volume one

IITSTORT OF THE CRUSADES. 389
advice he offered to iN oureddiu, after his arrival, therefore,
v,as to endeavour to unite this rich country to his own
empire. The sultan of Syria sent ambassadors to the caliph
of Bagdad, not to ask aid of him, but to give a religious
colour to his enterprise. During several centuries, the
caliphs of Bagdad and Cairo had been divided by an implacable
hatred ; each of them boasting of being the vicar of the
Prophet, and considering his rival as the enemy of God. In
the mosques of Bagdad, they cursed the caliphs of Egypt
and their sectarians ;
in those of Cairo, they devoted to the
infernal powers, the Abassides and their partisans.
The caliph of Bagdad did not hesitate to comply with the
wishes of Koureddin. AVhilst the sultan of Syria was solely
occupied by his endeavours to extend his empire, the ^dcar
of the Prophet was only ambitious to preside alone over the
Mussulman religion. He commanded the Imans to preach
a war against the Fatimites, and promised the delights of
Paradise to all who shoidd take up arms in the holy expedi-
tion. At the call of the caliph, a great number of faithful
Mussulmans flocked to the standard of Xoureddin, and
Chirkou, by the order of the sultan, prepared to return into
Egypt, at the head of a powerful army.
The fame of these preparations spread throughout the
East, particularly in Egypt, where it created the most serious
alarms. Amauiy, who had returned to his own states,
received ambassadors from Chaver, soliciting his help and
aUiance against the enterprise of Noureddin. The states of
the kingdom of Jerusalem were assembled at Kaplouse, and
the king there exposed to them the advantages of another
expedition into Egypt. An impost was levied to carry on a
war from w'hich the greatest hopes were entertained, and the
Christian armv soon set out from Graza to fight with the
troops of Xoureddin on the banks of the Nile.
In the mean time Chu'kou was crossinix the desert, where
he encountered the greatest dangers. A \dolent tempest
surprised him on his march ; all at once the heavens were
darkened, and the earth, which was strewed with the pros-
trate Syrians, became like a stormy sea. Immense waves of
sand were lifted by the winds, and rising into whirlwinds or
forming moving moimtains, scattered, bore away, or swallowed
up men and horses. In this tempest the Syrian