556 jonrrxLufr MEMOIRS—APFRKDIX. [A.D . 1270. Hie army was oompoeed of thirty thousand infantry and | six thousand cavalry. The siege lasted six months. On the 15th of the month Muharsem, the first month of the year 669, there was a bloody battle, in which numbers were slain on each side. The Tunisiane were on the point of being destroyed, when the death of the king of France changed the face of affairs. The French, after this event, only thought of making peace and returning to their own country. One Ismael-Erreian, an inhabitant of Tunis, made the following verses during the siege : — " Frenchman, art thou ignorant that Tunis is the sister of Cairo ? Think on the fate that awaits thee ! Thon wilt find before this town thy tomb, instead of the house of Lokman ; and the two terrible angels, Munkir and Nakir, will take the place of the eunuch Sahil."* This king of France had a good understanding, but was of an artful character, t * Munkir and Nakir are two angele who, according to the Mussulman creed, interrogate the dead the moment they are in the grave. Oiey begin their interrogatories with these words, " Wh o is thy Lord ? " and "Wh o is thy prophet?" f It is disgraceful to Makrisi, otherwise a tolerably faithful historian, to suffer himself to be blinded by the common aversion of Mussalmea to Christians.