volume one

11^
niSTOET or THE CEUSADES.
despair, wi'th cliildreii tlier could no longer nourisli, implored
death ^itli loud cries, and, in the excess of their agony,
rolled naked on the earth in the sight of the whole armj.*
The authors of the time do not forget to mention the falcons
and birds of prev which the knights had brought with them
into Asia, and which almost all perished under the burning
sun. In vain the Crusaders called for a repetition of the
miracles which Grod had formerly wrought for his chosen
people in the desert. The sterile valleys of Pisidia resounded
during several days with their prayers, with their complaints,
and perhaps, likewise, with their blasphemies.
In the midst of these burning countries they at length
made a discovery which saved the army, but which was veiy
near becoming as fatal to them as the horrors of thirst.
The dogs which had followed the Crusaders had abandoned
their masters, and wandered over the plains and into the
mountains in search of a spring.t One day several of them
were seen returning to the camp with their paws and their
hides covered with moist sand, and it was judged that they
had foimd water. Several soldiers obsen^ed their track, and
discovered a river. The whole army rushed towards it in a
mass. The Crusaders, famishing with heat and thirst, cast
themselves headlong into the water, and quenched the inward
heat without moderation or precaution. More than three
hundred of them died almost immediately, and many fell
seriously ill, and could not continue their march.
At lencjth the Christian armv arrived before Antiochetta,
which opened its gates to them. This city, the capital of
Pisidia, was situated in the midst of a territory interspersed
with fields, rivers, and forests. The sight of a smiling and
fertile country invited the Cliristians to repose for a few
days, and made them soon forget all the evils they had
undergone.
As the fame of their victories and their march had sprerd
throughout the neighbouring countries, the greater part of
* QuamplurimcB namque fcEtae mtdieres exsiccatis faucibus, arefactis
visceribus media plated in omnium aspectu fcetus siios enixm relinquebant
; alicp mlsercE juxta foetus suos in via cornmuni volutabantur, omnem
pudorem et secreta aua oblita.— Alb. Aquem. lib. iii. cap. 2.
t This remarkable circumstance is taken from the Life of Godfrey, by
Jean de Launel, ecuyer seigneur de Cbantreau, and Du Chaubert.