CONQtlEST OF AFRICA AND SPAIN. 389 



advice of Cahina was adopted ; but the sight of 

 their desolated country made the Moors repent of 

 their frantic passion. They bewailed the devastation 

 produced by their own hands, and began to prefer 

 the dominion of the Saracens to the yoke of the 

 Byzantine emperors, or even tlie disorderly rule of 

 their own sovereigns. 



Hassan returned, but he met with less determined 

 opposition. Revolt weakened the enemy ; in the 

 first battle the royal prophetess was slain, and 

 her death overturned to its basis the insecure fabric 

 of her superstition and her empire. Under the suc- 

 cessor of Hassan the spirit of insubordination again 

 incited these turbulent savages to acts of open rebel- 

 lion ; but it was finally quelled by the activity of 

 Musa and his two sons, who crowned a decisive 

 victory by carrying away 300,000 captives, the 

 fifth of w"hom, belonging to the caliph, were sold 

 for the benefit of the public treasury. ]Musa was 

 more than a conqueror ; and the success which he 

 had acquired as a general was confirmed by his 

 talents as a preacher and a statesman. He used 

 the utmost diligence in diffusing the doctrines of 

 the Koran and the rites of the Mohammedan faith. 



The Arabian writers are so vague and incorrect 

 in their geographical statements, that it is scarcely 

 possible to trace the limits of Mussulman dominion 

 in the heart of Africa. They appear, however, to 

 have extended over the whole maritime coast, and 

 as far inland as the verge of the Great Desert. A 

 small portion of Mauritania was still wanting to 

 complete their western conquests. Tangier, the 

 capital of that province, was besieged and taken by 

 Tarik, the servant of Musa, to whom he had in- 

 trusted the van of his army. The general himself 

 laid siege to Ceuta, a fortress in possession of the 

 kings of Spain. Here, by the wisdom and bravery 

 of the governor Count Julian, a Christian, he failed 

 IQ his att-empt. The place, however, was soon after 



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