LITERATURE OF THE ARABS 65 



of the mechanic. The celebrity of its schools may- 

 be inferred from the vast numbers of poets, histo- 

 rians, physicians, and astronomers which it pro- 

 duced ; and for several ages it abounded in learned 

 men, in the various departments of science, more 

 than any other place in the Moslem dominions. 



In every considerable town, schools, academies, 

 and libraries M^ere established. Bussora and Cufa 

 almost equalled the capital itself in reputation, and 

 in the number of celebrated authors and treatises 

 which they produced. Damascus, Aleppo, Balkh, 

 Ipsahan, and Samarcand became renowned as seats 

 of science. It was the glory of every city to col- 

 lect the treasures of literature ; and we are told that 

 a private doctor refused the invitation of the sove- 

 reign of Bokhara, because the carriage of his books 

 would have required 400 camels. The same enthu- 

 siasm was carried by the Saracens beyond the fron- 

 tiers of Asia. Egypt became a second time the asy- 

 lum of letters and art ; and the Spanish Jew, Benja- 

 min Tudela, relates in his Itinerary that he found in 

 Alexandria more than twenty schools for the cul- 

 tivation of philosophy. At a later period Cairo pos- 

 sessed numerous colleges, some of which were so 

 substantially built as to serve, during a rebellion, the 

 purpose of a citadel for the army. The royal library 

 consisted of 100,000 manuscripts, elegantly tran- 

 scribed and splendidly bound, which were lent out 

 to the students without jealousy or avarice. In its 

 arrangement, the first place was given to copies and 

 interpretations of the Koran ; the next to writings 

 on the traditions of Mohammed; books on law suc- 

 ceeded ; and after these philology, poetry, and sci- 

 ence, in their respective order. 



The historians of Africa dwell with pride on the 

 academical institutions which adorned the towns 

 scattered along its northern coasts. Cairoan, La- 

 race, Fez, and Morocco, were endowed with magni- 

 ficent establishments for the instruction of the peo- 



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