ether subject to its sway or
only contemplating it from a distance, copied or emulated the example.
Gerbert, who subsequently occupied the papal chair as Silvester II.,
acquired the Arabic method of computation during his travels in Spain,
{265} previously to his elevation. Leonardo, a Pisan merchant,
obtained a knowledge of the same art in his intercourse with the
Mohammedans on the coast of Africa; and by him it was introduced into
his own native republic, from whence it was soon communicated to the
Western World. In the city of Salernum, a port of Italy, Mussulmans
and Christians so intermixed as to communicate insensibly the
literature of the Saracens to the Italians, and in the schools of that
city students were collected from every quarter of Europe. Arabic
books, by command of Charlemagne, were translated into Latin for the
use of learned men throughout his vast empire; and, without
exaggerating the merits of the followers of the Prophet, it may be
admitted that we are indebted to them for the revival of the exact and
physical sciences, and for many of those useful arts and inventions
that have totally changed the aspect of European literature, and are
still contributing to the civilization, freedom, and best interests of
man.

[1] Abulferage, p. 160.

{266}

CHAPTER III.

The present Condition of Mohammedanism.--In Turkey.--The Doctrines
believed there.--Their Forms of
Devotion.--Lustrations.--Prayer.--Mohammedan Sabbath.--Fast of
Ramadan.--Meccan Pilgrimage.--Proselytism.--Mohammedan
Hierarchy.--Islamism in Tartary.--In Hindustan.--In China.--In
Persia.--In Africa.--In the Indian Archipelago.--The Sooffees.--The
Wahabees.

The present condition of the Mohammedan faith, with some account of the
standing it maintains in the world, will not be deemed an inappropriate
subject for the closing pages of this volume. Its votaries have long
ceased to spread alarm through the nations by their victorious and
devastating progress; the fire of its fanaticism is almost extinct;
nevertheless, its doctrines prevail over a larger number of mankind
than any other system of false religion: they are professed in nations
and countries remote from each other, and having no other mutual
resemblance than that involved in their common superstition. In Spain,
indeed, Christianity has triumphed over Islamism; and in the
inhospitable regions of Siberia, a part of the ancient Tartary, its
advance has been somewhat