ng
than in the field of Beder; and their presumption of victory prevailed
against the divine and human sense of the apostle. The second battle
was fought on Mount Ohud, six miles to the north of Medina; the Koreish
advanced in the form of a crescent; and the right wing of cavalry was
led by Caled, the fiercest and most successful of the Arabian warriors.
The troops of Mahomet were skilfully posted on the declivity of the
hill; and their rear was guarded by a detachment of fifty archers. The
weight of their charge impelled and broke the centre of the idolaters:
but in the pursuit they lost the advantage of their ground: the archers
deserted their station: the Mussulmans were tempted by the spoil,
disobeyed their general, and disordered their ranks. The intrepid Caled,
wheeling his cavalry on their flank and rear, exclaimed, with a loud
voice, that Mahomet was slain. He was indeed wounded in the face with a
javelin: two of his teeth were shattered with a stone; yet, in the midst
of tumult and dismay, he reproached the infidels with the murder of
a prophet; and blessed the friendly hand that stanched his blood, and
conveyed him to a place of safety Seventy martyrs died for the sins
of the people; they fell, said the apostle, in pairs, each brother
embracing his lifeless companion; their bodies were mangled by the
inhuman females of Mecca; and the wife of Abu Sophian tasted the
entrails of Hamza, the uncle of Mahomet. They might applaud their
superstition, and satiate their fury; but the Mussulmans soon rallied in
the field, and the Koreish wanted strength or courage to undertake the
siege of Medina. It was attacked the ensuing year by an army of ten
thousand enemies; and this third expedition is variously named from
the _nations_, which marched under the banner of Abu Sophian, from the
_ditch_ which was drawn before the city, and a camp of three thousand
Mussulmans. The prudence of Mahomet declined a general engagement: the
valor of Ali was signalized in single combat; and the war was protracted
twenty days, till the final separation of the confederates. A tempest
of wind, rain, and hail, overturned their tents: their private quarrels
were fomented by an insidious adversary; and the Koreish, deserted by
their allies, no longer hoped to subvert the throne, or to check the
conquests, of their invincible exile.

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.--Part VI.

The choice of Jerusalem for the first kebla