114 TUE BOY GhUSADERS.

soil. Accordingly, ascend the same mountain in
January or February, when the waters have sub-
sided and the husbandman has done his work, and
the country is like one beautiful meadow, dotted
with flocks and herds, covered with crops of corn,
enamelled with flowers, and perfumed with the
blossoms of oranges and lemons.

Nor, considering the marvellous history of Egypt,
could the imaginations of the Crusaders be otherwise
than fascinated by the prospect of looking with their
own eyes on its cities, its pyramids, its obelisks, its
mummy pits, and all the relics of its ancient and
mysterious civilisation. Persians, Macedonians,
Romans, and Saracens, had come hither before them
as conquerors. But it may be doubted whether the
warriors of Cambyses, or Alexander, or the Cesars,
or Omar, felt a more thorough confidence in their
own prowess and destiny, than did the warriors who
marched from Damietta under the banner of St.
Denis.

It was certainly mortifying to men in so elate a
mood to have their progress arrested by a canal;
and, in fact, the French warriors seem to have been
startled out of their senses by its steep banks and
deep bed. At all events, they, instead of looking for a
ford, which was certainly the most natural way of -
getting over their difficulty, commenced the con-
struction of a causeway. 3

Now, Fakreddin no sooner setted that the Cru-
saders were at work, than he perceived his advantage,
and vowed that the causeway should never be com-
pleted; and, while workmen, protected by machines