WARS OF THE CALTPHS. 305 



assuming the regal and sacerdotal duties he changed 

 not the accustomed simplicity of the caliphs. On 

 the day of Jiis inauoruration he went to the mosque 

 dressed in a thin colton gown tied round him with 

 a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in 

 one hand, and his bow in the other instead of a 

 walking-staff. The chiefs and the people saluted 

 their new monarch, and gave him the right hand of 

 fealty and obedience. 



But his accession was only the beginning of po- 

 litical convulsions, and the cause of that religious 

 schism which rent the creed of Islam in twain. The 

 discontented faction took the name of Motazahtes, 

 or Separatists ; and the sinews of war were sup- 

 plied from tlie plundered treasury of Yemen. The 

 spirit of discord was irritated by the calumny, dili- 

 gently propagated and believed, that All was an 

 accomphce in the murder of Othman. Resolved to 

 usurp the government of Irak, Telha and Zobeir, 

 the favourite partisans of Ayesha, and 3000 of the 

 insurgents, departed from Mecca for Bussora, with 

 the mother of the faithful at their head. Crossing 

 the Desert of Arabia, they reached the banks of the 

 Euphrates, where a large reinforcement from Syria 

 increased the army of the rebels to 30.000 men. 



Intelligence of this daring- insurrection was con- 

 veyed to Medina. Ali with difficulty mustered a 

 force of 20,000 Arabs : and having advanced to Bus- 

 sora, he gave battle to the rebels, after vainly at- 

 tempting a peaceful adjustment of their differences. 

 The struggle was fierce and sanguinary; but victoiy 

 declared for the caliph. Telha and Zobeir were 

 slain, and Avesha herself taken prisoner. Her 

 equipage was" a kind of litter or cage, secured on 

 every side by strona: panels, and fixed on the back 

 of a camel of extraordinary size and speed, and cov- 

 ered with mail. Her shrill voice animated the troops, 

 and her post was in the midst of danger. Her litter 

 was pierced with innumerable darts and javelins, 



Hh2 



