Mas‘údí has been named the 'the Herodotus of the Arabs,' and the comparison is not unjust.[667] His work, although it lacks the artistic unity which distinguishes that of the Greek historian, shows the same eager spirit of enquiry, the same open-mindedness and disposition to record without prejudice all the marvellous things that he had heard or seen, the same ripe experience and large outlook on the present as on the past. It is professedly a universal history beginning with the Creation and ending at the Caliphate of Muṭí‘, in 947 A.D., but no description can cover the immense range of topics which are discussed and the innumerable digressions with which the author delights or irritates his readers, as the case may be.[668] Thus, to pick a few examples at random, we find a dissertation on tides (vol. i, p. 244); an account of the _tinnín_ or sea-serpent (_ibid._, p. 267); of pearl-fishing in the Persian Gulf (_ibid._, p. 328); and of the rhinoceros (_ibid._, p. 385). Mas‘údí was a keen student and critic of religious beliefs, on which subject he wrote several books.[669] The _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_ supplies many valuable details regarding the Muḥammadan sects, and also regarding the Zoroastrians and Ṣábians. There is a particularly interesting report of a meeting which took place between Aḥmad b. Ṭúlún, the governor of Egypt (868-877 A.D.), and an aged Copt, who, after giving his views as to the source of the Nile and the construction of the Pyramids, defended his faith (Christianity) on the ground of its manifest errors and contradictions, arguing that its acceptance, in spite of these, by so many peoples and kings was decisive evidence of its truth.[670] Mas‘údí's account of the Caliphs is chiefly remarkable for the characteristic anecdotes in which it abounds. Instead of putting together a methodical narrative he has thrown off a brilliant but unequal sketch of public affairs and private manners, of social life and literary history. Only considerations of space have prevented me from enriching this volume with not a few pages which are as lively and picturesque as any in Suetonius. His last work, the _Kitábu ’l-Tanbíh wa-’l-Ishráf_ ('Book of Admonition and Recension'),[671] was intended to take a general survey of the field which had been more fully traversed in his previous compositions, and also to supplement them when it seemed necessary. [Sidenote: Minor historians.]