"Hasten," he said, "towards that country wherethe palaces are filled with gold and silver, and the men cannot fight intheir defence." Accordingly, in the early spring of the year 711, Musasent his next in command, Tarik, to cross to Spain with an army of seventhousand men, consisting mostly of chosen cavalry. They crossed thestraits then called the Sea of Narrowness, embarking the troops at Tangierand Ceute in many merchant vessels, and landing at that famous promontorycalled thenceforth by the Arab general's name, the Rock of Tarik,Dschebel-Tarik, or, more briefly, Gibraltar.Luis, under Don Alonzo, was with the Spanish troops sent hastily down toresist the Arab invaders, and, as these troops were mounted, he had manyopportunities of seeing the new enemies and observing their ways. Theywere a picturesque horde; their breasts were covered with mail armor; theywore white turbans on their heads, carried their bows slung across theirbacks, and their swords suspended to their girdles, while they held theirlong spears firmly grasped in their hands. The Arabs said that theirfashion of mail armor had come to them from King David, "to whom," theysaid, "God made iron soft, and it became in his hands as thread." Morethan half of them were mounted on the swift horses which were peculiar totheir people; and the white, red, and black turbans and cloaks made a moststriking picture around the camp-fires.
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