102 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book Ii.

miles . 1 And when Brienne proposed that theyshould halt until the galleys cleared the river,Pelagius vociferated treason, and that his galleyshould not lower its masts till they reached Cairo,which he hoped would be within three days . 2 Thisutter blindness was deeply blamed by Brienne, butseems to have terrified the sultan; for he madefrequent proposals for peace during the march, andnow that the Christians had arrived at the southernextremity of the Delta, opposite to the new town ofMansourah, where the whole Moslem army wasdrawn up, continued for three weeks to send deputiesproposing to give Jerusalem to the Christians , 3 andone hundred thousand pieces of gold to rebuild itswalls,besides Ascalon and all the cities that had beenwon from them by Saladin in Syria and Palestine, inexchange forDamietta alone . 4 One would think suchterms surrendered all that was wanted, and that theChristians would accept them with warm satisfac-tion. But not so Pelagius, who disdained any peace,and would be contented with nothing but the exter-mination of Islam, and effectually chasing everyshadow of opposition from the face of the earth.

1 Potestata di Reggio.—Bib. Crois., ii. 605.

2 Michaud: Hist., iii. 352.—Arab. Chron., 419. Note 2.

3 Id.: Id., 354.

i Arab. Chron., 413.