OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 433 A speedy messenger soon returned from the throne of Medina, with the blessings of Omar and Ali, the prayers of the widows of the prophet, and a reinforcement of eight thousand Moslems. In their way they overturned a detachment of Greeks, and, when they joined at Yermuk the camp of their brethren, they found the pleasing intelligence that Caled had already defeated and scattered the Christian Arabs of the tribe of Gassan. In the neighbourhood of Bosra, the springs of Mount Hermon descend in a torrent to the plain of Decapolis, or ten cities ; and the Hieromax, a name which has been corrupted to Yermuk, is lost after a short course in the lake of Tiberias.^*^ The banks of this obscure stream were illustrated by a long and bloody encounter. On this momentous occasion, the public voice, and the modesty of Abu Obeidah, restored the command to the most deserving of the Moslems. Caled assumed his station in the front, his col- league was posted in the rear, that the disorder of the fugitives might be checked by his venerable aspect and the sight of the yellow banner which Mahomet had displayed before the walls of Chaibar. The last line was occupied by the sister of Derar, with the Arabian women who had enlisted in this holy war, who were accustomed to wield the bow and the lance, and who in a moment of captivity had defended, against the uncircumcised ravishers, their chastity and religion.^*' The exhortation of the generals was brief and forcible ; " Paradise is before you, the devil and hell-fire in your rear". Yet such was the weight of the Roman cavalry that the right wing of the Arabs was broken and sepa- rated from the main body. Thrice did they retreat in disorder, and thrice were they driven back to the charge by the reproaches and blows of the women. In the intervals of action, Abu Obeidah visited the tents of his brethren ; prolonged their repose by repeating at once the prayers of two different hours ; bound up their wounds with his own hands, and administered the com- 89 See Reland, Palestin. torn. i. p. 272, 283, torn. ii. p. 773, 775. This learned professor was equal to the task of describing the Holy Land, since he was alike conversant with Greek and Latin, with Hebrew and Arabian literature. The Yermuk, or Hieromax, is noticed by Cellarius (Geograph. Antiq. torn. ii. p. 392), and D'Anville (G^ographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 185). The Arabs, and even Abulfeda himself, do not seem to recognize the scene of their victory. [For the chronology see Appendix 21. The battle was fought in the plain of Wakusa, perhaps 40 miles above the junction of the Yermuk with the Jordan, and about 30 miles east of Gadara, close to where the military road from Damascus to Palestine crosses the river. See Muir, op. cit. p. 99.] ^ These women were of the tribe of the Hamyarites, who derived their origin from the ancient Amalekites. Their females were accustomed to ride on horse- back, and to fight like the Amazons of old (Ockley, vol. i. p. 67). VOL. V. 28
