DECLINE OF MOHAMMEDAN POWER 71 adherence to its principles, and the scrupulous attention with which they transmit to their posterity its invaluable secrets. They are like the people of Baghdad in cleanliness of person and beauty of form, in elegance of manners, mildness of disposition, subtlety of mind, power of thought, extent of memory, and universality of talent. They are Turks in their aptitude for war, their deep acquaintance with every one of its stratagems, and their skilful preparation of the weapons and machines used in it, as well as their extreme care and foresight in all matters concerning it. They have been further compared with the Chinese for the delicacy of their work, the subtlety of their manufactures, and their dexterity in imitating all sorts of figures. And, lastly, it is generally asserted that they are of all nations that which most resembles the Greeks in their knowledge of the physical and natural sciences, their ability in discovering waters hidden in the bowels of the earth and bringing them to the surface ; their acquaintance with the various species of trees and plants and their several fruits, their industry in the pruning and grafting of trees, the arrangement and distribution of gardens, the treatment of plants and flowers, and all and every one of the branches of agriculture. Upon this last subject their proficiency is proverbial. The Andalusians, moreover, are the most patient of men and the fittest to endure fatigue.'' Such was the estimate made by contemporary writers of the people whom civil war and religious intolerance drove from the cities of southern Spain, to spread through the northern part of Africa and to found new homes upon its shores. But to these descriptions it may be well, in this place, to add another, made a hundred years later, by a very competent historian, who, looking from a distance at the events which had taken place, was perhaps able to form a truer opinion of the causes of the national downfall. Ibn Khaldun, who was born at Tunis in 1332, and died in Egypt in 1406, and whose *' History of the Berbers" is held to contain the most authentic information