volume one

212 HISTOEY OF THE CEIJSADES.
sufficient money to pay for the labours they had commanded,
but the zeal and charity of the pilgrims came to
their assistance. jMany offered the remains of the spoil
taken fiKjm the enemy ; the knights and barons themselves
became laborious workmen ; and every arm was employed,
and evervthmg in motion throughout the army. The women,
the children, even the sick, shared the toils of the soldiers.
"VYhilst the more robust were engaged in the construction of
rams, catapultas, and covered galleries, others fetched water
in skins from the fountain of Elpira, on the road to Damascus,
or from a ri^TLlet which flowed beyond Bethlehem,
towards the desert of St. John. Some prepared the skins
that were to be stretched over the machines to render them
fire-proof, whilst others traversed the plains and neighbouring
mountains to collect branches of the olive, the fig,*
and some other trees of the country, to make hurdles and
faggots.
Although the Christians had still much to suffer from
thirst and the heat of the climate, the hope of soon seeing
the end of their troubles gave them strength to support
them. The preparations for the attack were pressed on with
every day formidable machines appeared,
incredible acti\-ity ;"
threatening the ramparts of the Saracens. The construction
of them was directed by Graston of Beam, of whose skill
and bravery historians make great boast.t Among these
machines were three enormous towers of a new structure,
each of which had three stages, the first for the workmen
who directed the movements of it, and the second and third
for the warriors who were to make the assault. These three
rolling fortresses were higher than the walls of the besieged
citj-X At the top was fixed a kind of drawbridge, which
* A sufficiently remarkable circumstance is, that the shrub which grows
most freely in the territory of Ji-rusaleia, and which the Crusaders must
have used, was the rhamnus, a thorny shrub, of which, if we give faith to
the opinion of Pierre Belon, was formed the crown of thorns of Christ.
Christopher Hasselquoit, it is true, is not of this opinion, and pretends
that the crown of thorns v. as of the shrub na?cba.
•j" Quemdam egregiura at magnificum virum, dominum videlicet Gas-
tonem de Beam, operi prefecerunt
Raymond d'Agiles and Abbot Guibert speak also of Gaston de Beam.
—
Will. Tyren. lib. viii. cap. 10.
X The chevalier de Felart, in his treaty on The Attack of Places, at
the end of his commentary upon Polybius, speaks of the tower of Godfrey,