It may be impossible now to estimate accurately the extent of our obligations to Arabian literature. An empire so widely spread, by the encouragement it gave to letters, must have had a beneficial influence on almost every country. Europeans, whether subject to its sway or only contemplating it from a distance, copied or emulated the example. Gerbert, who subsequently occupied the papal chair as Silvester II., acquired the Arabic method of computation during his travels in Spain, {265} previously to his elevation. Leonardo, a Pisan merchant, obtained a knowledge of the same art in his intercourse with the Mohammedans on the coast of Africa; and by him it was introduced into his own native republic, from whence it was soon communicated to the Western World. In the city of Salernum, a port of Italy, Mussulmans and Christians so intermixed as to communicate insensibly the literature of the Saracens to the Italians, and in the schools of that city students were collected from every quarter of Europe. Arabic books, by command of Charlemagne, were translated into Latin for the use of learned men throughout his vast empire; and, without exaggerating the merits of the followers of the Prophet, it may be admitted that we are indebted to them for the revival of the exact and physical sciences, and for many of those useful arts and inventions that have totally changed the aspect of European literature, and are still contributing to the civilization, freedom, and best interests of man. [1] Abulferage, p. 160. {266} CHAPTER III. The present Condition of Mohammedanism.--In Turkey.--The Doctrines believed there.--Their Forms of Devotion.--Lustrations.--Prayer.--Mohammedan Sabbath.--Fast of Ramadan.--Meccan Pilgrimage.--Proselytism.--Mohammedan Hierarchy.--Islamism in Tartary.--In Hindustan.--In China.--In Persia.--In Africa.--In the Indian Archipelago.--The Sooffees.--The Wahabees.