10 SIEGE AND BATTLE OF JAFFA. 



ed by himself, his brother Malek-adel and his Son 

 Daher. The march was rapid in the hope of surprizing 

 the garrison or of taking them so unprepared that he 

 might carry it by escalade, without a regular siege, but 

 the garrsion was on the watch ; he was foiled ni esca- 

 lading and repulsed in storming ; he lost some days be- 

 fore the error was admitted and at length the engines 

 were deemed necessary, and prepared. Boha-Eddin 

 states that the gar-i'iFon offered to capitulate, if they 

 were not relieved by a certain day ; but Saladin insist- 

 ing on instantly surrendering, the negociations were 

 broken off. 



A regular siege ensued, the miners were attached to 

 the wall, and the sap proceeded. In that age, when 

 a breach could not be effected by a battering ram, it 

 was the practice to set miners at the foundations, un- 

 der cover of the catta, a machine invented to shield 

 them, and having undermined a space sufficiently 

 wide for a breach, to keep the walls from falhng by 

 means of wooden props, around which piles of com- 

 bustibles were placed, to be set on fire when the signal 

 should be given. Such was the method pursued by 

 the Saracens on this occasion ; and when the fire had 

 consumed the props, the wall, as intended, fell down 

 and left a wide gap for the stormers to enter ; " but," 

 says the Cadi of Jerusalem, " we were surprised to 

 find behind the breach, the garrison standing in order 

 of battle, with a fiercely burning fire in their front : 

 nay, they kept open the gates of the city, and the con- 

 flicts which ensued decided nothing. The next day, 

 the storming corps being greatly reinforced, and all 

 the tnachines playing upon the town, a general assault 

 was given, and, at length, more spaces of the walls 

 fell down with such tremendous noise that it seemed 

 the destruction of the world was come. When the 

 dense clouds of dust cleared away, I myself," con- 

 tinues Boha-eddin, " saw the Christians in order of 

 battle, like a forest of pikes and lances," a deafening 

 shout was raised by the Infidels as they rushed on to 

 the attack, but they were received by the Crusaders 



