As Soon As The Conquest Of The
Western Part Of Syria Was Completed, The Arabians Took Advantage Of The
Timber Of Libanus, And Of The Maritime Skill Of The Phoenicians, Which Even
Yet Survived:
They fitted out a fleet of 1,700 barks, which soon rode
triumphant in the Mediterranean.
Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were
subdued, and Constantinople itself was attacked, but without effect.
The conquest of Egypt, however, was of the most importance to the Arabian
commerce, and therefore more especially demands our notice. - "In their
annals of conquest," as Gibbon remarks, "the siege of Alexandria is perhaps
the most arduous and important enterprize. The first trading city in the
world was abundantly replenished with the means of subsistence and
defence." But the Saracens were bold and skilful; the Greeks timid and
unwarlike; and Alexandria fell into the possession of the disciples of
Mahomet. As soon as the conquest of Egypt was completed, its administration
was settled, and conducted on the most wise and liberal principles. In the
management of the revenue, taxes were raised, not by the simple but
oppressive mode of capitation, but on every branch from the clear profits
of agriculture and commerce. A third part of these taxes was set apart,
with the most religious exactness, to the annual repairs of the dykes and
canals. At first, the corn which used to supply Constantinople was sent to
Medina from Memphis by camels; but Omrou, the conqueror of Egypt, soon
renewed the maritime communication "which had been attempted or achieved by
the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, or the Caesars; and a canal, at least eighty
miles in length, was opened from the Nile to the Red Sea.
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