able to bully little Yusuf with impunity. The wonder is that Nur ed-din, having shown himself such a good psychologist, should have failed to see he was asking the impossible. Turan Shah was forever making demands, and Saladin was unable to resist them, even when they plunged him into embarrassment. A particularly flagrant instance was the brother's insistence upon the command of Baalbek. Saladin had granted the governorship to Schems ed-din Mohammed in reward for his help in the securing of Damascus, and the latter did not wish to surrender it. Saladin had to march against his former ally and succeeded in making him come to terms only after he had begun a siege of the city. A compromise was finally arrived at, but the whole proceeding must have been painful to Saladin, whose loyalty to his friends was proverbial. When Saladin sent Turan Shah into the Yemen he expected him to remain there and carve out another empire, but Turan Shah loved the good things of life too devotedly to be content with a country so sterile, when Syria with its abundance could be had for the asking. When Saladino messenger arrived with a letter urging him to remain and develop the country, Turan Shah sent for a thousand gold pieces and directed his chamberlain to buy ice with them. " But, my lord," replied the latter, " this is Yemen. How can ice be found in it?" " Then buy me a tray of apricots," ordered his chief.