The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

eeding of cattle, especially the sheep and the
horse. To them we owe the introduction of the
great products, rice, sugar, cotton, and also, as we
have previously observed, nearly all the fine
garden and orchard fruits, together with many less
important plants, as spinach and saffron. To them
Spain owes the culture of silk; they gave to Xeres
and Malaga their celebrity for wine. They
introduced the Egyptian system of irrigation by
flood-gates, wheels, pumps. They also promoted
many important branches of industry; improved the
manufacture of textile fabrics, earthenware, iron,
and steel; the Toledo sword-blades were
everywhere prized for the temper of their steel.”
Such were some of the splendid achievements
of the Saracens of Spain. Many more of the
material benefits which they conferred upon
Christendom might be mentioned, but the above
will suffice for this sketch, which is not designed to
be exhaustive. These are the things with which the
Saracens occupied themselves, while Christendom
sat in squalor and superstition. While Rome was
asserting the flatness of the earth, the Spanish
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