LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 119 



thorough knowledge of climate, and possessed the 

 happy art of appropriating, in their various produc- 

 tions, the different soils to that kind of culture best 

 adapted to them. Great care and skill were also be- 

 stowed on the formation of gardens, and the choice 

 and arrangement of plants ; and by this means many 

 valuable 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 gra- 

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

 and fountains of water they had in the richest abun- 

 dance. A monument of their horticultural taste 

 still remains in the garden of the Alcazar at Seville, 

 which is preserved in its original state. There are 

 walks paved with marble, and so contrived that they 

 can be turned into continuous fountains, by forcing 

 up small jets of water from minute pipes inserted 

 between the joining of the slabs. 



In metallurgy, or the working of mines and me- 

 tals, there is evidence that the Arabs had arrived at 

 considerable perfection. Their skill in the different 

 manufactures of hardware was remarkable, and 

 known to every civilized nation in the world. The 

 blades of Mushraf and Damascus were not more 

 renowned in the East than the swords of Granada 

 and Toledo in the West. The temper of the Spa- 

 nish arms was held in the highest repute ; that coun- 

 try being the arsenal which supplied Europe and 

 Africa with cuirasses, bucklers, casques, scimitars, 

 and daggers. The celebrated Alkendi, among his 

 numerous works, produced a treatise on the different 



