Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/424

280 280 THE SPANISH ARABS. PART taste of the Saracens at this period, which indeed, ' in architecture, seems to have been far inferior to that of the later princes of Granada, we cannot but be astonished at the adequacy of their resources to carry such magnificent designs into execution. Their revenue, we are told in explanation, amount- ed to eight millions of mitcales of gold, or nearly six millions sterling ; a sum fifteen-fold greater than that which William the Conqueror, in the subsequent century, was able to extort from his subjects, with all the ingenuity of feudal exaction. The tone of exaggeration, which distinguishes the Asiatic writers, entitles them perhaps to little confidence in their numerical estimates. This immense wealth, however, is predicated of other Mahometan princes of that age ; and their vast superiority over the Christian states of the north, in arts and effective industry, may well account for a corresponding superiority in their resources. The revenue of the Cordovan sovereigns was derived from the fifth of the spoil taken in battle, an important item in an age of unintermitting war and rapine ; from the enormous exaction of one tenth of the produce of commerce, husbandry, flocks, and mines ; from a capitation tax on Jews and. Christians ; and from certain tolls on the trans- portation of goods. They engaged in commerce on their own account, and drew from mines, whicii Morales, Obras, torn. x. p. 61. — I'Empire de Maroc, (Paris, 1787, ^ Chenier, Recherches Ilistoriques lom. ii. p. 312. — Laborde, Ilinc- sur les Maures, et Ilistoire de raire, tome iii. p. 226,