pick up slaves and booty, and thus to the mole of Algiers
and the welcome of their mates; and this in spite of all the big ships
of Christendom, "_qu'ils ne cessent de troubler, sans que tant de
puissantes galeres et tant de bons navires que plusieurs Princes
Chrestiens tiennent dans leur havres leur donnent la chasse, si ce ne
sont les vaisseaux de Malte ou de Ligorne_."[69] And since 1618, when
the Janissaries first elected their own Pasha, and practically ignored
the authority of the Porte, the traditional fellowship with France,
the Sultan's ally, had fallen through, and French vessels now formed
part of the Corsairs' quarry. Between 1628 and 1634, eighty French
ships were captured, worth, according to the reises' valuation,
4,752,000 livres, together with 1,331 slaves. The King of France must
have regretted even the days when Barbarossa wintered at Toulon, so
great was the plague of the sea-rovers and apparently so hopeless the
attempt to put them down.

FOOTNOTES:

[65] Dan, Bk. III., ch. iv., p. 273-5, 280.

[66] See the _Story of the Moors in Spain_, 279.

[67] Furttenbach, _Architectura Navalis_, 107-110.

[68] Dan, _Hist. de Barbarie_, 277.

[69] Dan, _l. c._, 278.

XVIII.

THE REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES.

17th and 18th Centuries.

When galleys went out of fashion, and "round ships" took their place,
it may be supposed that the captivity of Christian slaves diminished.
In reality, however, the number of slaves employed on the galleys was
small compared with those who worked on shore. If the Spanish
historian be correct in his statement that at the close of the
sixteenth century the Algerines possessed but thirty-six galleys and
galleots, (the brigantines were not rowed by slaves,) with a total of
twelve hundred oars, even allowing three men to an oar, which is
excessive for some of the Corsairs' light galleots, the number of
slaves is but three thousand six hundred. But in 1634 Father Dan found
twenty-five thousand Christian slaves in the city of Algiers and
roundabout, without counting eight thousand renegades, and so far was
the fleet from being diminished (except that there were few galleys)
that the priest reckoned no less than seventy sailing cruisers, from
large thirty-five and forty-gun ships, to ordinary galleons and
polaccas; and on August 7th he himself saw twenty-eight of the best
of them sail away in quest of Norman and English ships, which usually
came to Spain at that season