tants and forty thousand men in garrison, the most valiant
and most fanatical Mussulmans that Egypt could furnish. According to
William of Tyre, the most judicious and the best informed of the
contemporary historians, "When the crusaders pitched their camp over
against Jerusalem, there had arrived there about forty thousand persons
of both sexes, of whom there were at the most twenty thousand foot, well
equipped, and fifteen hundred knights." Raymond d'Agiles, chaplain to
the count of Toulouse, reduces still further to twelve thousand the
number of foot capable of bearing arms, and that of the knights to twelve
or thirteen hundred. This weak army was destitute of commissariat and
the engines necessary for such a siege. Before long it was a prey to the
horrors of thirst. "The neighborhood of Jerusalem," says William of
Tyre, "is arid; and it is only at a considerable distance that there are
to be found rivulets, fountains, or wells of fresh water. Even these
springs had been filled up by the enemy a little before the arrival of
our troops. The crusaders issued from the camp secretly and in small
detachments to look for water in all directions; and just when they
believed they had found some hidden trickier, they saw themselves
surrounded by a multitude of folks engaged in the same search; disputes
forthwith arose amongst them, and they frequently came to blows. Horses,
mules, asses, and cattle of all kinds, consumed by heat and thirst, fell
down and died; and their carcasses, left here and there about the camp,
tainted the air with a pestilential smell." Wood, iron, and all the
materials needful for the construction of siege machinery were as much to
seek as water. But a warlike and pious spirit made head against all.
Trees were felled at a great distance from Jerusalem; and scaling-towers
were roughly constructed, as well as engines for hurling the stones which
were with difficulty brought up within reach of the city. "All ye who
read this," says Raymond d'Agiles, "think not that it was light labor; it
was nigh a mile from the spot where the engines, all dismounted, had to
be transported to that where they were remounted." The knights protected
against the sallies of the besieged the workmen employed upon this work.
One day Tancred had gone alone to pray on the Mount of Olives and to gaze
upon the holy city, when five Mussulmans sallied forth and went to attack
him; he killed three of them, and the other two to