The history of Kairwán has been of sufficient importance to influence appreciably the history of Europe and Africa. On the untimely death of Okhbah, the Berber king, Kassila, succeeded in occupying it. Twenty years later he was slain by Zohair Ben Kaïs outside its walls. His successor, Hassan Ben Nouman, was defeated by a Berber queen, who endeavoured to render the country unattractive to the Arabs by converting it into a desert. This policy alienated her own subjects, and in A.D. 708, Musa Ibn Noseir obtained an easy victory. Then came the golden period of its existence: the gallant Tarik marched out of its gates to conquer Spain. Having “burned his ships” at Tarifa, Granada, Cordova, and Toledo fell in rapid succession. The aged Musa hurried westwards to participate in his glory before Seville, which, after a protracted resistance, shared the fate of its sister cities. His son, Abd el Aziz, laid the solid foundations of the Moorish empire in Spain, which lasted for well-nigh eight centuries. Before thirty years had elapsed since Tarik left Kairwán, the Caliph of Cordova had conquered Tours. But the time of Moslem conquest was now soon destined to be stayed. The reflection of the glories of Kairwán, of Tarik, and Musa, is to be found in the ruins of Granada and Cordova. Vanquished in Europe, the Moors of Andalusia brought back at last the keys of their Spanish houses to the cradle of their faith in Africa. To return to the chronicles of their holy city. During its earliest days its site had been, as it were, consecrated to Islam by the presence of Abdullah Ben Wádib el Belawi, or Abou el Awib—_Saheb Ennabi_, or Companion of the Prophet—who died and was buried at Kairwán. For years after its formation, its Emirs were engaged in continual conflicts with the Berber tribesmen. In A.D. 756, the Emir Abd el Rahman was strong enough to send an expedition against Sicily. In the Great Mosque of Okhbah he afterwards declared himself independent of the Caliph: his son, however, once more acknowledged his suzerainty. Nine years later the city fell under the cruel sway of the Werfadjoumah. Once more the Berbers seized Kairwán; but after enduring the horrors of a siege, they destroyed a large portion of the city, and finally withdrew to the Atlas. The Caliph sent Yezid Ibn Hatem to restore order; and after inflicting a second signal defeat on the Africans, he “rebuilt the Great Mosque, established numerous bazaars, and assigned to each trade a distinct quarter—in fact, remodelled and half rebuilt the city.” At length the Caliph el Reschid appointed the Emir Ibrahim Ibn el Aghlab hereditary Emir of Kairwán. Ibrahim then became the founder of the Aghlabite dynasty. He constructed a sort of fortified palace on the west of the old town, called the Abassiyeh. Here Ibrahim proclaimed himself Caliph of the West, and here he received the ambassadors of Charlemagne, who asked for the surrender of the remains of St. Cyprian. His sons, the