exception of Egypt, acknowledged fealty to the successor of the prophet. Edris is venerated by the natives of Mauritania as the founder of Fez,-of that part of it, at least, which is now denominated the Old City.

A. D. 909. The rise of the Fatimites, in the person of Al Mahadi, suppressed for a time all the other dynasties of the West. He assumed the title of caliph, and governed Africa with a rod of iron; making also several attempts to add Egypt to his dominions, in one of which he reduced the city of Alexandria. His grandson Moez, who succeeded in conquering the rich valley of the Nile, removed the seat of his government to Cairo, where, claiming the honours due to the successor of their great apostle, and commanding his name to be introduced into the public prayers of the mosque, he inflicted upon his church the scandal of a schism.

When he left Barbary, he consigned the charge of the provincials to Yussuf ibn Zeiri, who, asserting the independence of that fine country, gave rise to a dynasty of princes, who figure in the Spanish histories under the corrupt appellation of Zegris. This family, there is reason to believe, enjoyed royal power in the territory of Algiers down to the year 1148, when the last sovereign of their race was killed in battle by the forces of Roger, king of Sicily and Calabria, who, in their progress to the Holy Land, were induced by a feeling of revenge to debark on the African coast.

When Moez was on the throne of Egypt, he gave permission to an immense multitude of Arabs to pass through that country on their way to Barbary; whither they carried with them a great number of

camels, the first which were naturalized in the northern parts of the continent. It is said that no fewer than 50,000 warriors accompanied this emigration, who, as they went to seek new lands for their flocks and herds, produced a deep impression on the whole province, and effected a material change in the distribution of property. Leo Africanus relates that they took Tripoli, and put most of the inhabitants to the sword; destroyed Capes, in the neighbourhood of Tunis; and next attacked Kairwan, the metropolis of the Saracenic princes, in the sack of which they were guilty of the greatest inhumanities. They soon overran all the plain country, and penetrated into many parts of the Southern Numidia; for, like their countrymen at home, being generally mounted on fleet horses, they evaded the pursuit of the Moors, who were more accustomed to fight on foot. It is from these families of Arabs, whom Moez encouraged to pass the Red Sea, that the wandering tribes have sprung, who still employ the camel in the African deserts, and follow the nomade life at once as shepherds and merchants. The Saracens who followed the standard of Akbah count themselves more noble than the hordes just described, not only because these last remained longer ignorant of the orthodox faith, but also because they have stained the purity of their descent by intermixture with foreign nations.

A. D. 1148. It would be equally tedious and fruitless to trace the history of the several dynasties which, during the weakness of the caliphate, rose and disappeared in Barbary. The Almohades and Almoravides lay claim, perhaps, to some attention, from their intercourse with the Moslem princes, who at that period

occupied a large portion of the Spanish peninsula, The latter, who revived for a time the spirit of the Mohammedan creed, found their efforts crowned with great success, and, in fact, extended their conquests into the south and west, which they were also able to retain during the lapse of nearly a hundred years.

But the events which follow upon the commencement of the thirteenth century will enter with better effect into the narrative which respects the Barbary States, taken separately; the condition, indeed, in which they naturally present themselves to the view of the reader after the fall of the dynasty founded by Abu Beker, and the suspension of the general government under the descendants of the prophet. To this part of our undertaking we shall return, so soon as we have taken a brief review of the religion and literature of Northern Africa, from the dawn of history down to the date of its conquest by the Arabian Mussulmans.

CHAPTER IV.

Religion and Literature of the Barbary States.

The Religion and Literature vary with the successive Inhabitants -Superstition of the Natives-Human Sacrifices continued by the Carthaginians-Worship of Melcarth, Astarté, and BaalNo sacred Caste or Priesthood-Religious Rites performed by the Chief Magistrates-Introduction of Christianity-Accomplished by the Arms of Rome-Different Opinions as to the Date of Conversion and the Persons by whom it was effected-Statements of Salvian and Augustin-Learning and Eloquence of the African Clergy, Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius, and the Bishop of Hippo-Works of these Divines-Death of Cyprian and Augustin The Writings of the Latin Fathers chiefly valuable as a Record of Usages, Opinions, and Discipline-Church revived under Justinian-Invasion of the Moslem-Christian Congregations permitted to exist under the Mohammedan Rulers-Condi tions of Toleration-Africans gradually yield to the Seducements of the new Faith, and the Gospel is superseded by the KoranBarbary States the only Country where Christianity has been totally extinguished-Attempt made to restore it by the Patriarch of Alexandria-Five Bishops sent to Kairwan-Public Profession of the Gospel cannot be traced after the Twelfth Century-A few Christians found at Tunis in 1533-Learning of the ArabsGreat Exertions of Almamoun-He collects Greek Authors, and causes them to be translated-He is imitated by the Fatimites of Africa-Science cultivated by the Mohammedans Five Hundred Years Their chief Studies were Mathematics, Astronomy, and Chemistry-Their Progress in Chemical Researches-Neglect Literature, properly so called-Prospect of Improvement from the Settlement of European Colonies in Northern Africa.

THE religion and learning of the Barbary States will be found to vary with the several races of men by whom they have been successively occupied since

the era of the Phoenicians; the original inhabitants having left no record of their opinions, either in regard to the material world, or to those more lofty objects which interest the belief and the imagination. The ancient Getulians, it is probable, like their neighbours of the Desert, had no literature; while, as to faith and worship, they may be supposed to have shared in that universal superstition which connects the veneration of mankind with those physical manifestations which accompany the periodical production and decay of all organized forms. The energies of nature, whether displayed in the firmament or in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, associate themselves in the rude mind with certain emblems which are conceived to have some affinity to the immaterial principle whence the source of all events has its rise; and this association, however arbitrary or remote, confers upon the meanest things a relative sanctity, by which they seem to become, not only worthy of respect, but also of a species of religious confidence and trust.

Hence the origin of fetichism; the notion that a piece of wood or a polished stone may be the seat of an invisible power, and which may be described as a species of Pantheism, common to every climate at a particular stage of civilisation. Every object endowed with qualities, fitted either to bestow a signal benefit or to inflict a serious injury, was regarded as the abode or the instrument of a mysterious agent, whose divinity might be propitiated by attention or offended by neglect. Taken by itself, this simple belief may be viewed as nothing more than the parent of ridiculous usages and absurd apprehensions, being a stranger to those bloody rites