Arrived at the Christian camp, he addressed Roderic in the following words:  “These people, O King! are the same that thou sawest painted on the scroll of the enchanted palace.  Beware of them! for the greatest part of them have bound themselves by oath to reach thee or die in the attempt; they have set fire to their vessels, to destroy their last hope of escape; they are encamped along the sea-shore, determined to die or to vanquish, for they know well that there is not in this country a place whither they can fly.”  On hearing this account, King Roderic was much disheartened, and he trembled with fear.  However, the two armies engaged near the lake or gulf; they fought resolutely on both sides till the right and left wings of Roderic’s army, under the command of the sons of Wittiza, gave way.  The centre, in which Roderic was, still held firm for a while, and made the fate of the battle uncertain for some time; they fled at last, and Roderic before them.  From that moment the rout became general, and the Moslems followed with ardor the pursuit of the scattered bands, inflicting death wherever they went.

Roderic disappeared in the midst of the battle, and no certain intelligence was afterward received of him.  It is true that some Moslems found his favorite steed, a milk-white horse, bearing a saddle of gold, sparkling with rubies, plunged in the mud of the river, as also one of his sandals, adorned with rubies and emeralds, but the other was never found; nor was Roderic, although diligently searched for, ever discovered either dead or alive, a circumstance which led the Moslems to believe that he perished in the stream, the weight of his armor preventing him from struggling against the current, and he was drowned; but God only knows what became of him.

According to Ar-razi, the contest began on Sunday, two days before the end of Ramadan, and continued till Sunday, the 5th of Shawal; namely, eight whole days; at the end of which God Almighty was pleased to put the idolaters to flight, and grant the victory to the Moslems; and he adds that so great was the number of the Goths who perished in the battle that for a long time after the victory the bones of the slain were to be seen covering the field of action.

They say also that the spoil found by the Moslems in the camp of the Christians surpassed all computation, for the princes and great men of the Goths who had fallen were distinguished by the rings of gold they wore on their fingers, those of an inferior class by similar ornaments of silver, while those of the slaves were made of brass.  Tarik collected all the spoil and divided it into five shares or portions, when, after deducting one-fifth, he distributed the rest among nine thousand Moslems, besides the slaves and followers.

When the people on the other side of the straits heard of this success of Tarik, and of the plentiful spoils he had acquired, they flocked to him from all quarters, and crossed the sea on every vessel or bark they could lay hold of.  Tank’s army being so considerably reinforced, the Christians were obliged to shut themselves up in their castles and fortresses, and, quitting the flat country, betake themselves to their mountains.