[543]Arab.'Sawwahun'= the Wanderers，Pilgrims，wandering Arabs，whose religion，Al-Islam，so styled by its Christain opponents.And yet the new creed was at once accepted by whole regions of Christians，and Mauritania，which had rejected Roman paganism and Gothic Christianity.This was e.g.Syria and the so-called'Holy Land，'not because，as is fondly asserted by Christians，al-Islam was forced upon them by the sword，but on account of its fulfilling a need，its supplying a higher belief；unity as opposed to plurality，and its preaching a more manly attitude of mind and a more sensible rule of conduct.Arabic still preserves a host of words special to the Christian creed；
and many of them have been adopted by Moslems but with changes of signification.
[544]i.e.of things commanded and things prohibited.The writer is thinking of the Koran in which there are _disibledevent= brothers german （of men and beasts） born of one father and mother，sire and dam.
[552]'The Forerunner'and'The Overtaker，'terms borrowed from the Arab Epsom.
[553]Known to us as'the web and pin，'it is a film which affects Arab horses in the damp hot regions of Malabar and Zanzibar and soon blinds them.This equine cataract combined with loin-disease compels men to ride Pegu and other ponies.