[136] Albert d’Aix is the only historian who relates this and the following facts.
[137] Some learned writers cannot trace messages by pigeons further back than the reign of Saladin. It is true that it was in the reigns of Nouradin and Saladin that regular posts, served by pigeons, were organized in Egypt; but this means of communication was very ancient in the East. The recital of Albert d’Aix cannot be doubted. The historian speaks of the surprise that this sort of messengers produced among the Crusaders; and as the fact appeared remarkable to him, he has not neglected the smallest details of it:—Legati sine morâ columbas duas, aves gratas et domitas, secum allatas eduxerunt è sinu suo, ac chartâ, ducis responsis promissisque fidelibus inscriptâ, caudis illarum filo innodatâ, è manibus suis has ad ferenda læta nuncia emiserunt.... Jam cum chartis sibi commissis aves advolaverunt, in solium et mensam ducis Hasart fideliter reversæ.... Princeps autem ex more solito aves domesticas piè suscipiens, chartas intitulatas à caudis earum solvit, secreta ducis Godfredi perlegit. We shall see in the fourth book of this history another example of this means of communication employed by the Saracens.
[138] Globes of fire, or ignited globes, as naturalists call them, might have produced this appearance.
[139] Lapides, ignem, et plena apibus alvearia, calcem quoque vivam, quantâ poterant jaculabantur instantiâ, ut eos à muro propellerent.—Will. Tyr. lib. vii. cap. 9.
[140] Audivi namque, qui dicerent cibi se coactos inopiâ ad humanæ carnis edulium transiisse, adultos gentilium cacabo immersisse, pueros infixisse verubus, et vorasse adustos; vorando æmulati sunt feras, torrendo homines, sed caninos. Hunc ipsum finem membris propriis minabantur, cùm aliena deficerent; nisi aut captæ urbis, aut cereris advenæ intercessio esuriem lenisset.—Rad. Cadom. cap. 27. We cannot forbear adding to this quotation the words of Albert d’Aix, who is astonished to see Christians eat the bodies of Mussulmans, but still more so at seeing them devour dogs. Mirabile dictu et auribus horrendum, quod nefas est dicere, nefas facere. Nam Christiani non solùm Turcos sed Sarracenos occisos, verum etiam canes arreptos et igni coctos comedere non abhorruerunt præ inopiâ, quam audistis.—Ab. Aq. lib. v. cap. 29.
[141] This circumstance is related by Mailly, but he does not say upon what authority.
[142] Archas is mentioned by Strabo, Ptolemy, Josephus, and the Itinerary of Antonine, which latter places this city at sixteen miles from Tripoli. Pococke ’tom. ii. p. 299) and Maundrell ’vol. i. p. 41) speak of a river which still bears this name. Abulfeda speaks of it under the name of Aarkat. The Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem also mentions Archas.
[143] Laodicea still exists under the name of Lakikieh. It has been long famous for its trade in tobacco.
[144] Gibel. This word signifies mountain, in Arabic. Gibel is the Gabala of Strabo and Pliny; the Gavala of the table of Peutinger. It still subsists under its ancient name of Djebil, and the remains of an amphitheatre are still to be seen there. It is, I believe, the Giblim of the Bible, whence was embarked the wood of Lebanon sent to Solomon.
[145] Tortosa is the Antaradus of Ptolemy and the Itinerary of Bordeaux.