Ambassadors were then appointed, who were to be the bearers of these missives into the land of Mauritania.

CHAP. IX.-OF THE ALMORAVIDES, AND THEIR WARS IN AFRICA.

AND now, since the Almoravides and their princes became masters of Spain, it will not be inopportune here to give a short notice of that Moorish people, with a sketch of the origin of their most famous conquests; which were, in fact, the cause of their admission into Andalusia. We will first describe the origin of the Multimines, or Almoravides of the tribe of Lamta, who came from the Desert which extends along the east of Africa, with their General, Abu Bekir; whose origin we will also declare in this place, together with the causes which moved him to leave the Desert, and the manner in which he rose to the government of the tribes, thus giving rise to a new and powerful empire on the coasts of Africa; those lands, namely, which lie on the hither side of the Mountains of Daren, and which the ancients called Mauritania.

The Cabila, or Family of the Multimines, derived its origin from a tribe of still higher antiquity, called the Lamtuna, from the name of their first known ancestor, who was called Lamtu. He was the kinsman of Gudala and Mustafa, who were both chiefs and progenitors of the tribes that bore those names. These men made boast of their descent from another yet more ancient and noble tribe, called that of Sanhaga, of the old blood of Humair, which was that of the first kings of Yemen, or Arabia Felix, where their ancestors dwelt, without deigning to mingle their race with that of the men of Barbary, nor ever permitting their daughters to enter the families of the latter, by marriage with their sons.

The tribe of Sanhaga departed for Yemen and retired into the Desert, in consequence of certain wars, the result of which must otherwise have been to compel them to that mingling of races, and communion with the men of Barbary, to which they were not content to submit. Being poor, they used but one piece of clothing, yet this sufficed to wrap the whole person; and other writers than those we have

hitherto followed have even declared that from this vestment, which was Called Lamt, was derived the Cabila denomination of the Multimines, and not from that of their forefather Lamtu or Lamta, as the authors first consulted affirm. Yet the assertion that they drew their appellation from the name of their progenitor of the older times is the more satisfactorily authenticated, as well as the more probable relation.

These tribes did not dwell in cities, nor had they any fixed abiding place, but wandered through various parts of the African deserts with their camels and tents, which they removed as the seasons demanded, and as the requirements of time and place made needful. They thus went wandering, as chance directed, from province to province and from country to country, until they finally made their abode in the deserts of Africa: in that part namely which men call the Upper, or Interior Africa, and the cause whereby they were subsequently induced to abandon those deserts is related by their historians in the following terms.

They tell us that a man named Yahye Ben Tbrahim, of the Cabila of Gudala, having proceeded in pilgrimage to the city of Mecca in Arabia, paid a visit on his return to that of Cairvan, which is at the distance of three days' journey from Tunis, and to the south of the last-named city. Here Yahye Ben Ibrahim, as he delayed for some time to examine the remarkable objects presented by the place, its Aljamas, its schools, and other institutions of similar character, met an Alfaki of the Aljama, who was called Abu Amram, a native of the city of Fez, and conversing with this man, the Faki inquired of the pilgrim from what land he had come, to what nation he belonged, and to which of the four orthodox sects of Islam he was attached. The pilgrim replied that the people of his country possessed neither science nor letters, and had scarcely any religion, still less the knowledge of those sects whereof the Alfaki had spoken; he added that the tribes of his people lived entirely apart from the intercourse of cultivated men, that they dwelt in the midst of deserts, and saw nothing more exalted than herdsmen or a few wandering merchants, whose sole learning consisted in buying and selling and increasing their gains. But that notwithstanding all this, the dwellers in his land and those

abiding in other parts of the desert were not so barbarous and ferocious but that they desired to learn things useful, and would fain know something of letters and religion, being for the most part of good dispositions and very gentle of heart, despite the rustic simplicity of their manners. Yahye Ben Ibrahim concluded by begging the Faki Abu Amram to consider if he had not some one among his disciples who might be willing to go with him into the deserts, there to instruct the people of his country.

Abu Amram replied that he would do what he could in the matter, and did in effect propose it to his disciples; but there was not one among them who was found willing to do as the pilgrim desired; whether because of the distance between Cairvan and the Desert into which they were required to go, or because they dreaded the perils and difficulties of a way so little known, and which a task so arduous presented, we do not find deduced.

Yahye Ben Ibrahim was now about to take his way to the Desert and leave Cairvan, but before his departure Abu Amram gave him certain accounts of a Faki called Abu Izag, who lived in the kingdom of Suez, in the land of Almagreb, and was greatly venerated by the Moslemah for his learning and the purity of his life; insomuch that he would doubtless have influence enough to find among his disciples such a teacher for his people as the pilgrim desired and as those dwellers in the desert needed. Abu Amram furthermore supplied the prilgrim with letters of recommendation to that Alfaki of Suez, requesting him to promote the wishes of Yahye Ben Ibrahim with what diligence he could.

