blocked up, tlie army held council as to returning ; hut the brothers of the sultan. Seraph and Coradin, the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus, and other sultans, namely, of Camehi, Hainan, and Coilanbar, with many pagan kings, and a countless host of infidels, who had come to assist them, had cut off our retreat. Our army however departed by night by land and water, but lost all the provisions in the river, besides a great many men ; for when the Nile overflowed, the sultan turned the water in different directions by means of bidden streams, canals, and rivulets, which had been made some time before to obstruct the retreat of the Christians. The army of Christ therefore, after losing amongst the marshes all its beasts of burden, stores, baggage, carriages, and almost all their necessaries, and being destitute of provisions, could neither advance nor retreat, nor had it any place of refuge, neither could it give battle to the sultan on account of his being surrounded by the river, and it was thus caught in the midst of the waters like a fish in a net. llcing therefore in this strait, they, although unwillingly, agreed to give up to the sultan the city of Damietta, with all the prisoners which could be found in Tyre and Acre, in exchange for the true cross and the Christian prisoners in the kingdoms of Babylon and Damascus. We therefore, in company with othei messengers deputed by the army in common, went to Damietta, and told the people of the city the terms which were imposed on us ; which greatly displeased the bishop of Acre, the chancellor, and Henry count of Malta, whom we found there: for they wished to defend the city, which we should also have much approved of, if it could have been done with any advantage, for we had rather been consigned to perpetual imprisonment, than that the citv should be given up by us to the infidels to the disgrace of Christianity : we therefore made a careful search throughout the city of all persons and effects, but found neither money nor people wherewith it could be defended. We therefore acquiesced in this agreement, and bound ourselves by oath and by giving hostages, and agreed to a continued truce for eight years. The sultan, till the arrangement was made, strictly abided by what he had promised, and supplied our famished army with loaves and (lour for about fifteen days. Dc