volume one

182 HISTOEY or THE CEUS.U)ES.
Tlie emir proposed an alliance to Godfrey de Bouillon.
Godfrey at first hesitated, but the Mussulman returned to
the charge, and to disperse all the suspicions of the Christian
princes, sent them his son Mahomet as an hostage. The
treaty ^as then signed, and two pigeons, says a Latin his-
torian, charged \\"ith a letter, brought the news to the emir,
at the same time announcins^ to him the early arriyal of the
Clmstians.* The army of the sultan of Aleppo was beaten
in seyeral encounters by Godfrey, and forced to abandon the
territory of Hezas, that it had begun to pillage. A short
time after this expedition the son of the emir died at
Antioch of the epidemic so fatal to the pilgrims of the West.
Godfrey, according to the custom of the Mussulmans, had
the body of the young prince enyeloped in rich purple stuff,
and sent it to his father. The deputies who accompanied
this funeral conyoy were ordered to express to the emir the
regrets of Godfrey, and to tell him that their leader had
been as much afflicted by the death of the young prince
Mahomet, as he could haye been by that of his brother
Baldwin. The emir of Hezas wept for the death of his son,
and neyer ceased to be the faithful ally of the Christians.
The leaders of the crusades s'till thought no more about
setting forward on their march to Jerusalem, and the
autumn adyanced without their being engaged in any expedition
of importance. In the midst of the idleness of the
camps, a celestial phenomenon offered itself to the eyes of
the Crusaders, and made a liyely impression upon the minds
* Some learned writers cannot trace messages by pigeons further back
than the reign of Saladia. It is true that it was in the reigns of Nouradin
and Saladin that regular posts, served by pigeons, were organized iu
Egypt ; but this means of communication was very ancient in the East.
^ The recital of Albert d' Aix cannot be doubted. The historian speaks of
the surprise that this sort of messengers produce-d among the Crusaders;
and as the fact appeared remarkable to him, he has not neglected the
smallest details of it :—Legati sine mora columbas duas, aves gratas et
domitas, secum allatas eduxerunt e sinu suo, ac charta, ducis responsis
proniissisque fidelibus in^cripta, caudis illarum filo innodata, e manibus
suis has ad ferenda lee'a nuucia emiserunt. . . .Jam
cum chartis sibi com-
missis aves ailvolaverunt, in solium et mensara duels Hasart fideliter
revers88. . . .Piinrei's autem ex more solito aves doir.esticaspie suscipiens,
chartas intitulatas a caudis earum solvit, secreta ducis Godfredi perlegit.
\S'e shall see in the fourth book of this history another example of this
means of communication employed by the Saracens.