388 JOINVILLE'S MEMOIRS OF SAINT LOUIS IX. £PT. II. instantaneously took effect through this sore, and his whole body became so much affected that he lost the use of that side. When the venom was come towards the head, he continued for two days without eating or drinking, and this was the canee that the sultan of Hamault remained in peace, for the sultan of Babylon was obliged to be carried back to his own country by his people. A s soon as the month of March was come, it was proclaimed, by orders of the king, that all vessels should be laden and ready to sail whenever the king should command. AU things being ready, the king, the queen, and their households embarked on board their different ships. On the Friday preceding Whitsunday, the king ordered every one to follow him on the morrow, and proceed to Egypt; and on the morrow, being Saturday, every vessel made sail, which was a pleasant sight to see, for it seemed as if the whole sea, as far as the sight could reach, was covered with cloth, from the great quantity of sails that were spread to the wind, there being 1,800 vessels great and small. The king, followed by the other vessels, came on Whitsunday to the point of Lymesson, where he landed, and heard mass ; but of full 2,800 knights, who had embarked to follow the king, there were now only 700 with him on shore. A horrible wind that blew from Egypt had made the remainder alter their course, and had separated them from the company of the king, and driven them on the coast of Acre and other strange countries at a great distance, so that the king did not see them again for a long time. He and his companions were much grieved at their loss, for they believed them drowned, or in great danger at least. On the morrow of Whitsunday, the wind was favourable, and the king and we who were with him made sail, in God's name, to pursue our route. It happened that in our course we met the prince of Morea* and the duke of Burgundy,t who has sojourned in the Morea. The king arrived with his * William de ViUehardouln, prince of Achaia and of the Morea, seneschal of Romania. t The duke of Burgundy had passed the winter in the Morea, accordins; to Vincent de Beauvais, 1. 32, ch. 97, and, as I presume, then returned to Constantinople, which he undertook in conséquence of a promise he had made the emperor Baldwin so long sgo ss the year 1238, to succour him in case of need, as we read in Albericue.