volume one

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BOOK III.
A.D. 1097—1099.
The great army of the Crusaders had traversed the states
of the sultan of !Xice and Iconium ; throughout its passage
the mosques were given up to the flames or converted into
churches : but the Christians had neglected to fortify the
cities of which they had-rendered themselves masters, or to
found a military colony in a country wherein the Turks were
always able to rally and re-establish their fonnidable power.
This fault, which must be attributed to a too great confidence
in victory, became fatal to the Crusaders, who, in the midst
of their tiiumphs, lost the means of communication -sNith
Europe, and thus deprived themselves of the assistance they
might have received from Greece and the "U^est.
TeiTor opened to the pilgrims aU the passages of Mount
Taurus. Throughout their triumphant march the Christians
had nothing to dread but famine, the heat of the climate,
and the badness of the roads. They had, particularly, much
to suffer in crossins: a momitain situated between Coxon and
Marash, which their historians denominate '* The Mountain
of the Devil.'" This mountain Avas very steep, and offered
only one narrow path, in which the foot-soldiers marched
with difficulty; the horses, which could not keep their
footinfj, draiTojed each other down the abvsses ; and the
army lost a great part of its baggage. In the course of this
disastrous march, savs an historian who was an eve-witness,
the soldiers gave themselves up to despair, and refused to
proceed. Being encimibered Vidth their arms, they either
sold them at a low price or cast them down the precipices. On
all sides were to be seen waniors wounded by their frequent
falls, and pilgrims exhausted with fatigue, who could not con-
tinue their route, and filled the air and mountains with their
cries and groans. The passage of the Christian army across
this mountain occupied several days ; but when they had at
length passed the chains of Mount Taurus and Mount
Amanus, the sight of Syria revived their courage, and made