ABEY. III.]

ST. JOHN OP JERUSALEM.

247

part of his galleys reach Messina. The strongestamong us found himself unequal to such reiteratedhardships, and when sickness fell on persons unpro-vided with remedies or comforts, and already reducedby famine, drought, and fatigue, it proved dreadful;from this dearth andthese ails sprang a variety of dis-eases that afterwards developed themselves with vio-lence when on the shore wished for so ardently. Manywhom Avar had spared, and had survived all the hard-ships and sickness of the voyage, Avent to the otherAvorld as soon as they got safe to land at Messina ;and our little fleet separated, from the weather, someof the galleys, as mine (says Fontanus) reached itlong before the rest. I, of the number, ascribe myrecovery to no human, but Divine help, after beingapparently quite dead. Yet hapless exiles as Avewere, and in a strange land, supported by thecharity of strangers, we suffered far less for our OAvnmisery, than for fear of the grand master havingcome by some disaster, which grievously tormentedus; and e\ T ery day our anxiety increased, seeingnone of his ships reach Sicily, and for three mortalweeks Avere Ave Avithout tidings of him. We beganto be afraid his galleys, unable to make any gooddefence, had been taken by the Moors, who in theirpiratical feluccas infest the Sicilian seas. Somethought his galleys had foundered in the Avaves,