The martial spirit of Abd-al-Mumen was not enfeebled either by increasing physical infirmities or by the accumulated weight of years. The unsettled state of affairs in Spain and the unsatisfactory results accomplished by his generals, whose victories, however brilliant, seemed to inflict but trifling injury on the enemy, convinced him of the necessity for an aggressive and decisive campaign. The innumerable tribes, provinces, and kingdoms of Africa united under his sceptre had submitted without murmur or hesitation to the exercise of despotic power. The wisdom of his administration, the severity with which rebels and outlaws were punished, diffused a wholesome dread of his anger throughout the vast Almohade monarchy, more extensive even than that ruled by any of his predecessors and reaching from the Mediterranean to the south of the Sahara, from the Atlantic to the valley of the Nile. Supplies sufficient for the maintenance of an immense army were collected at Tangier, Algeziras, Gibraltar. Then the proclamation of the Holy War was issued. There responded to that welcome summons nearly half a million men. But before they could be assembled and organized for action, Abd-al-Mumen expired, bequeathing his throne and the execution of his projects of ambition to his third and favorite son, Abu-Yakub-Yusuf, a prince eminently worthy of the responsibilities imposed upon him by paternal favor and the caprice of fortune. The character of Abd-al-Mumen presents an epitome of the homely virtues and ferocious vices of the Desert. In the attainment of his ends he was seldom swayed by considerations of pity, honor, or benevolence. He never shrank from indiscriminate butchery in the heat of battle. He seldom hesitated to pardon a defeated and submissive foe. In the dispensation of justice the culprit promptly underwent the extreme penalty of violated law. The attention of the founder of a stupendous empire was not entirely engrossed by schemes of war and conquest. He established schools and colleges in the larger cities of his dominions, fostered literature, encouraged art. The most talented and accomplished teachers in the entire realm of Islam were attracted to his court, where, honored with the friendship and enriched by the liberality of their royal patron, their efforts were directed to the education of youth. Three thousand of the latter, selected from the most distinguished families, were assembled in a university at the capital, where they not only profited by the instruction of learned professors, but were daily exercised in the military evolutions essential to a competent knowledge of the art of war--the manœuvring, the encampment, and the discipline of armies. Under the care of such a monarch the city of Morocco became a metropolis worthy of an empire which comprehended an hundred distinct tribes and nations, and whose opposite boundaries were separated by a four months’ journey. The royal residence and