volume one

184 HISTOET or THE CEUSADES.
this cit\', where he was soou joined by the duke of Kormandv
and the count of Flanders and their troops. The
Christians met with the most obstinate resistance from the
besies:ed during several days. The infidels poured arrows
and stones upon them m clouds, together with floods of an
inflammable matter, which several historians pretend to have
been the Greek fii-e. "VTiiliam of Tyre says that they hurled
from the summits of the towers upon the assailants quick
lime and hives filled with bees.* Want of provisions soon
began to be felt, and the Crusaders at length experienced
such distress, that many among them subsisted upon the
dead bodies of their enemies.t Historv ousjht, however, to
relate with hesitation the extremes to which famine is said
to have carried them, and to throw great doubt upon the
account of the public sale of human flesh in the camp of
the Christians.;]:
The Crusaders endured all their misfortunes with patience,
but thev could not support the outrages committed by the
inhabitants of Maarah upon the religion of Jesus Christ.
The infidels raised crosses upon the ramparts, covered
them with ordure, and heaped all sorts of insults upon them.
Tliis sis:ht so irritated the Christians, that thev resolved to
redouble their eftbrts to get possession of the city. They
constructed machines which shook the walls, whilst the
soldiers moimted to the assault ; and they succeeded, after
a lengthened resistance, in making themselves masters of the
* Lapides. iCTiem, et plena apibus alvearia, cclcem quoque vivam,
quanti poterant jaculabantur instantia, ut eos a muro propellereiit.
Will. Tyr. lib. vi'i. cap. 9.
t Audivi namque. qui dicereut cibi se coactos inopia ad humante
carnis edulium transiisse, adultos gentiliutn cacabo immersisse, pueros
iufixisse verubus, et vorasse adu