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286 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book i.

has given the heard to man for ornament , and her longhair to woman." 1 And Noureddin, the moment hereceived the letter, wrote a command to his bestgeneral to take the flower of his troops instantly,with the greatest possible despatch, round by theDead Sea to Cairo. The difficulty was to stop theChristian till the succour could arrive; and to doso, a desperate expedient 2 was resorted to, whichexceeds by far what patriotism has displayed ofmost terrible in our own times.

Had the Frank shown humanity at Heliopolis,he most assuredly had taken Cairo without the leastresistance . 3 But, from the moment the Caireenswere reduced to desperation, they changed charac-ter and feeling like those who fight with a halterround their necks, resolved to resist unto death,and manned their walls with most formidableenergy. Which was represented in glowing coloursby that same emir to Almeric, who, whatevertheir courage, would not let himself be intimidated,but moved on. The very same authority that ratesboth the Cairos of that age at seven millions—threefor the old, and four the new—estimates Pekin atless than two . 4 Old Cairo stood on the east bank

1 Arab. Chron., 130.

2 Micbaud: Hist., ii. 236. 3 Id: Id., ii. 237.

4 Comm. Geograph.