102 LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 



ment with the Spanish Arabs ; and from them our 

 ancestors borrowed the morris-dance, which formed 

 a part of their May-games. To the diversions of 

 hunting, hawking, and horsemanship, they were 

 passionately addicted. 



Of all the sciences cultivated by the Arabs, agri- 

 culture is that in which they made the greatest pro- 

 gress. No civilized nation of their times possessed 

 a code of husbandry more judicious or more perfect. 

 Many of their learned men turned their attention to 

 this subject, Kutsami, author of the Nabathaean 

 Agriculture, Abu Omar, Abu Abdallah, Abu Zacha- 

 ria, and others, afforded to their countrymen valuable 

 instruction in the different branches of rural econ- 

 omy. From these treatises it appears that the 

 Saracens were well acquainted with the nature and 

 properties of soils and manures ; and the proper 

 application of them to every particular species of 

 crops, trees, and plants. They were familiar with 

 the rearing and management of cattle ; and the Eu- 

 ropean horse was greatly improved by a mixture 

 with the Arabian breed. They had a thorough 

 knowledge of climate, and possessed the happy art 

 of appropriating, in their various productions, the 

 different soils to that kind of culture best adapted to 

 them. Great care and skill were also bestowed on 

 the formation of gardens, and the choice and ar- 

 rangement of plants ; and by this means many valu- 

 able exotics were naturalized. Besides rice, olives, 

 oranges, and the sugar-cane, we are indebted to the 

 Saracens for the introduction of the cotton-tree, the 

 pistachio, ginger, myrrh, henna, sesame, saffron, 

 spinach, and a variety of fine fruits and vegetables, 

 now considered as indigenous. In ornamental gar- 

 dening they took great delight ; studying the grati- 

 fication of the eye as well as of the palate. Flowers 

 and fountains of water they had in the richest 

 abundance. A monument of their horticultural taste 

 still remains in the garden of the Alcazar at Seville, 



