THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. 321 



Martellossi, 1 and slipping them like dogs from a leash, 

 sent them to the encounter of their foes on the de- 

 vastated plains of Cardavia, In the despatches from 

 Madrid, from the ministers of that monarch on whose 

 dominions the sun never set, to his ambassadors, the 

 name of these seven hundred outlaws occupied a fre- 

 quent and prominent place. But by none were the 

 Uzcoques more feared and detested than by the grey- 

 headed doge and senators of the Ocean Queen, the 

 sea-born city, before whose cathedral the colours of 

 three kingdoms fluttered from their crimson flagstaff's; 

 and the few young Venetians in whose breasts the 

 remembrance of their heroic ancestors yet lived, 

 blushed for their country's degradation when they 

 beheld her rulers braved and insulted by a band of 

 sea-robbers. 



To this band belonged the wild figures, whose 

 appearance on the shore has been noticed, and who 

 were busily employed in rummaging a number of 

 sacks and packages which lay scattered on the ground. 



1 The Turks, finding their owii troops not well adapted to 

 the irregular and desperate kind of warfare waged by the 

 Uzcoques, and also unable to compete with them in the 

 rapidity of their movements, formed a corps expressly for the 

 pursuit of the freebooters, which was composed of men as 

 wild and desperate as themselves. With these Martellossi, as 

 they were called, the Uzcoques had frequent and sanguinary 

 conflicts. Minucci says of the Martellossi, in his ' Historia 

 degli Uscochi,' that they were " Scelerati barbari anco 'ordine 

 de' medesime Scochi." 



