pointed out to them that it was to their own interest to acknowledge his authority, inasmuch as the Emperor had it in his power materially to damage or greatly to foster their commerce abroad. Thus they were induced to accept him, though reluctantly, as their Governor. But before long they rose in rebellion against him, at the instigation chiefly of his cousin Abu Zama. Othman was driven from the country, having to flee for his life, and straightway went to the Emperor to inform him of what had happened. Upon this, Heraclius sent an order to Amr, the Governor of Arabia Petræa, to imprison every merchant from Mecca whom Othman might denounce to him. Othman no doubt believed that he was working for the true welfare of his country, sunk in heathenism, by helping the Roman Government, as the exponent of the superior Christian religion, to extend its influence over his native city. But this made him obnoxious to his countrymen who were jealous of their independence and wedded to their own ancestral institutions. His later interference with their commerce still further exasperated them against him, and he is reported to have been assassinated in Arabia Petræa.

These facts were well calculated to prove instructive to his Hanifite friends in Mecca and to other awakened patriots who were equally desirous of raising their country politically, and of leading it to a purer Faith. For they showed them how precarious and dangerous it was to make use of foreign support and to encourage political influence from abroad for securing the realisation of their object, and thus suggested to them the adoption of less irritating and more strictly patriotic measures, such as we afterwards find Mohammed actually employing.

The Abyssinian wars and conquests in Arabia during the century preceding the age of Mohammed are expressly mentioned and their origin is circumstantially related by Ibn Ishak, in his celebrated Life of Mohammed. This is the earliest of the Mohammedan biographies by Moslem authors, still preserved to us, and it is constantly referred to as an authority throughout the following pages. Ibn Hisham, who edited that work, with additions and omissions, tells us that the reason why Ibn Ishak at all referred to those

wars was 'their connection with the life of the Apostle of God.' That the Abyssinian and other foreign conquests in Arabia had an important bearing on the rise and victorious career of Mohammed, can be accepted as an historical truth, though we have to view it in a light and to trace it in a manner widely different from that of the Mohammedan historians. The details with which they adorn their account make it clear that in their eyes the connection of those events with the life of Mohammed was, that they appeared to point to a special Divine Providence for the protection of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina from foreign subjugation and for the prevention of Christian Governments from permanently establishing their power within the Peninsula of Arabia.

Their narrative, evidently much embellished, if not wholly fictitious, is as follows: One of the Himyarite kings, Tiban Asad Abu Karib by name, whose son had been killed in Medina, brought an army before that city, intending to destroy it, to slay its inhabitants, and to cut down its palm trees. But two learned Jewish doctors came before him, earnestly trying to dissuade him from carrying out his intention, lest he should draw upon himself a speedy punishment; for, said they, this city is destined to become the refuge and home of a prophet, who, in the latter times, will rise up amongst the Koreish in the holy city. The Himyarite Tobba or king was so impressed with the speech of the Jewish doctors that he not only spared the city, but also embraced the Jewish religion. On his departure, he was met by a deputation whose object was to induce him to sack the temple of Mecca, by promising him that he would find there great treasures of pearls, precious stones, gold and silver. But being again enlightened by the Jewish doctors that this was a mere stratagem to lead him and his army to certain destruction and that the only temple chosen by God upon earth, the temple of their father Abraham, was the one in Mecca: he rewarded the deputation by cutting off their hands and feet. Thereupon proceeding to Mecca to perform the usual religious services in its sanctuary, he was the first to cover it with costly striped linen, as bidden in a dream. He also offered sacrifices and regaled the inhabitants of Mecca at a feast. But the last of his successors in the Himyarite