208 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi. 



The first great wave of Mohammedan invasion not 

 only swept away the provinces south of the Mediter- 

 ranean, but overwhelmed the greater part of Spain, 

 and cut it away from the EmpireTor several centuries. 

 The disastrous effect of this long isolation upon the 

 future history of Spain has been often remarked, and 

 if thoroughly treated would make an interesting study. 

 Yet the contributions of the Mohammedan conquerors 

 to the work of human culture, which were by no 

 means insignificant, may perhaps be thought to have 

 afforded some compensation for the harm done. 

 Spain is the only instance of a country once 

 thoroughly infused with Roman civilisation which 

 has been actually severed from the Empire ; and even 

 here the severance, though of long duration, was but 

 partial and temporary. After a struggle of nearly 

 eight centuries, the higher form of social organisation 

 triumphed over the lower, and the usurping race was 

 expelled. 



Contemporaneously with this final rescue of Spanish 

 territory, the second great wave of Mohammedan 

 invasion overflowed the remnants of the Byzantine 

 Empire, and seemed for a while to threaten the 

 security of Europe. In this second invasion, con- 

 ducted by Turks, there was much more of barbarism 

 than in the older invasion of the Arabs, and after 



