Another most interesting example of Saracenic textile work is the so-called "banner of Las Navas" (Plate i.), which popular tradition affirms to have been captured (A.D. 1212) in the memorable battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, between the Almohades and the Spanish Christians. Most experts now consider that this object is not a military ensign, but a curtain or some other hanging for a tent or doorway. The material is _sirgo_ or silken serge, and both the decoration and the workmanship are purely Moorish. The design is rich and intricate throughout, consisting of scrolls, leaves, stems, and inscriptions from the Koran, disposed with exquisite effect about the principal and central motive, formed by a large eight-pointed star within a circle, and which contains, so as to form the angles of the star, eight repetitions of the words in Arabic, "_The Empire_." The dominant colour is carmine, and the fabric terminates in eight _farpas_ or scallops with red and yellow edges, and bearing a series of inscriptions in the African character. The "_pendon_ of the Rio Salado," a trophy which seems to have really been a war-flag, belongs to the cathedral of Toledo. It measures at this day about nine feet two inches by seven feet four inches, but is believed to have been originally of a square form, with scalloped edges. The dominant colours are red, green, and gold. The decorative scheme consists of tastefully combined circles and inscriptions in the Cufic character, and the lower end concludes in the following sentences, now rendered incomplete through the loss of nearly two feet of the material:--"... the wise, the victorious, the assiduous, the generous, the sultan, the caliph, the famous emir of the Muslims and representative of the Lord of the Universe, Abu-Said Otsmin, son of our lord and master ... the worshipper of (Allah), the modest, the warlike, the emir of the Mussulmans Nassir-li-Din (_defender of the law_), Abu Yusuf Yacub, son of Abd-il-Hac. In the Alcázar of Fez (God bless it. Praised be God), in the Moon of Moharran of the year twelve and seven hundred" (712 of the Hegira, or May 9th-June 7th, A.D. 1312). Tastefully disposed in white Cufic characters, within four rows of circles woven in gold, are the words which sum the Mussulman religion,--"There is no God but God: Mahoma is His Messenger"; and on other parts of the flag are inscribed these sentences:-- "The prophet believes in the purpose for which he was sent by his Lord, and all the faithful believe in God, in His angels, in His writings, and in His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers. And these declare: 'We hear and do obey. Pardon us, O Lord.' ".... And unto Thee we shall return. God will not lay on any soul but such a weight as it can bear; for it or against it shall be the deeds it may have done. O Lord, chastise not our forgetfulness or errors. O Lord, lay not upon us the burden Thou hadst laid on those that were before us.