LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 95 



construction of aqueducts, baths, cisterns, and ca- 

 nals. Their acquaintance with hydrauhcs is mani- 

 fest from the number of mills and other waterworks 

 employed in the useful process of irrigation. Ac- 

 customed to an arid and sultry climate, they consid- 

 ered the command of water to be a material requi- 

 site in every country Avhere they settled. The pon- 

 tanos or reservoirs in Spain, and the tanks in Africa, 

 were either erected or restored by them. Their 

 palaces and mosques were furnished with capacious 

 cisterns. The gardens of the Alhambra contained 

 sheets of water, in the surface of which the build- 

 ings were reflected ; and in most of the principal 

 cities fountains played in the streets, as well as in 

 the courts of the houses, by which the atmosphere 

 was attempered during summer. Tn the famous 

 palace of Toledo was a pond, in the midst of which 

 rose a vaulted room of stained glass adorned with 

 gold. Into this apartment the caliph could enter 

 untouched by the water, and sit while a cascade 

 poured from above, with tapers burning before him. 

 We are not aware that any discoveries of theirs in 

 hydrostatics have been transmitted to us ; but the 

 titles of two works by the celebrated Alkendi are 

 mentioned in Casiri, viz. on Bodies that Float on 

 Water, and on Bodies that Sink. 



Architecture was an art in which the Arabs par- 

 ticularly excelled ; and the revenues of kingdoms 

 were expended in erecting public buildings, of which 

 Jerusalem, Babylon, and Baalbec, afforded the most 

 stupendous models. It has been observed as a cir- 

 cumstance worthy of remark, that no people ever 

 constructed so many edifices as the Arabs, who ex- 

 tracted fewer materials from the quarry. From the 

 Tigris to the Orontes, from the Nile to the Guadal- 

 quiver, the buildings of the first settlers were raised 

 from the wreck of cities, castles, and fortresses, 

 which they had destroyed. 



In the style of architecture, the Arabs both of the 



