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east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. And if we retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the march of a caravan. We should vainly seek the indissoluble union and easy obedience that pervaded the government of Augustus and the Antonines; but the progress of the Mahometan religion diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners and opinions. The language and laws of the Koran were studied with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville: the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris.
Chapter LII:
More Conquests By The Arabs.
Part I. The Two Sieges Of Constantinople By The Arabs. -- Their Invasion Of France, And Defeat By Charles Martel. -- Civil War Of The Ommiades And Abbassides. -- Learning Of The Arabs. - - Luxury Of The Caliphs. -- Naval Enterprises On Crete, Sicily, And Rome. -- Decay And Division Of The Empire Of The Caliphs. -- Defeats And Victories Of The Greek Emperors. When the Arabs first issued from the desert, they must have been surprised at the ease and rapidity of their own success. But when they advanced in the career of victory to the banks of the Indus and the summit of the Pyrenees; when they had repeatedly tried the edge of