When Tarik received the news of the approach of Roderic's army, which is
said to have amounted to nearly one hundred thousand men, provided with
all kinds of weapons and military stores, he wrote to Musa for
assistance, saying that he had taken Algesiras, a port of Andalusia,
thus becoming, by its possession, the master of the passage into that
country; that he had subdued its districts as far as the bay; but that
Roderic was now advancing against him with a force which it was not in
his power to resist, except it was God Almighty's will that it should be
so. Musa, who since Tarik's departure for this expedition had been
employed in building ships, and had by this time collected a great many,
sent by them a reinforcement of five thousand Moslems, which, added to
the seven thousand of the first expedition, made the whole forces amount
to twelve thousand men, eager for plunder and anxious for battle. Ilyan
was also sent with his army and the people of his states to accompany
this expedition, and to guide it through the passes in the country, and
gather intelligence for them.
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