This ended all further pretense of allegiance to es- Saleh. The unfortunate young king was the loser by siding with Gumishtikin, whose disinterestedness was disproved later, when es-Saleh found it necessary to cut off his head to regain his freedom. Saladin was now proclaimed King of Syria as well as Sultan of Egypt, and the gold coins minted at Cairo thereafter bore the legend : " The King Strong to Aid, Joseph Son of Job : Exalted Be the Standard." It was usual, when a new monarch arrived, for the Caliph at Bagdad to legitimize his pretensions in an elaborate ceremony. It was an empty form, for the Caliph had no real power, and when a conqueror appeared his bidding could not be resisted. Often he would have refused his seal of approval had he dared, but the time had passed when the veto of the Caliph could halt the successful warrior. The ceremony took place in the palace at Bagdad, which could not be improved upon for dramatic effectiveness. The Caliph sat upon his golden throne, surrounded by his court, and, as the monarch appeared before him, the successor to the Prophet would descend from his throne and go forward to meet him. The black veil of the Abbasides covered the holy man's head, the mantle of Mahomet his shoulders, in his hands rested the baton of the Prophet, around his neck hung suspended a copy of the Koran. With his own hands he placed upon the royal body five or six vests of honor, one upon the other, swathed his form in a robe of cloth of gold, fastened two swords