The pilgrim then departed, and presenting his letters to Abu Izag, he was very well received by that Alfaki, who assisted him to terminate the affair in question as he desired, and gave him a master for his people in whom he, Abu Izag, had much confidence. This was Abdallah Ben Yasim, who had studied the sciences at Andalusia for seven years, and was a man of great learning and distinction; nor did he refuse his concurrence in the work proposed, but set forth with Yahye Ben Ibrahim, and they arrived in due time at that part of the desert wherein the tribe of Gudula was making its abode. The master was there very cordially welcomed by all the Cabila; he soon saw himself surrounded by some

seventy Xeques of the most noble in the land; and as the nation was of honourable and humane dispositions, these men all held their learned teacher in the highest esteem, treating him with as much consideration as they would have done had he been the lord and father of them all.

At length Abdallah perceived himself to be in so much authority with them that he ventured to command the arming of the tribe, and sent them forth to make war on a neighbouring Cabila, which was no other than that of Lamtuna. His commands were obeyed with ready submission, and the people acquitted themselves so valorously, that they compelled the Lamtunas also to acknowledge the authority of their Xeque and master, Abdallah Ben Yasim. In like manner, and with the same bravery and good fortune, did they subsequently bring to his obedience all the other Cabilas of the Desert, greatly increasing the power and reputation of the Xeque thereby, as they did likewise the importance of their own tribe of Gudula. Finally, the learned teacher, Abdallah Ben Yasim, was considered to be the sovereign of that tribe, as he was of the tribe of Lamtuna, seeing that the Ameer of the Lamtunies, Abu Yahye Zacaria Ben Omar, had declared himself his disciple, following the counsels of Abdallah Ben Yasim, whether for peace or war, and doing nothing without his approbation.

At no great distance from the tract of country occupied by the Cabila of Lamtuna, there was a rude and wild district consisting principally of a chain of hills, within whose asperities there dwelt certain barbarians who were acquainted with no religion, and whom the Xeque Abdallah Ben Yasim desired to instruct; but they despised his teaching, and paid no regard to his admonitions; whereupon the Xeque commanded that unsparing war should be made on those recusants; and he committed the conduct thereof to the people of Lamtuna, who performed his behests with a ready obedience, which was fully equalled by the bravery and constancy of their demeanour in the battles which ensued.

The Chief, or King of Lamtuna, Abu Zucaria Yahye, went forth against the Hill-people with a thousand cavaliers of his Cabila, and after many skirmishes engaged them in a battle which proved to be a very obstinate and perilous contest. The tribe of Lamtuna were a light and active, but

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very powerful and robust race: excessively bold, and well inured to the hardships and exercises of war, they were kept in the constant practice of the same by their almost perpetual struggles with those barbarians of the hills already mentioned, and with other Cabilas who were their enemies. They knew how to range their troops in order of battle, and were accustomed to place in the foremost ranks of their infantry, men who used very long lances, which they fixed in the earth; these foot-soldiers were so resolute and proud that, according to Abu Oveid of Bejer, they were never known to turn their backs on the enemy in any battle, and would always rather die where they stood, than give way or yield a foot of ground to the foe. They would never fly, however vast the multitude of the enemy opposed to them; and this unflinching courage, with their brave determination to conquer, enabled them almost always to make a terrible carnage among the ranks of the foe, insomuch that in these wars with the barbarians, the latter ever lost many more of their numbers in contest with the foot-soldiers than with the cavalry. At a word, the tribe of Lamta remained master of the field on this occasion as on many others, compelling the men of the hills to fly in much disorder, when the victors plundered their tents, and divided among themselves such spoil as they found therein.

This victory cost the Lamtunas a large number of their men, and the Xeque Abdallah Ben Yasim, remarking the courage and steadiness which they displayed in the fight, bestowed on those of the tribe of Lamtuna the name of Murabitines or Almoravides; that is, Men of God, or such as have given themselves spontaneously and of free will to the service of Allah. Considering further the undaunted bravery and steady persistence with which the men of Lamtuna sustained all the hardships incidental to warfare, Abdallah began to think that, with the care and ability which he for his part could bring to the guidance of such warriors, he might be able to make himself master of all Mauritania and the lands of Almagreb. Wherefore, to excite at once their vanity and courage, with the intent to lead them to the attempt which he desired to make, Abdallah Ben Yasim addressed them as follows::"Oh noble Almoravides of Lamtuma, yours is the gift of