100 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OE [hook it.

horse, and an infinite multitude of foot ; 1 while thatof the Christians, according to the Moslem himself,was only the half; twenty thousand horse, andtwo hundred thousand foot . 2 How diminishedsince landing! Still the Latins were such celebratedsoldiers, and their advance struck their foes withsuch terror, that, in both Cairos they forgot toopen the gates for two days; and, though the Nilewas on its increase, that which brought fertility,and decided whether they should have a goodharvest or a famine, and which formed then, as atpresent, the usual topic of conversation in allEgyptian classes, was completely unattended to , 3and it got tacitly full up to the very edge of itsbanks, before it was perceived. Fertile Egypt hadmore Christians in it than Palestine. Egypt wasso holy and precious in the sight of the Lord, thatHe chose it to be the road by which thousands ofFranks should reach Him: for they died veryquietly of dysentery . 4 The Saracens came withinour hearing, drawn up on the other side of theriver, and summoned us to renounce our super-stitious creed: “ For either you must turn Maho-metans, or we Christians.” And the circumcised

1 Arab. Chron., 412. 2 Id., 409.

3 Id., 410.

4 Vitri : Letters, iii. Bib. Crois., i. 429.