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 in the East, which declared war against the empire both by land and by sea.

It is not our province to trace the progress of that power, nor indeed of that of any nation, except as may be necessary to furnish an idea of the extent of its maritime commerce, so far as this can be ascertained from the limited sources of information now extant. Muhammed had not only introduced a new religion, but his warlike successors propagated their newly accepted faith by the sword with a success unparalleled in the history of the world. Nor were their exploits confined to the land. The Arabians, distinguished by the name of Saracens (that is, specifically "the Easterns"), who, from the earliest period of history, were skilled as navigators, and daring as seamen, had by this time become not merely an important but a powerful maritime people. Masters of Persia and of the whole of the Arabian Gulf, the "true believers," soon extended their conquests into Syria, nominally to abolish "infidelity," but with a clear eye to the advantages of commerce.

Hatred of the Christians, love of spoil, and contempt for danger were the ruling passions of the Saracens; nor could the prospect of instant death shake their religious confidence, nor stay a course of conquest, on all occasions made in "the name of the most merciful God." Bozrah and Damascus soon fell into their hands, as well as Abyla, thirty miles distant, where the produce and manufactures of the country were then collected at a great annual fair. Three years afterwards Jerusalem was besieged and taken, and the Syrian seaports captured. The