onqueror by the easy communication with the gulf and
the peninsula of Arabia; the remains of Memphis were deserted; the tents
of the Arabs were converted into permanent habitations; and the first
mosch was blessed by the presence of fourscore companions of Mahomet. A
new city arose in their camp, on the eastward bank of the Nile; and
the contiguous quarters of Babylon and Fostat are confounded in their
present decay by the appellation of old Misrah, or Cairo, of which they
form an extensive suburb. But the name of Cairo, the town of victory,
more strictly belongs to the modern capital, which was founded in the
tenth century by the Fatimite caliphs. It has gradually receded from the
river; but the continuity of buildings may be traced by an attentive eye
from the monuments of Sesostris to those of Saladin.

Yet the Arabs, after a glorious and profitable enterprise, must have
retreated to the desert, had they not found a powerful alliance in the
heart of the country. The rapid conquest of Alexander was assisted by
the superstition and revolt of the natives: they abhorred their Persian
oppressors, the disciples of the Magi, who had burnt the temples of
Egypt, and feasted with sacrilegious appetite on the flesh of the god
Apis. After a period of ten centuries, the same revolution was renewed
by a similar cause; and in the support of an incomprehensible creed,
the zeal of the Coptic Christians was equally ardent. I have already
explained the origin and progress of the Monophysite controversy, and
the persecution of the emperors, which converted a sect into a nation,
and alienated Egypt from their religion and government. The Saracens
were received as the deliverers of the Jacobite church; and a secret
and effectual treaty was opened during the siege of Memphis between a
victorious army and a people of slaves. A rich and noble Egyptian,
of the name of Mokawkas, had dissembled his faith to obtain the
administration of his province: in the disorders of the Persian war
he aspired to independence: the embassy of Mahomet ranked him among
princes; but he declined, with rich gifts and ambiguous compliments, the
proposal of a new religion. The abuse of his trust exposed him to the
resentment of Heraclius: his submission was delayed by arrogance and
fear; and his conscience was prompted by interest to throw himself on
the favor of the nation and the support of the Saracens. In his first
conference with Amrou, he heard without indignati