. Ibn Zaid and Abul
Mondar wrote a genealogical history of distinguished horses; and
Alasucco and Abdolmalec performed the same service for camels worthy of
being had in remembrance. Encyclopaedias and gazetteers, {255} with
dictionaries of the sciences and other similar works, occupied Arabian
pens long before they came into vogue among more modern literati.
Every species of composition, indeed, and almost every subject, in one
age or another, have engaged the attention of learned Mohammedans.

Geography they did not so well understand, their means of acquiring
knowledge on this subject being exceedingly limited. Yet their public
libraries could boast of globes, voyages, and itineraries, the
productions of men who travelled to acquire geographical information.
With statistics and political economy they had but an imperfect
acquaintance; yet so early as the reign of Omar II. we find a work
devoted to these subjects, giving an account of the provinces and
cities of Spain, with its rivers, ports, and harbours; of the climate,
soil, mountains, plants, and minerals of that country; with its
imports, and the manner in which its several productions, natural and
artifici