CALIPHS OP SPAIN. 65 



first onset with wild cries and bowlings, in order to 

 intimidate the foe, a practice which is said to have 

 been introduced in the reign of Almansor, and 

 was adopted by the Turks. In military tactics the 

 Arabs were, upon the whole, inferior to the Chris- 

 tians ; but their skill in the arts and sciences gave 

 them, during part of their conquests, an incalcula- 

 ble advantage over the latter. With the composi- 

 tion of gunpowder, and the different ways of apply- 

 ing it in war, they were not unacquainted j and we 

 know from various authorities that they employed 

 artillery. Casiri has cited two native historians, 

 who prove that it was both known and used by the 

 Spanish Arabs in the latter part of the twelfth and 

 beginning of the thirteenth century; and he has 

 given extracts from two contemporary Spanish 

 writers, who describe these destructive engines as 

 being certain iron tubes or mortars, which emitted 

 thunder and fire. 



The annual revenue of the Spanish caliphs was im- 

 mense. In the reign of Abdalrahman III., the great- 

 est sovereign that ever sat on the Moorish throne, 

 it was reckoned equivalent to 5,500,000 of sterling 

 money, which at that time probably exceeded the 

 united income of all the Western monarchies. It was 

 derived, first, from a tithe of all produce whatsoever, 

 which was paid in kind ; secondly, from a duty of 

 twelve and a half per cent, on every commodity im- 

 ported or exported ; of an impost of one-tenth part 

 on every species of goods transferred by sale ; and, 

 lastly, of a tribute of one-fifth levied on property 

 belonging to Jews and Christians. How Spain 

 could supply all this magnificence and expense, 

 may be a subject of wonder or dispute to political 



