th several other officers of
note. Kaled survived them about three years, and then died; but the
place of his burial--consequently of his death, for they did not use in
those days to carry them far--is uncertain; some say at Hems, others at
Medina.

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Those of Medina are called by that name because they helped Mahomet
in his flight from Mecca.

[67] Those that fled with him are called Mohajerins; by these names the
inhabitants of Mecca and Medina are often distinguished.

SARACENS CONQUER EGYPT

DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA

A.D. 640

WASHINGTON IRVING

Who shall estimate the loss to civilization and the world that has
been caused by the destruction of accumulated stores of books,
through the crass ignorance or stupid bigotry of benighted rulers?
The chronicles record a number of such vandal acts. Hwangti, one of
China's greatest monarchs, he who built the Great Wall of China,
attempted the complete extinction of literature in that country,
B.C. 213. That prince, being at one time strongly opposed by
certain men of letters, expressed his hatred and contempt, not only
of the literary class, but of literature itself, and resorted to
extreme measures of coercion. All books were proscribed, and orders
issued to burn every work except those relating to medicine,
agriculture, and science. The destruction was carried out with
terrible completeness. The burning of the books was accompanied by
the execution of five hundred of the _literati_ and by the
banishment of many thousands.

The destruction of the Alexandrian Library, by command of Omar, was
as complete as the extinction of literature in China by Hwangti, as
head of the Moslem religion.

Omar, using the intrepid Amru, was vicariously proselyting in true
Mahometan style--in one hand offering the _Koran_, the while the
other extended the sword.

After a successful campaign in Palestine, Omar's victorious banners
were planted in the historic soil of the Pharaohs. A protracted
siege of seven months found Amru master of the royal city of
Alexandria. The library there was famed as the greatest magazine of
literature. But this availed nothing with the ruthless Omar, for he
doomed it to annihilation.

Prof. Thomas Smith says: "The library had been collected at
fabulous expense of labor