122 LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 



valry, so copiously infused into our early romances. 

 Even Descartes, as Huet has asserted, was indebt- 

 ed to them for his celebrated metaphysical prin- 

 ciple, Cogito, ergo sum. To them also belongs the 

 honour of making us acquainted with the manu- 

 facture and use of paper. This invaluable com- 

 modity, it is true, had from a very remote period 

 been made in China from the refuse of silk, bam- 

 boo, and other substances. About the year 649 

 the invention was introduced at Samarcand by the 

 Tartars, who used cotton instead of silk ; and when 

 that flourishing city was subdued by the Moslems, 

 the process was conveyed to Mecca, by Yussuf 

 Amru (A. D. 706), where paper was made similar to 

 that now manufactured, though it does not appear 

 to have come immediately into general use. From 

 Mecca, the art spread through all the Arabian do- 

 minions. In Spain, which was renowned for this 

 article from the twelfth century downwards, flax, 

 which grew there abundantly, was substituted for 

 cotton, the latter being scarce and dear. Alphonso X. 

 established paper-mills, and his example passed suc- 

 cessively into France, Germany, and England. 



Gunpowder, the discovery of which is generally 

 attributed to Schwartz, a German chemist, was 

 known to the Arabs at least a century before any 

 traces of it appear in European history. Though 

 it is probable they may have derived their know- 

 ledge of this composition from the Indians, they cer- 

 tainly improved its preparation, and found out dif- 

 ferent ways of employing it in war. The mariner's 

 compass has been alternately given to the Italians 

 and the French ; but Tiraboschi, notwithstanding 

 his partiality for his country, is decidedly of opinion 

 that the honour of its invention is due to the Arabs. 



