, were treated as tributary serfs,
notwithstanding the promises given by Omar II. The Kharijites, of whom a
great many had emigrated to Africa, found them eager listeners. Still,
they could not believe that it was according to the will of the caliph
that they were thus treated, until a certain number of their chiefs went
as a deputation to Hisham, but failed to obtain an audience. Thereupon a
fierce insurrection broke out, against which the governor of Africa was
powerless. Hisham at once sent an army of more than 30,000 men, under
the command of Kolthum al-Qoshairi, and Balj b. Bishr. Not far from the
river Sabu in Algeria,[24] the meeting with the army of the insurgents
took place (A.D. 740). Kolthum was beaten and killed; Balj b. Bishr led
the rest of the Syrian army to Ceuta, and thence, near the end of 741,
to Spain, where they aided in the suppression of the dangerous revolt of
the peninsular Berbers. Balj died in 742. A year later the governor,
Abu'l-Khattar, assigned to his troops for settlement divers countries
belonging to the public domain.[25] An effort of the African Berbers to
make themselves masters of Kairawan failed, their army being utterly
defeated by the governor Hanzala.

Hisham died in February 743, after a reign of twenty years. He had not
been wanting in energy and ability, and kept the reins of the government
in his own hands. He was a correct Moslem and tolerant towards
Christians and Jews. His financial administration was sound and he
guarded against any misuse of the revenues of the state. But he was not
popular. His residence was at Rosafa on the border of the desert, and he
rarely admitted visitors into his presence; as a rule they were received
by his chamberlain Abrash. Hisham tried to keep himself free from and
above the rival parties, but as his vicegerents were inexorable in the
exaction of tribute, the Qaisites against the Yemenites, the Yemenites
against the Qaisites, both parties alternately had reason to complain,
whilst the non-Arabic Moslems suffered under the pressure and were
dissatisfied. He caused a large extent of land to be brought into
cultivation, and many public works to be executed, and he was accused of
overburdening his subjects for these purposes. Therefore, Yazid III. (as
also the Abbasids) on taking office undertook to abstain from spending
money on building and digging. The principle that a well-filled treasury
is the basis of a prosperous government was pushed by